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Business Planning for Nonprofits

Business planning is a way of systematically answering questions such as, “What problem(s) are we trying to solve?” or “What are we trying to achieve?” and also, “Who will get us there, by when, and how much money and other resources will it take?”

The business planning process takes into account the nonprofit’s mission and vision, the role of the board, and external environmental factors, such as the climate for fundraising.

Ideally, the business planning process also critically examines basic assumptions about the nonprofit’s operating environment. What if the sources of income that exist today change in the future? Is the nonprofit too reliant on one foundation for revenue? What happens if there’s an economic downturn?

A business plan can help the nonprofit and its board be prepared for future risks. What is the likelihood that the planned activities will continue as usual, and that revenue will continue at current levels – and what is Plan B if they don't?

Narrative of a business plan

You can think of a business plan as a narrative or story explaining how the nonprofit will operate given its activities, its sources of revenue, its expenses, and the inevitable changes in its internal and external environments over time. Ideally, your plan will tell the story in a way that will make sense to someone not intimately familiar with the nonprofit’s operations.

According to  Propel Nonprofits , business plans usually should have four components that identify revenue sources/mix; operations costs; program costs; and capital structure.

A business plan outlines the expected income sources to support the charitable nonprofit's activities. What types of revenue will the nonprofit rely on to keep its engine running – how much will be earned, how much from government grants or contracts, how much will be contributed? Within each of those broad categories, how much diversification exists, and should they be further diversified? Are there certain factors that need to be in place in order for today’s income streams to continue flowing?

The plan should address the everyday costs needed to operate the organization, as well as costs of specific programs and activities.

The plan may include details about the need for the organization's services (a needs assessment), the likelihood that certain funding will be available (a feasibility study), or changes to the organization's technology or staffing that will be needed in the future.

Another aspect of a business plan could be a "competitive analysis" describing what other entities may be providing similar services in the nonprofit's service and mission areas. What are their sources of revenue and staffing structures? How do their services and capacities differ from those of your nonprofit?

Finally, the business plan should name important assumptions, such as the organization's reserve policies. Do your nonprofit’s policies require it to have at least six months of operating cash on hand? Do you have different types of cash reserves that require different levels of board approval to release?

The idea is to identify the known, and take into consideration the unknown, realities of the nonprofit's operations, and propose how the nonprofit will continue to be financially healthy.  If the underlying assumptions or current conditions change, then having a plan can be useful to help identify adjustments that must be made to respond to changes in the nonprofit's operating environment.

Basic format of a business plan

The format may vary depending on the audience. A business plan prepared for a bank to support a loan application may be different than a business plan that board members use as the basis for budgeting. Here is a typical outline of the format for a business plan:

  • Table of contents
  • Executive summary - Name the problem the nonprofit is trying to solve: its mission, and how it accomplishes its mission.
  • People: overview of the nonprofit’s board, staffing, and volunteer structure and who makes what happen
  • Market opportunities/competitive analysis
  • Programs and services: overview of implementation
  • Contingencies: what could change?
  • Financial health: what is the current status, and what are the sources of revenue to operate programs and advance the mission over time?
  • Assumptions and proposed changes: What needs to be in place for this nonprofit to continue on sound financial footing?

More About Business Planning

Budgeting for Nonprofits

Strategic Planning

Contact your state association of nonprofits  for support and resources related to business planning, strategic planning, and other fundamentals of nonprofit leadership. 

Additional Resources

  • Components of transforming nonprofit business models  (Propel Nonprofits)
  • The matrix map: a powerful tool for nonprofit sustainability  (Nonprofit Quarterly)
  • The Nonprofit Business Plan: A Leader's Guide to Creating a Successful Business Model  (David La Piana, Heather Gowdy, Lester Olmstead-Rose, and Brent Copen, Turner Publishing)
  • Nonprofit Earned Income: Critical Business Model Considerations for Nonprofits (Nonprofit Financial Commons)
  • Nonprofit Sustainability: Making Strategic Decisions for Financial Viability  (Jan Masaoka, Steve Zimmerman, and Jeanne Bell)

Disclaimer: Information on this website is provided for informational purposes only and is neither intended to be nor should be construed as legal, accounting, tax, investment, or financial advice. Please consult a professional (attorney, accountant, tax advisor) for the latest and most accurate information. The National Council of Nonprofits makes no representations or warranties as to the accuracy or timeliness of the information contained herein.

Free Nonprofit Business Plan Templates

By Joe Weller | September 18, 2020

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In this article, we’ve rounded up the most useful list of nonprofit business plan templates, all free to download in Word, PDF, and Excel formats.

Included on this page, you’ll find a one-page nonprofit business plan template , a fill-in-the-blank nonprofit business plan template , a startup nonprofit business planning timeline template , and more. Plus, we provide helpful tips for creating your nonprofit business plan .

Nonprofit Business Plan Template

Nonprofit Business Plan Template

Use this customizable nonprofit business plan template to organize your nonprofit organization’s mission and goals and convey them to stakeholders. This template includes space for information about your nonprofit’s background, objectives, management team, program offerings, market analysis, promotional activities, funding sources, fundraising methods, and much more. 

Download Nonprofit Business Plan Template

One-Page Business Plan for Nonprofit Template

One Page Business Plan for Nonprofit Organizations Template

This one-page nonprofit business plan template has a simple and scannable design to outline the key details of your organization’s strategy. This template includes space to detail your mission, vision, and purpose statements, as well as the problems you aim to solve in your community, the people who benefit from your program offerings, your key marketing activities, your financial goals, and more.

Download One-Page Business Plan for Nonprofit Template

Excel | Word | PDF

For additional resources, including an example of a one-page business plan , visit “ One-Page Business Plan Templates with a Quick How-To Guide .”

Fill-In-the-Blank Nonprofit Business Plan Template

Fill-in-the-Blank Nonprofit Business Plan Template

Use this fill-in-the-blank template as the basis for building a thorough business plan for a nonprofit organization. This template includes space to describe your organization’s background, purpose, and main objectives, as well as key personnel, program and service offerings, market analysis, promotional activities, fundraising methods, and more. 

Download Fill-In-the-Blank Nonprofit Business Plan Template

For additional resources that cater to a wide variety of organizations, visit “ Free Fill-In-the-Blank Business Plan Templates .”

Startup Nonprofit Business Planning Template with Timeline

Startup Nonprofit Business Planning Template with Timeline

Use this business planning template to organize and schedule key activities for your business. Fill in the cells according to the due dates, and color-code the cells by phase, owner, or category to provide a visual timeline of progress.

Download Startup Nonprofit Business Planning Template with Timeline

Excel | Smartsheet

Nonprofit Business Plan Template for Youth Program

Nonprofit Business Plan Template for Youth Program Template

Use this template as a foundation for building a powerful and attractive nonprofit business plan for youth programs and services. This template has all the core components of a nonprofit business plan. It includes room to detail the organization’s background, management team key personnel, current and future youth program offerings, promotional activities, operations plan, financial statements, and much more.

Download Nonprofit Business Plan Template for Youth Program

Word | PDF  | Google Doc

Sample Nonprofit Business Plan Outline Template

Sample Nonprofit Business Plan Outline Template

You can customize this sample nonprofit business plan outline to fit the specific needs of your organization. To ensure that you don’t miss any essential details, use this outline to help you prepare and organize the elements of your plan before filling in each section.

Download Sample Nonprofit Business Plan Outline Template

Nonprofit Startup Business Planning Checklist Template

Nonprofit Startup Business Planning Checklist Template

Use this customizable business planning checklist as the basis for outlining the necessary steps to get your nonprofit organization up and running. You can customize this checklist to fit your individual needs. It includes essential steps, such as conducting a SWOT analysis , fulfilling the research requirements specific to your state, conducting a risk assessment , defining roles and responsibilities, creating a portal for board members, and other tasks to keep your plan on track.

Download Nonprofit Startup Business Planning Checklist Template

Tips to Create Your Nonprofit Business Plan

Your nonprofit business plan should provide your donors, volunteers, and other key stakeholders with a clear picture of your overarching mission and objectives. Below, we share our top tips for ensuring that your plan is attractive and thorough.

  • Develop a Strategy First: You must aim before you fire if you want to be effective. In other words, develop a strategic plan for your nonprofit in order to provide your team with direction and a roadmap before you build your business plan.
  • Save Time with a Template: No need to start from scratch when you can use a customizable nonprofit business plan template to get started. (Download one of the options above.)
  • Start with What You Have: With the exception of completing the executive summary, which you must do last, you aren’t obligated to fill in each section of the plan in order. Use the information you have on hand to begin filling in the various parts of your business plan, then conduct additional research to fill in the gaps.
  • Ensure Your Information Is Credible: Back up all the details in your plan with reputable sources that stakeholders can easily reference.
  • Be Realistic: Use realistic assumptions and numbers in your financial statements and forecasts. Avoid the use of overly lofty or low-lying projections, so stakeholders feel more confident about your plan. 
  • Strive for Scannability: Keep each section clear and concise. Use bullet points where appropriate, and avoid large walls of text. 
  • Use Visuals: Add tables, charts, and other graphics to draw the eye and support key points in the plan.
  • Be Consistent: Keep the voice and formatting (e.g., font style and size) consistent throughout the plan to maintain a sense of continuity.
  • Stay True to Your Brand: Make sure that the tone, colors, and overall style of the business plan are a true reflection of your organization’s brand.
  • Proofread Before Distribution: Prior to distributing the plan to stakeholders, have a colleague proofread the rough version to check for errors and ensure that the plan is polished.
  • Don’t Set It and Forget It: You should treat your nonprofit business plan as a living document that you need to review and update on a regular basis — as objectives change and your organization grows.
  • Use an Effective Collaboration Tool: Use an online tool to accomplish the following: collaborate with key personnel on all components of the business plan; enable version control for all documents; and keep resources in one accessible place.

Improve Your Nonprofit Business Planning Efforts with Smartsheet

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The Smartsheet platform makes it easy to plan, capture, manage, and report on work from anywhere, helping your team be more effective and get more done. Report on key metrics and get real-time visibility into work as it happens with roll-up reports, dashboards, and automated workflows built to keep your team connected and informed. 

When teams have clarity into the work getting done, there’s no telling how much more they can accomplish in the same amount of time.  Try Smartsheet for free, today.

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10+ Charity Business Plan Examples in PDF | DOC

Charity Business Plan featured

Various people lead different lives. That said, individuals consequently end up setting varying career goals . Some of them, such as people like you, find their calling in helping others. Most people who like supporting a cause start a charity. If you are here because you are planning to start one, or probably because you are finding ways to keep your nonprofit organization up and running, continue reading this article and learn how to devise a charity business plan.

10+ Charity Business Plan Examples

1. executive summary  charity business plan.

executive summary charity business plan

Size: 187 KB

2. Starting Non Profit  Charity Business Plan

starting non profit charity business plan

Size: 96 KB

3.  Business Plan for Non Profit Organisation

business plan for non profit organisation

Size: 602 KB

4. Charity Business Continuity Plan

charity business continuity plan template

Size: 373 KB

5. Charity Business Plan for Orphans

charity business plan for orphans

Size: 70 KB

6. Charity Project Business Plan Template

charity project business plan template

Size: 394 KB

7. Small Business Charity Non Profit Plan

small business charity non profit plan

Size: 43 KB

8. Charity Business Plan Example

charity business plan example

Size: 38 KB

9. Community Charity Shop Business Plan

community charity shop business plan

10. Charity Commission Business Plan

charity commission business plan

Size: 12 MB

11. NGO Charity Business Plan Template

ngo charity business plan template

Size: 32 KB

What Is a Charity Business Plan?

A charity business plan is a document that provides a detailed description of the nonprofit organization. It also includes an outline of the business marketing strategy and techniques to secure volunteers and sponsors of the charity’s cause. In addition, it involves conducting a nonprofit analysis and other essential elements considering the influential factors in setting an organization. 

How to Generate a Charity Business Plan?

A charity is different from a profit organization in how it handles its income and expenses. As a figurehead, you need to think as a businessman would. That said, you need to strategize and plan on how to secure business opportunities and how to handle various circumstances. Help more people by making your charity a success. 

1. Conduct a Nonprofit SWOT Analysis

To know how your charity is operating and how you can better it, you must conduct a nonprofit SWOT analysis . This method will help you understand the standing of your nonprofit organization. Also, it will lead you to discover the strength of your organization and the weak areas that you need to improve. In addition, it will also uncover opportunities and help you detect the possible threats that will put your nonprofit business at risk.

2. Set Your Organizational Goals

The next step is to strengthen your organization’s cause by setting your goals. Goal-setting is a crucial step for all business ventures, may it be a profit or nonprofit. It is because your organizational goals will set the direction for all the upcoming plans and strategies. In addition, it will also strengthen your cause and help you come up with strategic methods to achieve your aim. 

3. Devise a Nonprofit Marketing Plan

Now that you have your target, the next step in generating your charity business plan is to devise a nonprofit marketing plan . One way to secure and retain your foundation is to find people who would love to support your cause. To do that, you need to develop nonprofit marketing strategies . This action will boost the people’s awareness and persuade them to sponsor and volunteer for your organization. 

4. Detail Your Nonprofit Budget

Another essential element to consider is your nonprofit budget . To gain more knowledge regarding your budget, you should conduct a financial analysis. To do this, you need to take note of your charity’s expenses and income. Take out essential paperwork that you might need in calculating for your budget plan . Remember to label each item on your budget sheet in detail to avoid confusion.

What are the best ways to raise funds for your charity?

There are numerous ways of fundraising for a charity. One of the best methods is to conduct fun and unique fundraising events. You can do all sorts of things for your event, such as bake sales, charity auctions, crowdfunding marathons, and boosting your online presence to ask for online donations. All of these are effective methods you can incorporate into your nonprofit fundraising plan .

What is a charity proposal?

A charity proposal is a document that will communicate your organization’s mission and vision, as well as your cause, to the potential prospects. This proposal letter will present your strategies and plans to secure sponsors and financial donations from charity volunteers. Writing this form is one method to raise funds for your charity. There are available business proposal templates online to make the process of composing this document easier.

What are some examples of impressive charity goals?

One example of a charity goal would be to increase staffing. Just like other businesses, nonprofit organizations need employees that will render their services. The more quality employees you have, the more people you can help. Another one is to gain more sponsors and volunteers. Most of the budget of charities comes from the donations of people who support a similar cause.

When doing business, a professional must not only look in one direction. Instead, you must do a complete three-sixty and look at all the possibilities for your organization. This statement applies to all business ventures, including nonprofits such as a charity. One way to do that is to evaluate the ins and outs of your business while devising a business plan. Generate a charity business plan as early as now to attain your goals.

executive summary charity business plan

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The Executive Summary Of A Nonprofit Business Plan

How to write a nonprofit business plan: lesson 9.

What should the reader of the nonprofit business plan know (in general) about your nonprofit? The executive summary can be used for helping a potential lender, donor, etc. understand the gist of the nonprofit organization and the business side of things. Use this section to communicate the basic concept and the big picture items that are relevant to your nonprofit and to the cause you serve. Although it is one of the last things to write, this section goes at the front of your nonprofit business plan so readers have an overview of the plan before diving in to get more detail.

executive summary charity business plan

What is it you want to do? Do you want to save whales? Are you hoping to help children in need? Do you want to share the gospel with others? Whatever your passion, it will be the driving force behind your nonprofit. In order to be effective, your mission should be clearly defined, easy to remember, and it should meet a particular need. If you can’t define the need (pain) the nonprofit solves, others won’t be able to rally behind your efforts. Perhaps you have a solution in mind, so go back and clearly define the pain you are solving. Write it down. Then write down how you will solve the pain. Together, this is called the pain/solution scenario. In other words, you have a clear definition of the thing you want to change and how you plan to change it.

Example of Nonprofit Executive Summary

What is your method for changing the world for the better? What are the exact outcomes you want to achieve? The impact is the overall result when you implement your solution.

Financial Overview

This is a snapshot of what the reader will see in the financials section of the plan. Don’t include everything. Just give them the big picture. When will the nonprofit be financially viable? When will the nonprofit reach certain impact goals? How many donations does the nonprofit need to be viable?

Keys To Success

Include any keys to success for the organization to be effective. The reader of the nonprofit business plan may be a person who can help you fulfill objectives in these key areas. Additionally, identifying keys to success will help you keep the important things at the front of your mind when the work of a nonprofit founder gets crazy.

Other Important Information

In this final area of the nonprofit business plan executive summary, include anything else you think is necessary to give the reader a good 30,000-foot view of what your organization is trying to accomplish. This may be a summary of other sections in the nonprofit business plan, or it may be something entirely different. Ask yourself what you would quickly want to know if you were interested in helping this nonprofit. Answer that question, and you’re on your way to finishing this section.

Once you have completed the executive summary for your nonprofit business plan, you’re 90% finished with the entire plan. Congratulations! It’s no easy endeavor to write a nonprofit business plan, but it’s well worth your time. With your plan, you have a great start for creating a terrific nonprofit that will thrive.

Additional Resources

For more help on tackling your nonprofit business plan’s executive summary, check out why this article by Bplans suggests approaching your executive summary as an elevator pitch . Need an example of a nonprofit executive summary ? Check out this organization’s sample of a nonprofit business plan .

Final Piece

Now that the bulk of your nonprofit business plan is complete, you’ll just need to put it all together . In the next lesson, we’ll cover what you’ll want to include in your appendices.

Put Your Nonprofit On The Fast Track To Success!

Creating and running a successful nonprofit organization can be extremely rewarding, but is not always an easy task—especially if it is your first time. To simplify things, we have created a success kit to help you get your nonprofit off the ground and start thriving. Fill out the form below to receive your free checklist.

executive summary charity business plan

Eric Nasalroad

Eric Nasalroad is the Chief Operating Officer at Aplos and has a passion for helping people start and grow nonprofits. Specializing in entrepreneurship, he has written a textbook on the topic and also serves as a professor at the prestigious Lyles Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Fresno State. In addition to starting a variety of businesses of his own, he has helped hundreds of individuals launch their own nonprofits and businesses.

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executive summary charity business plan

My friend Mike and I have just recently co-founded The Carpe Diem Foundation, and have our charter and been approved as a charitable 501c3 nonprofit. Our mission is to be an advocate on behalf of the men and women fighting Parkinson’s Disease (PD), striving to ‘help others and ourselves prevail enthusiastically’ (H.O².P.E.). Our vision is to better inform, better equip and better enable those fighting PD and their caregivers so that they can ‘seize the day – living life as though there’s no tomorrow!’

Mike was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in August, 2016; and my two youngest brothers were diagnosed over 12 years ago, one of whom passed this past January after a 17 year fight. So we are able to relate directly to this dreaded disease; and as a result, be better able to help others.

Mike and I met yesterday with my daughter who has used APLOS accounting software to assist Africa Transformation Network (ATN). She has joined our team, and will help us set up and use APLOS accounting software as well.

Mike and I are in the process of writing our business plan, and I want to thank you for helping us by providing your Nonprofit Business Plan series of 10 detailed lessons on how to write a business plan.

Thank You, Sir!

Blessings as you continue to assist nonprofits striving to help those in need!

Richest Blessings In Him!

Dick McGinn Romans 15:13

executive summary charity business plan

We’re thrilled to have been able to help you! Stories like these really warm our heart and validate that we’re on the right path to helping people by giving them the tools they need to accomplish their mission.

If there’s anything else we can do to help you and Mike out, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us again.

Best, (The other) Eric

PS – I’ll be sure to share your comment with Eric Nasalroad, the one who wrote this article.

executive summary charity business plan

Wow, Thanks for the great tips! I did have a question though. Could you please tell me – What are some of the good online courses to study finance and accounting?

executive summary charity business plan

A great resource for learning finance and accounting is lynda.com, though that requires a paid subscription. Udemy.com is also a useful resource.

executive summary charity business plan

I’m so thankful for this page. I’ve been working on a school project (college) for an entrepreneurship class. I’m developing a Non Profit to assist Ex-Offenders coming out of prison; not a typical business so your page helps me to understand how to formulate the Exec Summary. God Bless..

executive summary charity business plan

We’re happy to help, Tony!

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A nonprofit business plan ensures your organization’s fundraising and activities align with your core mission.

 Four people wearing green T-shirts and high-visibility yellow vests stand at a table outside a building, packing cardboard boxes. The two people on the left, both women with long curly hair, are packing a box with cans of food. The two people on the right, both men, are speaking to each other while the shorter man on the left looks down at a long, flat box.

Every nonprofit needs a mission statement that demonstrates how the organization will support a social cause and provide a public benefit. A nonprofit business plan fleshes out this mission statement in greater detail. These plans include many of the same elements as a for-profit business plan, with a focus on fundraising, creating a board of directors, raising awareness, and staying compliant with IRS regulations. A nonprofit business plan can be instrumental in getting your organization off the ground successfully.

Start with your mission statement

The mission statement is foundational for your nonprofit organization. The IRS will review your mission statement in determining whether to grant you tax-exempt status. This statement also helps you recruit volunteers and staff, fundraise, and plan activities for the year.

[Read more: Writing a Mission Statement: A Step-by-Step Guide ]

Therefore, you should start your business plan with a clear mission statement in the executive summary. The executive summary can also cover, at a high level, the goals, vision, and unique strengths of your nonprofit organization. Keep this section brief, since you will be going into greater detail in later sections.

Identify a board of directors

Many business plans include a section identifying the people behind the operation: your key leaders, volunteers, and full-time employees. For nonprofits, it’s also important to identify your board of directors. The board of directors is ultimately responsible for hiring and managing the CEO of your nonprofit.

“Board members are the fiduciaries who steer the organization towards a sustainable future by adopting sound, ethical, and legal governance and financial management policies, as well as by making sure the nonprofit has adequate resources to advance its mission,” wrote the Council of Nonprofits.

As such, identify members of your board in your business plan to give potential donors confidence in the management of your nonprofit.

Be as realistic as possible about the impact you can make with the funding you hope to gain.

Describe your organization’s activities

In this section, provide more information about what your nonprofit does on a day-to-day basis. What products, training, education, or other services do you provide? What does your organization do to benefit the constituents identified in your mission statement? Here’s an example from the American Red Cross, courtesy of DonorBox :

“The American Red Cross carries out their mission to prevent and relieve suffering with five key services: disaster relief, supporting America’s military families, lifesaving blood, health and safety services, and international service.”

This section should be detailed and get into the operational weeds of how your business delivers on its mission statement. Explain the strategies your team will take to service clients, including outreach and marketing, inventory and equipment needs, a hiring plan, and other key elements.

Write a fundraising plan

This part is the most important element of your business plan. In addition to providing required financial statements (e.g., the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement), identify potential sources of funding for your nonprofit. These may include individual donors, corporate donors, grants, or in-kind support. If you are planning to host a fundraising event, put together a budget for that event and demonstrate the anticipated impact that event will have on your budget.

Create an impact plan

An impact plan ties everything together. It demonstrates how your fundraising and day-to-day activities will further your mission. For potential donors, it can make a very convincing case for why they should invest in your nonprofit.

“This section turns your purpose and motivation into concrete accomplishments your nonprofit wants to make and sets specific goals and objectives,” wrote DonorBox . “These define the real bottom line of your nonprofit, so they’re the key to unlocking support. Funders want to know for whom, in what way, and exactly how you’ll measure your impact.”

Be as realistic as possible about the impact you can make with the funding you hope to gain. Revisit your business plan as your organization grows to make sure the goals you’ve set both align with your mission and continue to be within reach.

[Read more: 8 Signs It's Time to Update Your Business Plan ]

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How to Write a Nonprofit Business Plan

Female entrepreneur speaking with an employee of a nonprofit at their computer. Chatting about planning for nonprofit donors.

Angelique O'Rourke

13 min. read

Updated October 27, 2023

Believe it or not, creating a business plan for a nonprofit organization is not that different from planning for a traditional business. 

Nonprofits sometimes shy away from using the words “business planning,” preferring to use terms like “strategic plan” or “operating plan.” But, the fact is that preparing a plan for a for-profit business and a nonprofit organization are actually pretty similar processes. Both types of organizations need to create forecasts for revenue and plan how they’re going to spend the money they bring in. They also need to manage their cash and ensure that they can stay solvent to accomplish their goals.

In this guide, I’ll explain how to create a plan for your organization that will impress your board of directors, facilitate fundraising, and ensures that you deliver on your mission.

  • Why does a nonprofit need a business plan?

Good business planning is about setting goals, getting everyone on the same page, tracking performance metrics, and improving over time. Even when your goal isn’t to increase profits, you still need to be able to run a fiscally healthy organization.

Business planning creates an opportunity to examine the heart of your mission , the financing you’ll need to bring that mission to fruition, and your plan to sustain your operations into the future.

Nonprofits are also responsible for meeting regularly with a board of directors and reporting on your organization’s finances is a critical part of that meeting. As part of your regular financial review with the board, you can compare your actual results to your financial forecast in your business plan. Are you meeting fundraising goals and keeping spending on track? Is the financial position of the organization where you wanted it to be?

In addition to internal use, a solid business plan can help you court major donors who will be interested in having a deeper understanding of how your organization works and your fiscal health and accountability. And you’ll definitely need a formal business plan if you intend to seek outside funding for capital expenses—it’s required by lenders.

Creating a business plan for your organization is a great way to get your management team or board to connect over your vision, goals, and trajectory. Even just going through the planning process with your colleagues will help you take a step back and get some high-level perspective .

  • A nonprofit business plan outline

Keep in mind that developing a business plan is an ongoing process. It isn’t about just writing a physical document that is static, but a continually evolving strategy and action plan as your organization progresses over time. It’s essential that you run regular plan review meetings to track your progress against your plan. For most nonprofits, this will coincide with regular reports and meetings with the board of directors.

A nonprofit business plan will include many of the same sections of a standard business plan outline . If you’d like to start simple, you can download our free business plan template as a Word document, and adjust it according to the nonprofit plan outline below.

Executive summary

The executive summary of a nonprofit business plan is typically the first section of the plan to be read, but the last to be written. That’s because this section is a general overview of everything else in the business plan – the overall snapshot of what your vision is for the organization.

Write it as though you might share with a prospective donor, or someone unfamiliar with your organization: avoid internal jargon or acronyms, and write it so that someone who has never heard of you would understand what you’re doing.

Your executive summary should provide a very brief overview of your organization’s mission. It should describe who you serve, how you provide the services that you offer, and how you fundraise. 

If you are putting together a plan to share with potential donors, you should include an overview of what you are asking for and how you intend to use the funds raised.

What’s your biggest business challenge right now?

Opportunity.

Start this section of your nonprofit plan by describing the problem that you are solving for your clients or your community at large. Then say how your organization solves the problem.

A great way to present your opportunity is with a positioning statement . Here’s a formula you can use to define your positioning:

For [target market description] who [target market need], [this product] [how it meets the need]. Unlike [key competition], it [most important distinguishing feature].

And here’s an example of a positioning statement using the formula:

For children, ages five to 12 (target market) who are struggling with reading (their need), Tutors Changing Lives (your organization or program name) helps them get up to grade-level reading through a once a week class (your solution).

Unlike the school district’s general after-school homework lab (your state-funded competition), our program specifically helps children learn to read within six months (how you’re different).

Your organization is special or you wouldn’t spend so much time devoted to it. Layout some of the nuts and bolts about what makes it great in this opening section of your business plan. Your nonprofit probably changes lives, changes your community, or maybe even changes the world. Explain how it does this.

This is where you really go into detail about the programs you’re offering. You’ll want to describe how many people you serve and how you serve them.

Target audience

In a for-profit business plan, this section would be used to define your target market . For nonprofit organizations, it’s basically the same thing but framed as who you’re serving with your organization. Who benefits from your services?

Not all organizations have clients that they serve directly, so you might exclude this section if that’s the case. For example, an environmental preservation organization might have a goal of acquiring land to preserve natural habitats. The organization isn’t directly serving individual groups of people and is instead trying to benefit the environment as a whole. 

Similar organizations

Everyone has competition —nonprofits, too. You’re competing with other nonprofits for donor attention and support, and you’re competing with other organizations serving your target population. Even if your program is the only one in your area providing a specific service, you still have competition.

Think about what your prospective clients were doing about their problem (the one your organization is solving) before you came on this scene. If you’re running an after-school tutoring organization, you might be competing with after school sports programs for clients. Even though your organizations have fundamentally different missions.

For many nonprofit organizations, competing for funding is an important issue. You’ll want to use this section of your plan to explain who donors would choose your organization instead of similar organizations for their donations.

Future services and programs

If you’re running a regional nonprofit, do you want to be national in five years? If you’re currently serving children ages two to four, do you want to expand to ages five to 12? Use this section to talk about your long-term goals. 

Just like a traditional business, you’ll benefit by laying out a long-term plan. Not only does it help guide your nonprofit, but it also provides a roadmap for the board as well as potential investors. 

Promotion and outreach strategies

In a for-profit business plan, this section would be about marketing and sales strategies. For nonprofits, you’re going to talk about how you’re going to reach your target client population.

You’ll probably do some combination of:

  • Advertising: print and direct mail, television, radio, and so on.
  • Public relations: press releases, activities to promote brand awareness, and so on.
  • Digital marketing: website, email, blog, social media, and so on.

Similar to the “target audience” section above, you may remove this section if you don’t promote your organization to clients and others who use your services.

Costs and fees

Instead of including a pricing section, a nonprofit business plan should include a costs or fees section.

Talk about how your program is funded, and whether the costs your clients pay are the same for everyone, or based on income level, or something else. If your clients pay less for your service than it costs to run the program, how will you make up the difference?

If you don’t charge for your services and programs, you can state that here or remove this section.

Fundraising sources

Fundraising is critical for most nonprofit organizations. This portion of your business plan will detail who your key fundraising sources are. 

Similar to understanding who your target audience for your services is, you’ll also want to know who your target market is for fundraising. Who are your supporters? What kind of person donates to your organization? Creating a “donor persona” could be a useful exercise to help you reflect on this subject and streamline your fundraising approach. 

You’ll also want to define different tiers of prospective donors and how you plan on connecting with them. You’re probably going to include information about your annual giving program (usually lower-tier donors) and your major gifts program (folks who give larger amounts).

If you’re a private school, for example, you might think of your main target market as alumni who graduated during a certain year, at a certain income level. If you’re building a bequest program to build your endowment, your target market might be a specific population with interest in your cause who is at retirement age.

Do some research. The key here is not to report your target donors as everyone in a 3,000-mile radius with a wallet. The more specific you can be about your prospective donors —their demographics, income level, and interests, the more targeted (and less costly) your outreach can be.

Fundraising activities

How will you reach your donors with your message? Use this section of your business plan to explain how you will market your organization to potential donors and generate revenue.

You might use a combination of direct mail, advertising, and fundraising events. Detail the key activities and programs that you’ll use to reach your donors and raise money.

Strategic alliances and partnerships

Use this section to talk about how you’ll work with other organizations. Maybe you need to use a room in the local public library to run your program for the first year. Maybe your organization provides mental health counselors in local schools, so you partner with your school district.

In some instances, you might also be relying on public health programs like Medicaid to fund your program costs. Mention all those strategic partnerships here, especially if your program would have trouble existing without the partnership.

Milestones and metrics

Without milestones and metrics for your nonprofit, it will be more difficult to execute on your mission. Milestones and metrics are guideposts along the way that are indicators that your program is working and that your organization is healthy.

They might include elements of your fundraising goals—like monthly or quarterly donation goals, or it might be more about your participation metrics. Since most nonprofits working with foundations for grants do complex reporting on some of these, don’t feel like you have to re-write every single goal and metric for your organization here. Think about your bigger goals, and if you need to, include more information in your business plan’s appendix.

If you’re revisiting your plan on a monthly basis, and we recommend that you do, the items here might speak directly to the questions you know your board will ask in your monthly trustee meeting. The point is to avoid surprises by having eyes on your organization’s performance. Having these goals, and being able to change course if you’re not meeting them, will help your organization avoid falling into a budget deficit.

Key assumptions and risks

Your nonprofit exists to serve a particular population or cause. Before you designed your key programs or services, you probably did some research to validate that there’s a need for what you’re offering.

But you probably are also taking some calculated risks. In this section, talk about the unknowns for your organization. If you name them, you can address them.

For example, if you think there’s a need for a children’s literacy program, maybe you surveyed teachers or parents in your area to verify the need. But because you haven’t launched the program yet, one of your unknowns might be whether the kids will actually show up.

Management team and company

Who is going to be involved and what are their duties? What do these individuals bring to the table?

Include both the management team of the day-to-day aspects of your nonprofit as well as board members and mention those who may overlap between the two roles. Highlight their qualifications: titles, degrees, relevant past accomplishments, and designated responsibilities should be included in this section. It adds a personal touch to mention team members who are especially qualified because they’re close to the cause or have special first-hand experience with or knowledge of the population you’re serving.

There are probably some amazing, dedicated people with stellar qualifications on your team—this is the place to feature them (and don’t forget to include yourself!).

Financial plan

The financial plan is essential to any organization that’s seeking funding, but also incredibly useful internally to keep track of what you’ve done so far financially and where you’d like to see the organization go in the future.

The financial section of your business plan should include a long-term budget and cash flow statement with a three to five-year forecast. This will allow you to see that the organization has its basic financial needs covered. Any nonprofit has its standard level of funding required to stay operational, so it’s essential to make sure your organization will consistently maintain at least that much in the coffers.

From that point, it’s all about future planning: If you exceed your fundraising goals, what will be done with the surplus? What will you do if you don’t meet your fundraising goals? Are you accounting for appropriate amounts going to payroll and administrative costs over time? Thinking through a forecast of your financial plan over the next several years will help ensure that your organization is sustainable.

Money management skills are just as important in a nonprofit as they are in a for-profit business. Knowing the financial details of your organization is incredibly important in a world where the public is ranking the credibility of charities based on what percentage of donations makes it to the programs and services. As a nonprofit, people are interested in the details of how money is being dispersed within organizations, with this information often being posted online on sites like Charity Navigator, so the public can make informed decisions about donating.

Potential contributors will do their research—so make sure you do too. No matter who your donors are, they will want to know they can trust your organization with their money. A robust financial plan is a solid foundation for reference that your nonprofit is on the right track.

  • Business planning is ongoing

It’s important to remember that a business plan doesn’t have to be set in stone. It acts as a roadmap, something that you can come back to as a guide, then revise and edit to suit your purpose at a given time.

I recommend that you review your financial plan once a month to see if your organization is on track, and then revise your plan as necessary .

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CHARITY BUSINESS PLAN: The Ultimate Guide To Writing A Non-Profit Business Plan

  • by Kenechukwu Muoghalu
  • August 14, 2023
  • No comments
  • 7 minute read

Charity business plan

Table of Contents Hide

What is a charity business plan , why do i need a charity business plan, #1. executive summary, #2. present your opportunity, #3. target audience, #4. strategic plan objective, #5. your products and services, #6. operational plan, #7. marketing plan, #8. financial plan, #9. management team and board, #10. appendix, charity business plan template checklist, how many pages should my charity business plan be, how do i start a non-profit with no money, do not let your charity business plan miss out, charity business plan faqs, can i make money owning a charity business, how do charity owners make money, how do i start a small charity.

A lot of charity organizations do not like the idea of having a business plan. This is because they think that creating a business plan for their charity organization is a waste of time. But wait! What makes you think so? Isn’t a charity organization a form of business? Be it a profit or nonprofit, it makes no difference. Learn to accept that it is still in the business genre. This is why we have created an example of what a UK template checklist looks like, just to guide you while writing your charity business plan.

There are lots of benefits to having a business plan for your charity organization. This article will furtherly cover those grounds. Shall we! 

A charity business plan isn’t just a document of many pages. When you define it like that, it is said to reduce its actual value. A charitable business plan details the products and services your nonprofit organization provides. A charity business plan also contains the people on your team, the community you work for, your financials, goals, and how to attain those goals. Now, this right here can count as a definition. 

Don’t make the mistake of starting that excellent idea of yours without having a charity business plan on standby. Even those dreams and ideas can turn useless if you cannot formulate, execute, and implement a plan that can help you achieve them. 

Creating a nonprofit business plan doesn’t have to be long and bulky. Even a short business plan can serve its purpose more than a long one. All it needs to contain is the necessary information about your organization and you are good to go.

Heaven yes! You do need a charity business plan. Having a charity business plan will save you tons of pitfalls. A charity business plan can help you create forecasts for revenue and also help you plan how to utilize any money that comes in. You would have a clear guide on all the activities your organization goes through. You can even measure your growth and denote where changes are needed for more growth. 

When you talk about good business planning, you talk about setting goals , carrying your team along, tracking performance, and improving. Every business needs these essentials to grow, no matter the nature of the business. Even if you are not interested in whatever profits the organization will yield due to your large heart, you still need to run a healthy organization. Whichever angle you come from, you can’t run from it. 

Read Also: How To Register A Business: Detailed Guide To Business Registration In The Uk

For example, when you run a charity business, you need to always report and plan with the board of directors. Most of the time, the financial status of the organization is mostly what is being discussed. This is where your charity business plan comes in. It can help you compare your actual results to your financial forecasts. It can guide the amount of spending you do while keeping your financial position in check. 

Moreover, keeping a charity business plan can also help attract sponsors, donors, or even lenders who want to understand how your organization works and help you achieve your goals. 

The Ultimate Guide to Writing a Non-profit Business Plan

To create a charitable business plan, you will need to either follow some examples, which can also be accessed in a PDF, or follow these outlines. These outlines should be in check while creating a business plan for your charity organization. Nothing should be left out. This ultimate guide includes:

This is the general overview of the whole business plan. It is usually the first section to read and the last to write. While in this section, avoid jargon and write as though an external eye is going to access it. It should be easily accessible and easy to read. Go ahead to briefly state the overview of your mission. Include the services you provide and how you fundraise. 

A great way to do this is by using a positioning statement . In this section, describe the problems people face and how your organization can solve them. It can be giving tutors to kids or providing food to a large number of people. Explain how your organization is different from other, and state what you do to help the community and saves lives. 

If you have a specific target audience that your organization caters to, then specify it in this section. State who benefits from the services you render. You should also note that it is possible not to have a particular target market. This means that your product is utilized by all. 

In your strategic plan objective , mention those plans and visions you want to observe next in your organization. With those improvements and a project plan, you are ready to take. For example, you feed 300 people per year, but then you are planning on making it 500 this particular year. It can even be about your organization. You can choose to grow from a regional nonprofit to a national nonprofit organization. Talk about those long-term goals in this section and work towards getting them done. 

Just like the name implies, you will need to define the products and services you offer. Talk about how you will raise money and serve your community. Detail every item and avoid keeping it general. In this section, you will need to include even the smallest detail that you think no one would notice. 

How will your charity organization operate? What are the legal structures, organizational structures, location, and inventory? What about the management team? How would they operate? You will need to answer these questions in this section. 

When writing your charity business plan, our marketing strategy is an important factor because you will need to promote your organization. You will need to make it known, and let people know the services you offer and what your charity organization is all about. While at this, you can indirectly attract sponsors or donors that love what you do and will help in any way. 

This section will have information on your financial details. You will include all your current funding, expenses, liabilities, revenue, and assets. Add statistics and make it more professional. Add graphs to make it more comprehensive. This section is also the most crucial to loaners and donors. Add expected expenses as well, salaries, utility bills, website hosting, insurance, subscriptions, and anyone expenses that the organization will be running.

List the individuals that will be present in your organization. Clearly, they have different duties and responsibilities. Both your day-to-day team and your board members should not be left out. Feature those capable workers that always put the organization first before any other thing. Indicate their qualifications and degree, and don’t forget to also mention how good you are too. 

In this section, you will be free to include anything extra that you wish to. Any special feature that you think shouldn’t be exempted from your charity business plan? It can be the bios of your board members and any other details you feel are relevant for the section. When you follow all these, there shouldn’t be a reason why you will not have a successful charity organization. 

To help you get started with your UK charity organization, we have created a business plan example template. This charity business plan template can also be utilized in other locations apart from the UK. So we urge you to explore. Don’t fret. Let’s take a look at our charity business plan example template. They include: 

  • Define your goals and milestones.
  • Understand your team and other stakeholders.
  • Assess your financing model.
  • Identify your risks and manage them. 
  • Attract investment and volunteers.
  • Research and discover new opportunities.
  • Kink your plan.

You can have from seven to thirty pages in your business plan. It must not be made too long before it can serve its purpose in your organization. Just keep it clear and concise for anyone to scale through without difficulty. But why bother when we have an already composed charity business plan that is highly convertible. All you need to do is to get a copy here and start your journey to success. 

The best action to take is to approach potential investors or donors for help. While doing this, you will need to explain the nature of your organization and whatever idea you have for its growth. Even with no cash at hand, you can still make this work. 

Meanwhile ,

Our main priority is to boost your charity organization and to give you an opportunity that is rare to find. 

Have you tried creating a plan and it seems tough? Do you have questions that you don’t have an answer to even after multiple trials? Stop trying! 

Your plea has been heard and that is why we will be giving you a uniquely designed charity business plan. A plan that multiple charity organizations have tested and confirmed its productivity. You won’t have to stress more because it is simplified and easy for anyone to access. Take your charity organization to another level now!

Nonprofit organizations have proven to be created out of passion and enthusiasm. But passion without a proper business plan will render your zeal powerless. Imagine being patriotic, going to war without a weapon. How would you win? Just because it is labeled “nonprofit” doesn’t mean that you should operate it like any other business out there. Make a difference with your charity business plan. 

A non-profit organization doesn’t earn a taxable profit. But that does not mean that the people that run it can’t receive a taxable salary. The founder can ensure that its workers earn a living, while still running a charity organization.

Charity businesses can earn money through regular activities like using volunteers, hosting fundraising events, sponsoring occasions, selling products, or even running adverts that can bring in donations.

Starting a charity business can be hectic but there are some steps to follow to make it a better experience. Start by defining your mission, picking a name, registering the business, opening a website, raising some cash and staying lean. Don’t forget to also own a Charity Business plan, which you can create using a UK template.

Starting a charity business can be hectic but there are some steps to follow to make it a better experience. Start by defining your mission, picking a name, registering the business, opening a website, raising some cash and staying lean. Don't forget to also own a Charity Business plan, which you can create using a UK template.

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Kenechukwu Muoghalu

Kenny, an accomplished business writer with a decade of experience, excels in translating intricate industry insights into engaging articles. Her passion revolves around distilling the latest trends, offering actionable advice, and nurturing a comprehensive understanding of the business landscape. With a proven track record of delivering insightful content, Kenny is dedicated to empowering her readers with the knowledge needed to thrive in the dynamic and ever-evolving world of business.

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Charity Business Plan

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Starting a charity business is a huge responsibility. To make a positive impact in society, you will need to build your charity business strong, for which you will need a detailed business plan.

Need help writing a business plan for your charity business? You’re at the right place. Our charity business plan template will help you get started.

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  • Fill in the blanks – Outline
  • Financial Tables

How to Write A Charity Business Plan?

Writing a charity business plan is a crucial step toward the success of your business. Here are the key steps to consider when writing a business plan:

1. Executive Summary

An executive summary is the first section planned to offer an overview of the entire business plan. However, it is written after the entire business plan is ready and summarizes each section of your plan.

Here are a few key components to include in your executive summary:

Introduce your Business:

Start your executive summary by briefly introducing your business to your readers.

Market Opportunity:

Highlight the charity programs you offer your clients. The USPs and differentiators you offer are always a plus.

Marketing & Sales Strategies:

Financial highlights:, call to action:.

Ensure your executive summary is clear, concise, easy to understand, and jargon-free.

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executive summary charity business plan

2. Business Overview

The business overview section of your business plan offers detailed information about your company. The details you add will depend on how important they are to your business. Yet, business name, location, business history, and future goals are some of the foundational elements you must consider adding to this section:

Business Description:

Describe your business in this section by providing all the basic information:

Describe what kind of charity company you run and the name of it. You may specialize in one of the following charity businesses:

  • Humanitarian charities
  • Public charity
  • Private charity
  • Health charities
  • Educational charities
  • Environmental charities
  • Animal welfare charities
  • Describe the legal structure of your charity company, whether it is a sole proprietorship, LLC, partnership, or others.
  • Explain where your business is located and why you selected the place.

Mission Statement:

Business history:.

If you’re an established charity service provider, briefly describe your business history, like—when it was founded, how it evolved over time, etc.

Future Goals

This section should provide a thorough understanding of your business, its history, and its future plans. Keep this section engaging, precise, and to the point.

3. Market Analysis

The market analysis section of your business plan should offer a thorough understanding of the industry with the target market, competitors, and growth opportunities. You should include the following components in this section.

Target market:

Start this section by describing your target market. Define your ideal customer and explain what types of services they prefer. Creating a buyer persona will help you easily define your target market to your readers.

Conduct SWOT analysis:

Competitive analysis:, market trends:.

Analyze emerging trends in the industry, such as technology disruptions, changes in customer behavior or preferences, etc. Explain how your business will cope with all the trends.

Regulatory Environment:

Here are a few tips for writing the market analysis section of your charity business plan:

  • Conduct market research, industry reports, and surveys to gather data.
  • Provide specific and detailed information whenever possible.
  • Illustrate your points with charts and graphs.
  • Write your business plan keeping your target audience in mind.

4. Products of Your Bicycle Shop

The product and services section should describe the specific services and products that will be offered to customers. To write this section should include the following:

Describe your programs:

Mention the charity programs your business will offer. This list may include:

  • Direct assistance
  • Education and training
  • Healthcare & medical services
  • Social services
  • Advocacy and awareness

Describe the objectives behind programs:

Supportive services:.

In short, this section of your charity plan must be informative, precise, and client-focused. By providing a clear and compelling description of your offerings, you can help potential investors and readers understand the value of your business.

5. Sales And Marketing Strategies

Writing the sales and marketing strategies section means a list of strategies you will use to attract and retain your clients. Here are some key elements to include in your sales & marketing plan:

Unique Selling Proposition (USP):

Define your business’s USPs depending on the market you serve, the equipment you use, and the unique services you provide. Identifying USPs will help you plan your marketing strategies.

Marketing Mix:

Marketing channels:, fundraising strategies:.

Describe the fundraising strategies you plan on implementing to generate revenue for your nonprofit. Your nonprofit may generate income from grants, major gifts, individual giving, charity events, online fundraising, corporate sponsorship, etc.

Donor Retention:

Overall, this section of your charity business plan should focus on customer acquisition and retention.

Have a specific, realistic, and data-driven approach while planning sales and marketing strategies for your charity business, and be prepared to adapt or make strategic changes in your strategies based on feedback and results.

6. Operations Plan

The operations plan section of your business plan should outline the processes and procedures involved in your business operations, such as staffing requirements and operational processes. Here are a few components to add to your operations plan:

Staffing & Training:

Operational process:, equipment & software:.

Include the list of equipment and software required for charity, such as office equipment, software & IT infrastructure, communication & presentation tools, fundraising equipment, vehicles & transportation, etc.

Adding these components to your operations plan will help you lay out your business operations, which will eventually help you manage your business effectively.

7. Management Team

The management team section provides an overview of your charity business’s management team. This section should provide a detailed description of each manager’s experience and qualifications, as well as their responsibilities and roles.

Founders/CEO:

Key managers:.

Introduce your management and key members of your team, and explain their roles and responsibilities.

Organizational structure:

Compensation plan:, advisors/consultants:.

Mentioning advisors or consultants in your business plans adds credibility to your business idea.

This section should describe the key personnel for your charity, highlighting how you have the perfect team to succeed.

8. Financial Plan

Your financial plan section should provide a summary of your business’s financial projections for the first few years. Here are some key elements to include in your financial plan:

Profit & loss statement:

Cash flow statement:, balance sheet:, break-even point:.

Determine and mention your business’s break-even point—the point at which your business costs and revenue will be equal.

Financing Needs:

Be realistic with your financial projections, and make sure you offer relevant information and evidence to support your estimates.

9. Appendix

The appendix section of your plan should include any additional information supporting your business plan’s main content, such as market research, legal documentation, financial statements, and other relevant information.

  • Add a table of contents for the appendix section to help readers easily find specific information or sections.
  • In addition to your financial statements, provide additional financial documents like tax returns, a list of assets within the business, credit history, and more. These statements must be the latest and offer financial projections for at least the first three or five years of business operations.
  • Provide data derived from market research, including stats about the industry, user demographics, and industry trends.
  • Include any legal documents such as permits, licenses, and contracts.
  • Include any additional documentation related to your business plan, such as product brochures, marketing materials, operational procedures, etc.

Use clear headings and labels for each section of the appendix so that readers can easily find the necessary information.

Remember, the appendix section of your charity business plan should only include relevant and important information supporting your plan’s main content.

The Quickest Way to turn a Business Idea into a Business Plan

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This sample charity business plan will provide an idea for writing a successful charity plan, including all the essential components of your business.

After this, if you still need clarification about writing an investment-ready business plan to impress your audience, download our charity business plan pdf .

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Frequently asked questions, why do you need a charity business plan.

A business plan is an essential tool for anyone looking to start or run a successful charity business. It helps to get clarity in your business, secures funding, and identifies potential challenges while starting and growing your business.

Overall, a well-written plan can help you make informed decisions, which can contribute to the long-term success of your charity company.

How to get funding for your charity business?

There are several ways to get funding for your charity business, but self-funding is one of the most efficient and speedy funding options. Other options for funding are:

  • Bank loan – You may apply for a loan in government or private banks.
  • Small Business Administration (SBA) loan – SBA loans and schemes are available at affordable interest rates, so check the eligibility criteria before applying for it.
  • Crowdfunding – The process of supporting a project or business by getting a lot of people to invest in your business, usually online.
  • Angel investors – Getting funds from angel investors is one of the most sought startup options.

Apart from all these options, there are small business grants available, check for the same in your location and you can apply for it.

Where to find business plan writers for your charity business?

There are many business plan writers available, but no one knows your business and ideas better than you, so we recommend you write your charity business plan and outline your vision as you have in your mind.

What is the easiest way to write your charity business plan?

A lot of research is necessary for writing a business plan, but you can write your plan most efficiently with the help of any charity business plan example and edit it as per your need. You can also quickly finish your plan in just a few hours or less with the help of our business plan software .

How do I write a good market analysis in a charity business plan?

Market analysis is one of the key components of your business plan that requires deep research and a thorough understanding of your industry. We can categorize the process of writing a good market analysis section into the following steps:

  • Stating the objective of your market analysis—e.g., investor funding.
  • Industry study—market size, growth potential, market trends, etc.
  • Identifying target market—based on user behavior and demographics.
  • Analyzing direct and indirect competitors.
  • Calculating market share—understanding TAM, SAM, and SOM.
  • Knowing regulations and restrictions
  • Organizing data and writing the first draft.

Writing a marketing analysis section can be overwhelming, but using ChatGPT for market research can make things easier.

How detailed should the financial projections be in my charity business plan?

The level of detail of the financial projections of your charity business may vary considering various business aspects like direct and indirect competition, pricing, and operational efficiency. However, your financial projections must be comprehensive enough to demonstrate a complete view of your financial performance.

Generally, the statements included in a business plan offer financial projections for at least the first three or five years of business operations.

What key components should a charity business plan include?

The following are the key components your charity business plan must include:

  • Executive summary
  • Business Overview
  • Market Analysis
  • Products and services
  • Sales and marketing strategies
  • Operations plan
  • Management team
  • Financial plan

Can a good charity business plan help me secure funding?

Indeed. A well-crafted charity business will help your investors better understand your business domain, market trends, strategies, business financials, and growth potential—helping them make better financial decisions.

So, if you have a profitable and investable business, a comprehensive business plan can certainly help you secure your business funding.

What's the importance of a marketing strategy in a charity business plan?

Marketing strategy is a key component of your charity business plan. Whether it is about achieving certain business goals or helping your investors understand your plan to maximize their return on investment—an impactful marketing strategy is the way to do it!

Here are a few pointers to help you understand the importance of having an impactful marketing strategy:

  • It provides your business an edge over your competitors.
  • It helps investors better understand your business and growth potential.
  • It helps you develop products with the best profit potential.
  • It helps you set accurate pricing for your products or services.

About the Author

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Upmetrics Team

Upmetrics is the #1 business planning software that helps entrepreneurs and business owners create investment-ready business plans using AI. We regularly share business planning insights on our blog. Check out the Upmetrics blog for such interesting reads. Read more

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Nonprofit Business Plan Template & Guide [Updated 2024]

Nonprofit executive summary.

Although it is normally written last, your executive summary provides an introduction to your entire business plan. The first page should describe your nonprofit’s mission and purpose, summarize your market analysis that proves an identifiable need, and explain how your nonprofit will meet that need.

With regards to your Mission Statement, this is particularly important for nonprofits. It helps to communicate your purpose, the community or group of people it benefits and how you will help them. Every action or decision you make in your nonprofit should further and relate to your mission statement.

Because it’s the first thing readers will review, take the time to make your Executive Summary compelling. Unlike a for-profit business which might earn readers financial returns, a nonprofit business needs to convince them to do the right thing in supporting the nonprofit; which is often a harder ask. So, as the typical nonprofit business plan format calls for the summary to come first, make sure it gets readers excited and compels them to delve into the subsequent sections.

NONPROFIT BUSINESS PLAN OUTLINE

  • Nonprofit Business Plan Home
  • 1. Executive Summary
  • 2. Organization Overview
  • 3. Products, Programs, and Services
  • 4. Industry Analysis
  • 5. Customer Analysis
  • 6. Marketing Plan
  • 7. Operations Plan
  • 8. Management Team
  • 9. Financial Plan
  • 10. Appendix
  • Nonprofit Business Plan Summary

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Nonprofit Business Plan Template

Written by Dave Lavinsky

Business Plan Outline

  • Nonprofit Business Plan Home
  • 1. Executive Summary
  • 2. Company Overview
  • 3. Industry Analysis
  • 4. Customer Analysis
  • 5. Competitive Analysis
  • 6. Marketing Plan
  • 7. Operations Plan
  • 8. Management Team
  • 9. Financial Plan

Nonprofit Executive Summary

Business overview.

Helping Youths Thrive Non Profit is a startup nonprofit organization located in Chicago, Illinois. The mission of Helping Youths Thrive is to provide a safe, comfortable, welcoming place for children and teens to go after school, on weekends, or whenever they need a place to socialize or seek counseling. Helping Youths Thrive will also provide certified and trained counselors onsite who are there to counsel or mentor children and teens who may need a safe person to talk with for whatever problems they may be experiencing. Medical, law enforcement, or social workers will be called upon if the counseling team deems it is necessary. Ultimately, Helping Youths Thrive Nonprofit’s mission is to help the underserved community of Chicago get the youth off of the street and provide a safe and welcoming place to go instead of having to go home by themselves or be forced to assimilate with local gang members or drug users.

Helping Youths Thrive Non Profit will be located in a low-income neighborhood of South Chicago where there is an abundance of youth attending the nearby seven public schools. The facility is a former warehouse that will be renovated and converted to a 10,000 square foot indoor facility with an adjacent basketball court and playground. All indoor and outdoor facilities will be closely monitored by security guards, counselors, and mentors.

Service Offering

The following are the services that Helping Youths Thrive Non Profit will provide:

  • Tutoring; help with homework or school projects
  • Area for homework and/or studying
  • Board game and movie watching area
  • Monitored playground and basketball court
  • Counselors who are on hand ready to speak with kids who request counseling
  • On-site nurse

Customer Focus

Helping Youths Thrive Non Profit will target all youths attending the nearby public schools in the southern area of Chicago. The children will all be school age, from the ages of 4 – 17.

Management Team

Tonya Jordan will be the Director of the nonprofit organization. Her Master of Public Administration degree and decades of nonprofit and charity work in Chicago make her an expert in running a nonprofit foundation. She fully understands the 501c3 requirements, grant requirements, and dedication it takes to make a charitable foundation sustainable. Tonya will also hire an Accountant to manage all donations and funding, payables, and payroll. She will also hire a Director of Fundraising to help with sponsor outreach and obtaining a steady stream of charitable gifts. There will be one social worker supervisor, security supervisor, and custodial supervisor to oversee their respective departments and teams.

Success Factors

Helping Youths Thrive Non Profit will be able to achieve success by offering the following competitive advantages:

  • It will be the largest facility with more available hours for youths to hang out. It will be available before school, after school, weekends, and evenings.
  • It will provide a team of counselors/social workers to provide free counseling for children that require it or request it.
  • All youths in attendance will have access to healthy snacks and meals.
  • The management team will work with proper authorities and/or child services to intervene in a familial situation if necessary.
  • Helping Youths Thrive Non Profit will partner with the local public schools to act as a partner in education in order for every single student to thrive.

Financial Highlights

Helping Youths Thrive Non Profit is seeking $250,000 in debt financing to begin operations of the nonprofit. The funding will be dedicated towards securing the warehouse, adjacent lot space, and facility and playground build-out. Funding will also be dedicated towards three months of overhead costs to include payroll of the staff, rent, and working capital. The breakout of the funding is below:

  • Securing warehouse space and adjacent empty lot, build-out, and design: $100,000
  • Grant writer and 501c3 designation filings:  $15,000
  • Three months of overhead expenses (payroll, rent, utilities):  $60,000
  • Supplies, food, games, playground equipment, furniture: $65,000
  • Working capital: $10,000

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The complete guide to setting up a charity.

We take you from beginning to end of setting up a charity, from asking “is setting up a charity right for my cause?” to hitting the ground running with putting your charity plans into action

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If there is a cause you’re passionate about, you may be thinking about setting up a charity – that’s likely why you clicked on this article. Charities can benefit the public and contribute to society by meeting high standards of conduct and behaviour, connecting with local people and communities, providing expertise in their topic area, and providing a voice for the most vulnerable.

Setting up a charity can seem overwhelming – maybe you don’t know where to start with tasks such as writing a mission statement, coming up with a name, finding trustees, and so on. Indeed, there’s a long list of things you must do to run a functioning charity which genuinely benefits your chosen cause.

But as Jo Owen, co-founder of Teach First and seven other charities, says : “There is…one mistake which outweighs all the others when it comes to starting a charity: not trying. If you have a great idea, then go for it.” In this article, we have outlined everything you need to know when setting up a charity. Treat it as your guide to return to each step of the way.

Skip to: Is setting up a charity right for my cause?

Skip to: Understand the parameters of your charity

Skip to: Write a charity mission statement

Skip to: Name your charity

Skip to: Find suitable trustees for your charity

Skip to: Choose a charity structure

Skip to: Take stock and gather new evidence for your charity’s plans

Skip to: Create a realistic “business” plan for your charity

Skip to: Write your charity’s governing document

Skip to: Register with the Charity Commission

Skip to: Put your charity plan into action

Is setting up a charity right for my cause?

Setting up a charity may be the perfect way to help a cause dear to your heart. But before rushing into the process, it is important that you consider all the options and be clear about whether charity is the best way to achieve your goals.

The Charity Commission recommends that you start by clarifying who the charity would help and how it would help them.

At this early stage,   learn as much as you can about those you wish to help to ensure that their needs are central to your plans. That should involve talking to your prospective beneficiaries and gaining an understanding of the wider context of the problem they face, as well as its political aspects.

If you are in the UK, check whether your idea would exist for the public benefit and fits into one of 13 charitable purposes as defined by the Charity Commission. Then, check the charity register to see if a charity is already doing what you want to do. Rather than competing for resources by setting up a new charity with the same purpose, you could work together.

Finally, it is a good idea to think about how your charity might raise the funds to operate in the way you want it to, from donations to engaging in trading activities.

You can also start thinking about whether your cause would benefit from an alternative approach, such as setting up a Community Interest Company, a social enterprise, a named fund or a trust, or another type of organisation.

Understand the parameters of your charity

Understanding the parameters of your charity will help you mould your vision into what is realistic and sustainable for you and the wider context of your cause. It is important to have a grasp on what running a charity will actually entail at this stage, so that you don’t make plans that have to be drastically changed later down the line.

The key parameters that might impact you when setting up and running your charity are:

  • Your ability to commit time and effort to the charity, based on other commitments
  • Your own skills and experience , or access to help and expertise when it is needed
  • Whether the charity will be able to pay necessary costs e.g. legal advice, an office or location for service delivery, or new equipment
  • Your government’s rules and regulations around charities

At this stage, you should investigate whether you will be able to pursue your idea for a charity within these parameters, or whether you will need to adapt your idea based on personal, financial, and regulatory limitations.

This will involve being realistic about your own lifestyle and abilities, as well as conducting research into the specifics of what it will take to carry out your ideas and what support is available for you to do so.

A good start is to learn from those who have successfully done what you are trying to do, for example through online networking .

Also be aware of the trends and challenges in the charity sector at the moment of setting up your charity to take forward with you as you think about the best ways of launching your charity.

Write a charity mission statement

Writing a mission statement will bring together your ambitions for your charity. The purpose is to clearly define who your charity will help, and what it will do to help them.

This step will use your prior research about the problem you are looking to address through your charity. You should also identify what is unique about your charity or its approach.

When writing the mission statement, the trick is to be simple and concise in your language. You want everyone to immediately understand what the charity does and why – and a well-written mission statement will also be a guiding light for the actions your charity takes over time. Pinning down the mission early on is key to ensuring clarity of vision going forward.

The mission statement may change as you learn more about the realities of running a charity. It is important to embrace such changes to ensure that your mission is both realistic and of value to your cause.

Name your charity

Naming your charity well is important to your charity’s appeal and memorability to beneficiaries, donors, and even potential employees and trustees. Therefore, you should take time to consider how you want to represent what your charity is going to do.

Steps to naming your charity

Start by writing a list of potential names that come to mind. Then, research similar organisations – how do they name themselves? Do you want to take a similar approach, or differentiate your charity in some way?

You can search online for definitions and synonyms to pinpoint exactly what you want to communicate through the charity’s name. You should also consult with your prospective beneficiaries to understand if this is a name that they feel is representative of the cause.

You can talk to friends and family about the potential name to get a sense of its public appeal for fundraising and awareness purposes.

Before confirming your name, type it into a search engine to make sure it isn’t similar to other organisations, or other words and concepts that are regularly googled. This is to prevent your charity getting lost in a sea of irrelevant results .

As a final step, you must also check that your name follows  the Charity Commission’s rules for charity names.

How to pick the perfect charity name

Naming your charity can be an opportunity to be creative – for example, Digital Candle ’s name was made to reflect the charity as “something to light the way in digital”.

According to nfpResearch , good charity names are:

  • Self-explanatory
  • Can’t be shortened or misspelled
  • Not named after the founders of the charity
  • Internet friendly
  • Not tied to the existence of the UK
  • Work in all types of communications

They give the example of the name “ Save the Children ”, which is “inviting to those interested in children with an action verb to boot, plus the benefit of doing what it says on the tin”.

Other good charity names, according to the research, include “ WaterAid ”, “ Oxfam ”, and “ Macmillan Cancer Support ”. These all share the common attribute of being easily recognisable to any audience.

Find suitable trustees for your charity

Now you have created a detailed image of what your charity would look like, what it would do, and how it would function, it’s time to get other people on board.

Trustees are “the individuals who make decisions on behalf of the charity”. Being a trustee is a voluntary role which people may take on because they want to make a difference to a cause that matters to them, get involved in a community, or develop professionally.

Good trustees will bring a diversity of skills to the table, give insights into your beneficiaries’ needs and experience, make contacts in the community, and think of new ways of doing things. They will also be active in the running of the charity and be prepared to ask awkward questions of the charity’s leaders.

To help your search, we have previously explored the best charity trustee recruitment sites .

Vetting and appointing trustees for your charity

When you have found potential trustees, you should first check whether they are eligible for the role. According to UK law , trustees of charitable trusts and unincorporated associations must be at least 18 years old, while trustees at CIOs or charitable companies must be at least 16 years old.

Some people may be ineligible to be trustees if they have a “disqualifying reason” such as being bankrupt or having an unspent conviction for certain offences. See the full “disqualifying reasons” table here and more detailed guidance around disqualification here . Each trustee should declare that they are not disqualified in order to be eligible for the role.

The Charity Commission states that you should ensure trustees are DBS checked where necessary, and consider potential conflicts of interest for all prospective trustees.

Then, tell the trustees what will be involved in their role, including their legal responsibilities – and finally, give each trustee a specific role in your governance team. The Charity Commission outlines how the appointment of new trustees should be formalised.

Once you have your trustees , you can use them as a sounding board for the decisions you have started thinking about, from the name and mission statement to the practicalities of how the charity will function.

Choose a charity structure

A charity’s legal structure defines the rights the charity has as an organisation. In the UK, the four types of charity structure are:

  • Charitable incorporated organisation (CIO) – a corporate body with wider membership
  • Charitable company (limited by guarantee) – a corporate body with or without wider membership
  • Unincorporated association – has a wider membership without a corporate structure
  • Trust – no corporate structure or wider membership

“Corporate structure” refers to whether a charity is allowed to do things in its own name, such as employing paid staff, delivering charitable services under contractual agreements, entering into commercial contracts in its own name, and owning freehold or leasehold land or other property.

“Wider membership” refers to when an organisation has members who can vote on important decisions – but it is important in most of these cases that the charity isn’t set up only for the benefit of its members.

Your chosen legal structure will be referenced in your business plan and governing document.

Take stock and gather new evidence for your charity’s plans

You’ve already come so far – take some time to appreciate yourself and your hard work!

Then, reflect on the decisions you have made about your charity, and make sure the foundations are stable. Are the charity’s activities achievable within the parameters you identified? Do the name and mission statement accurately represent what your charity will stand for and do? And would all these factors complement each other in addressing a genuine need for the charity’s beneficiaries?

Make sure you and your trustees are comfortable with the decisions you have made so far, then you can move onto the next stage: creating a plan.

This will require a lot of research and serious thinking about the practicalities of how your charity will work. Take it one step at a time and enjoy the process as your ideas get that bit closer to becoming a reality.

Create a realistic “business” plan for your charity

Here’s where it gets real. You will need to write down how you’re planning to put your ideas into action based on all your learnings, and make sure you also develop a strong understanding in some new areas. A good charity business plan will show the reader that your charity’s activities are both valuable and achievable.

Your business plan can be suited to a range of audiences, for example guiding the charity’s leadership team, trustees, and employees. It can also be used externally used by sending it to key funders or donors and can be published on your website.

At the early stages, it may be best to develop a plan that’s as detailed as possible and suitable for all potential audiences so it’s ready (or close to ready) for when it’s needed.

Writing a title page of your charity business plan

The title page should tell you the charity’s name, the period of time that the plan is for (most are for three to five years), and when the plan was written. Make sure to also include your mission statement so the reader immediately knows the purpose behind your plan.

To make the plan look inviting and engaging for readers, use images and graphic design .

Writing an executive summary of your charity business plan

Although this comes at the beginning of the business plan, it should be written last. By the time you have explored each area in the plan in detail, it will be much easier to have a birds-eye-view and identify the most important points.

The executive summary should be no more than one page long and should clearly state the mission of the charity and how it is going to be achieved. It should be written in a way that makes sense to readers with no prior knowledge of the charity.

The executive summary should include:

  • An organisational summary – a brief “who, what, when, where, why, and how” of the charity and its plans over the given time period
  •   A market summary of the charity’s beneficiaries and customers
  • A financial summary of your sources of income and how you will assure the long-term financial future of the charity
  • An overview of the risks facing the charity and what is in place to ensure resiliency
  • Any other information that you think is important for readers to know

If you go on to use the business plan to apply for a grant or a loan, you will also need to include a short statement of what you need from the reader to achieve your mission.

Writing an “About” section for your charity business plan

This section is about providing the core facts about your charity. It has the potential to get readers excited about your work and will contextualise the rest of the plan with the basics of what your charity is all about. Don’t worry about going into too much depth: you will be providing much more detail in the following sections of the report.

Start by introducing the reader to the driving force behind the charity’s activities: the vision, mission, and values. The National Council for Voluntary Organisation (NCVO) defines vision as “the ideal world for your organisation”, the mission as “how your organisation is going to help achieve that vision”, and values as “the basic principles that guide who you are as an organisation and which form the basis of how you interact with others”.

As you are setting up your charity, your business plan won’t include certain operational details such as staff turnover, achievements, and challenges you have faced. But you might include:

  • Why you are setting up the charity, and the key facts that demonstrate the need for your organisation
  • An explanation of what makes your charity unique
  • Your charity’s legal structure
  • An outline of your charity’s key activities (for example, what your service delivery and fundraising will consist of) and your targets for these activities
  • An outline of the current team of paid staff, including how many there are and what tasks they perform
  •   How many staff will be needed for your core activities in the period laid out by the plan and what skills and attributes will be needed
  • How you will fund your charity’s activities
  • The role that volunteers will have in your plans
  • Whether the charity has any partnerships or associations

Elements of this section will change depending on your audience. For example, if you’re presenting the report to a grant maker, you will need to demonstrate where their help is needed and why. It’s best to be honest and realistic , while making sure your strengths as an organisation are understood.

Writing about your charity’s market

Writing about your market is about considering the financial environment surrounding your charity and how the charity will make the most of that environment. This includes your beneficiaries, customers, donors and supporters, and other influences on your market.

The National Lottery Heritage Fund recommends that market analysis should be proportionate to the size and scope of your organisation.

Beneficiaries

Beneficiaries are included in the “Market” section because they are who funds will be directed towards through your charity work. Understanding this group and how it might change is therefore important to understanding your financial environment.

Start by describing who your beneficiaries are, what challenges they are facing, and what your charity will do to address these challenges. Be clear about who is not included in this group: as the NVCO recognises , your activities may not apply to certain groups who are already supported by similar charities.

Write about how your beneficiaries have shaped your plan so far, and also include factors relating to your beneficiaries that could alter your plans in the future.

Customers include anyone who your charity sells products and services to. This may not apply to every charity, but if it applies to yours, start by describing who your customers are going to be. They might be a specific group of individuals or could be made up of other organisations. Try to provide as specific detail as possible about this group, the size of the group, and your reason for choosing them as customers.

Then, explain why your products and services are competitive to those offered by other organisations. The NCVO recommends that you reflect on what situations will encourage your customers to come to you, and describe what is appealing about your specific offering.

Donors and supporters

If fundraising is going to be a major source of income for your charity, describe your potential donors and their reasons for donating. You can also create a more detailed fundraising strategy to refer back to, which explains how donors and supporters will help you achieve your mission.

You should also note any potential risks in managing your relationships with donors and supporters.

Other influences to your market

Writing about your market can include considering the socio-economic trends and policies that will impact on your charity, its beneficiaries, customers, donors, and supporters during the period covered by your plan.

You can also consider other potential changes in the specific environments that your charity will be operating in and the potential impact these could have. For example, if your charity relates to health, note how changes in the country’s healthcare system could impact your finances and operations.

Once you have outlined these four areas, you can also give a brief overview of your marketing strategy , approach to developing your various audiences , and your route to market .

Writing about your charity’s finances

This section will be a specific outline of how your charity operates financially. It should explain :

  • Fixed costs: what are your constantly recurring or one-off expenses such as rent, staff salaries, insurance, and loan repayments?
  • Variable costs: what are your costs which fluctuate and are less predictable – such as utility bills or the cost of supplying your operations?
  • Main sources of income: what are your main sources of income? Have they already been secured and are they diverse ? If not, how will you secure and diversify your income?
  • Pricing strategy: if your charity will sell products and services, what is your pricing strategy ?

You may also wish to gather and present other more detailed financial forecasts in the plan’s appendices, particularly if you are going to present the plan to potential funders.

Writing your charity’s strategic plan

The strategic plan will describe the long-term strategy of the organisation, including how this strategy will be executed on a day-to-day basis.

It should include :

  • The priorities for your charity for the period covered by the plan
  • A timescale for your plan, with key activities, milestones, and projects
  • Key performance indicators – or how you will know if your charity is succeeding at its goals
  • An outline of all the resources you need to operate your business, such as premises, equipment, knowledge, and access to information
  • The partners and suppliers you will need to work with to carry out your work
  • How the costs of premises and equipment relate to the charity achieving its goals
  • Your process for transporting goods and services, if applicable
  • How people will pay for the charity’s products and services, if applicable
  • The legal requirements your charity is beholden to, and whether you have met or are working towards them
  • The type and level of insurance needed for your charity
  • A “SWOT” analysis outlining the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of your plan
  • Dates and a timetable about when the strategy will be reviewed next

If necessary, department-specific operational plans can be developed to go into more detail and provide clarity over workflow and responsibility within the charity.

Writing about people, management, and governance

The purpose of writing about people, management, and governance is to make sure the charity’s team has the appropriate skills and experience to do the work within your plan.

Start by giving short biographies of the people currently on your core management team and trustee board, including their roles and responsibilities , and how their existing skills and experience will contribute to your aims.

Then, note if you have any key skills gaps, and if you do, describe how you are going to fill them – either through training or recruitment .

The NCVO notes : “If you’re a new organisation, it’s important to show that you can access a team of people who have skills and experience to support you as you grow. If these people are not on your board, you can still include them as ‘key advisors’.”

Make sure to also include a diagram (or “organogram”) of your management structure to show the supervisory relationships between different positions in the team.

Explain what role other staff and volunteers will play in the organisation, including how many there will be, what responsibilities they will have, and how they will be managed within the charity. Finally, outline your plan for developing your structure and management processes in the future to support your goals.

Writing about your impact

The impact section of your business plan addresses Social Return on Investment (SROI) : demonstrating the social, environmental, or economic value your charity has.

As this is your first business plan, written at the beginning of your charity’s existence, you won’t be able to report upon your charity’s impact: it hasn’t started yet.

But you can make sure your intended impact is clear, linked to your mission, and measurable. The NCVO has a useful template for an impact table , which will help you go into more depth about your processes of collecting and using data to maximise your impact.

The impact section will be important for funders to see the benefits of their potential funding upon your organisation and work. For an example about what these audiences might require, see the National Lottery Heritage Fund’s template .

Make sure your impact section demonstrates what success would look like for your charity and how you will measure whether you’re on the right track.

Writing a risk map

Writing a risk map will help you summarise all the potential risks that you have identified through the course of the business plan. These should include the main risks to governance, regulatory or compliance risks, financial risks, operational risks, and risks from external sources such as changes in policy or negative media attention.

For each risk, describe the risk, explain how probable it is to happen, the effects it could have, and how you would deal with the risk. These risks should be presented in order of importance. Make sure you calculate the risks carefully and take time to consider all the options for how risks will be avoided.

You can use digital tools such as online toolkits, spreadsheets, and risk management software to help you assess risk.

Write your charity’s governing document

A charity’s governing document is like a “rulebook” that explains how the charity is run. What needs to be included depends on the structure you have chosen for your charity.

UK governing documents include :

  • The charitable purposes of the charity
  • What the charity can do to carry out its purposes , such as borrowing money
  • Who the trustees are and who can be a member
  • How meetings will be held
  • How trustees will be appointed
  • Any rules the charity has about paying trustees , investments , and holding land
  • Whether the trustees can change the governing document
  • How to close the charity

The Charity Commission has published a range of model governing documents that you can use as a template. When using these, make sure to use model documents referring to the same type of charity structure as your charity.

Make sure your trustees have a copy of the charity’s governing document: it will guide them through the process of running the charity.

Register with the Charity Commission

Now all your plans are in place, make it official by registering your charity with the Charity Commission. This step applies to your charity if it is based in England or Wales, if its income is at least £5,000 per year, or if it’s a CIO.

If your charity does not yet have an income of £5,000 a year, remember to register when it does reach this point.

When you apply, you will need to disclose your charity’s purposes, its public benefit, proof that it fits the criteria for registration, name, bank or building society details, most recent accounts, contact details, trustee details, and a copy of your charity’s governing document. You should already have a lot of this information ready from your previous work in setting up your charity.

Here is the link for when you’re ready to register. Make sure you answer the questions in full and be as clear as possible to avoid any delays in the process.

Put your charity plans into action

Congratulations, you’ve set up your charity! Now it’s finally time to start running the activities you have been so carefully planning.

For more support and information on your journey of running a charity, you may wish to learn more about how to grow your charity , how to manage staff , or how to best support your service users .

  Charity Digital’s content and events cover a whole host of topics surrounding running a charity, focusing on helping charity professionals to use digital to maximise their impact.

Should you need digital tools or training to help you execute your plans, we also have a catalogue of technology for charities to access at donated or discounted rates – be sure to have a browse.

Most importantly, remember to always keep your cause front of mind, and don’t forget to balance this with the wellbeing of everyone involved in making your mission happen. Now we wish you the best of luck as you put your charity plans into action.

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Simple Steps to Write an Executive Summary

by Funding For Good | May 22, 2023 | Development/Fundraising , Grant Research , Grant Writing

Write an Executive Summary

The executive summary is one of the most important parts of any grant proposal.

Think of your executive summary like a movie trailer. The executive summary sets the tone for your proposal, previews your proposed impact, highlights your organization’s expertise, and demonstrates how your work aligns with donors’ funding priorities.

That’s a LOT to accomplish in only a few words. That’s why we recommend taking the time to polish the executive summary for every grant proposal you submit.

Luckily, writing a great executive summary isn’t rocket science—though that doesn’t mean it’s always easy. Since Funding for Good’s team has written hundreds of successful proposals, we thought we’d break down what it takes to write a winning executive summary.

What Is an Executive Summary?

Most nonprofit grant proposals open with a brief executive summary. In a few hundred words—2-4 paragraphs—an executive summary introduces and summarizes the overall grant application.

The executive summary should also inspire donors to continue reading the proposal. This means that the executive summary has a dual purpose. It serves as both an informational and an inspirational tool.

How to Write an Effective Executive Summary

Many nonprofit grant-seekers approach writing an executive summary in one of two ways:

  • Writing lofty yet vague text that conveys few concrete details.
  • Squishing in as many facts as possible.

Neither of these approaches is ideal—and can turn off donors.

An executive summary should be clear, concise, and persuasive and include the following:

  • Who you are
  • What you do
  • A description of your problem
  • A few key descriptors of your program/project
  • What makes your program/project extraordinary
  • How your organization/program/project is uniquely positioned

Example of an Executive Summary

Let’s look at an example of a nonprofit executive summary in action. Below is an executive summary that we wrote several years ago for a successful grant proposal.

executive summary charity business plan

Of course, reading an executive summary is different than writing one. So, to help you write an effective executive summary, let’s break down our example line-by-line.

Deconstructing a Successful Executive Summary

Paragraph one.

In the first paragraph,  the first sentence  includes the mission statement of the organization.

A  well-written mission statement should describe who you are, what you do, and how you do it. If your mission statement isn’t stellar yet, then it might be time to consider a strategic planning process for your nonprofit .

  The second sentence describes what is being requested, including a dollar amount.

  The third sentence  previews how the program or project is unique.

  BOOM!  First paragraph done!

Paragraph Two

Next, you can strip the second paragraph down to basics—and essentially fill in the blanks.

{ Program/Project Name } was designed in { Month Year } { to do what? }. Since its inception, the program/project has { grown, expanded, served, etc. who/what? }. Due to { what reason } we have a need for { what is your need for }, but lack funding to provide { it, them, etc. }. { Program/Project Name } strives to { do what } of { for whom } through { list services you provide }.

TA-DA!  Second paragraph done!

Paragraph Three

The third and final paragraph   indicates how your program/project is extraordinary (this needs to be quantitative/measurable) and includes data and statistics to support the claim.

Recommended Writing Process

As with most elements of grant proposals, we recommend starting with content first before worrying about language. Your first step is gathering information to cover each of the key elements. For example:

  • Do you have a concise description of your organization’s mission?
  • Can you describe the problem you are trying to solve?
  • Are you clear on what makes your organization uniquely situated to solve this problem?

An executive summary can be written before or after you have drafted the full grant proposal. In most cases, however, you will want to write the executive summary after you have written the rest of the proposal. This way, the information you need will already be at your fingertips.

In some cases, though, writing the executive summary first can help you understand how to frame the rest of your proposal for a specific donor audience. This may be the case if you’re adapting an existing grant proposal or program description for a new donor.

Bonus Executive Summary Tips

Remember, an executive summary needs to combine information and inspiration.

  • As you’re revising, be sure to think about the interests of your audience—and mention how your proposed work matches those priorities.
  • If you have great quotes from letters of support, client recommendations, incredible statistics, or other extremely compelling data, you should include a couple of snippets. Just remember not to go overboard. You have the rest of the grant proposal narrative to describe your impact.
  • Follow up the last paragraph by encouraging donors to consider assisting, partnering, or collaborating with you to accomplish your goal or fill a critical gap.

Now it’s time to get writing!

executive summary charity business plan

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Sample Charity Business Plan

Charity foundation business plan pdf sample.

There is a growing need for assistance especially for the most vulnerable in societies across the world.

In most cases, the aged and the young make up the most vulnerable, as there are case of homelessness brought about by poverty, drug addiction, and prostitution among several others. Charity organizations have become very useful tools in helping and bringing succor to people in need.

Here is a sample business plan for starting a charity organization.

If you are interested in starting a charity business but don’t know how to write the most important document for the business, which is the business plan, then you are at the right place, as we seek to provide a non profit charity business plan sample to act as a guide to helping you write yours.

We commence with the following;

Table of Contents – Non Profit Business Plan Outline

Executive Summary

Products and Services

Vision Statement

  • Mission Statement

Target Market

Competition

Sources of Revenue

Revenue Projection

Publicity and Advert Strategies

Here is how to start a charity business plan:

Reach Out is a non profit charity business located in Virginia, which seeks to provide succour and assistance to the down-trodden in society. Our main area of focus is to provide our targets which are the homeless in society with a roof over their heads.

As a charity business, our services are not only restricted to the homeless within Virginia, as we seek to expand our services to cover the whole of America and Canada within a decade of commencing business.

Our services are driven by a strong passion to act on behalf of the homeless, as we see it as a responsibility which should be borne by all. Our desire for expansion is driven by the fact that there are a lot of homeless people in America. These people are exposed to the harsh weather especially during the winter season.

We are essentially a service driven non-profit business which caters for the needs of the homeless in the society. As such, we are strongly involved in mobilizing support for the homeless through engaging in meaningful discussions with city housing councils as well as embarking on public campaigns for more action to be done regarding the homeless by policy makers and implementers.

These would be done while raising funds for the construction of low-cost housing units to cater for the housing needs of the homeless in Virginia and across America.

Through the activities of Reach Out which include the raising of funding for the construction of housing units and also public awareness campaigns conducted, we seek to achieve a lofty goal, which is to provide housing for all. This will not be restricted to Virginia alone, as we will seek to spread our services to cover the whole of America and Canada within a decade.

Our mission at Reach Out is that of rescue. We realise that shelter is among the primary needs of humans, and we are determined to provide that need through mobilizing for help and funding which would help us realise this mission.

Our actions will be all-inclusive, as we seek to involve both the public as well as private institutions to see the need and help us in our quest of making the society a better place to live.

Our target group as mentioned earlier are the most vulnerable groups in society which consists mainly of children, women and the elderly. We will also provide our services to any other age group who meet our criteria for help. We are mainly concerned about sections of the population without a decent shelter.

As a non-profit, we see our activities as essential, and welcome other charity businesses as we see our services as complimentary.

Therefore, we will not see ourselves as competing with any other charity organization, but would gladly cooperate if the need arises to achieve better and faster results. There are several charity groups doing a great job, and we will be delighted if more come on board to help us achieve our objective.

This is very crucial to the success of our activities; therefore, we would be embarking on a revenue drive, and would target corporate entities as well as well meaning individuals. We are also interested in raising awareness on the social responsibilities of businesses within our areas of operation.

Our main targets for generating revenue will be donor groups and agencies. However, the founder of Reach Out, Trisha Paine has set aside a startup funding of $200,000 raised from savings meant for this purposes.

With vigorous awareness campaigns coupled with definitive action regarding the raising of critical funding, we project an impressive revenue growth of $900,000 sourced within 2 years from the start of business operations.

There are great potentials for growth in funding as we expand our operations to cover more states. This would be primarily used in the provision f housing services to our target groups.

We will embark on far-reaching publicity and advertising activities through the adoption all available channels.

This would include the use of both print and electronic media channels as well as the use of the internet through the establishment of a website as well as the use of social media channels to create awareness as well as source for funding from well-meaning groups and donor agencies.

This is a sample charity business plan  which can be used by the entrepreneur interested in starting a charity business.

This sample is written for guidance purposes, and would greatly help the entrepreneur in achieving his/her objective through brainstorming sessions to help in bringing out a well-written small charity business plan.

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executive summary charity business plan

How to Write a Charity Business Plan

Nonprofit organizations working on a worthy cause may need a business plan to show the donors or Government funders what it does and how it helps the cause.

The basic elements of the business plans for charity will be the same as if you write a business plan for any profitable organization.

These elements start with Executive Summary, Description of Charity its objectives and key activities, Market analysis, Competitors who run a similar charity, operational plan, and financial forecasts.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GIVES A BRIEF INTRODUCTION OF CHARITY, ITS OBJECTIVES AND DETAILS OF FOUNDER, MARKET IT OPERATES, HOW IT WILL RAISE FUNDS AND AWARENESS AND FINANCIAL SUMMARY.

Then it gets into details.

Below is a sample of a charity involved in Homelessness in Ireland.

Homelessness Charity is a start-up not for profit social service agency providing shelter or temporary accommodation for the people in need. The organization was founded by Mr. Joe who has both the practical experience and the education to lead the organization.

For thousands of people in Ireland, including people from working households, homelessness is a frightening reality.

People become homeless for a wide range of complex reasons. That involves pressures from their personal circumstances such as relationship breakdown combined with structural factors such as high housing costs, poverty, and welfare policies. Their experience of homelessness can take many forms, including rough sleeping, living in a hostel, living in temporary accommodation, or ‘sofa-surfing’ with friends and family.

Many people who have experienced homelessness want to work and see working as the best way out of homelessness. However, many face significant barriers to work. Unstable housing makes it difficult to hold down a job, but more subtle barriers remain for people even once they have stable accommodation.

Homelessness Ireland provides shelter which will be an excellent opportunity for homeless individuals to think about their lives, get back up, and once again start living independently.

County Councils, churches, as well as NGOs are the sole owners of many of the facilities around Ireland.

The primary role of Homelessness Ireland is to provide temporary shelter or housing for families as well as individuals who currently are not in a position to lease their inherent apartments. Concisely, they bestow armament to the singletons from the harsh outdoor conditions, especially during wintery wet and cold months.

Keys to Success

  • Build a strong, active Board of Trustees.
  • Ensure that the offered services satisfy market needs.
  • Design and implement strict financial controls and accountability.
  • Secure sufficient funding, both start up and operational.
  • Create a women’s-only transitional housing facility that provides housing and a variety of empowering skills.
  • Develop a strong Board of Trustees that can offer guidance, help with fundraising efforts, and oversee the smooth operation of the organization.

MISCONCEPTIONS

  • Rough sleeping is the only form of homelessness
  • Homelessness affects a specific type of person
  • Homelessness is a result of poor life choices
  • Homelessness is inevitable and a social problem that can’t be solved.
  • Homelessness can take many forms, including rough sleeping, living in a hostel, living in temporary accommodation or ‘sofa-surfing’ with friends and family.
  • Some groups are at greater risk of homelessness than others. Income, race, sexual orientation, age and time spent in state sponsored institutions, including prisons and the care system, all factor into a person’s risk status. People experiencing social disadvantages are less likely to have the resources – financial, social, health-related – to obtain and maintain stable housing.
  • Homelessness is caused by structural issues, such as a lack of affordable housing, wage stagnation and cuts to social welfare programmes which can push people into a variety of insecure housing situations – and personal factors such as relationship breakdown, job loss, bereavement or health problems.

Fund raising skills and close connections with Donors in the community

Commitments of Trustees /Founders

Knowledge in particular area of shelter homes.

Only organization in the area that provides these types of services, no direct competition

  • Community trust in the initial stages of operations
  • Cash flow problems/Low reserves
  • Lack of volunteers
  • Lack of experience
  • Positive relations with funders
  • Diversification of services
  • Strong links with government bodies
  • Expertise in welfare reform
  • More established NGOs working already in society
  • Change in government regulations
  • Acceptance of the cause in society

Competitors Analysis

Competition among charities for donor income has increased in recent years. Charities compete against each other for cause-related marketing contracts with commercial enterprises and sponsorship deals and must bid competitively for government grants. There is competition for support from foundations, corporations, and individual donors, with many organizations, compete for grants. Investing in fundraising capacity and talent is seen as a strategic response to the struggle for donations, and for salaries for proven development professionals to continue to rise. Still, competition for funding is driven by an odd combination of performance, reputation, and personal relationships.

The competitive market for Homelessness Ireland is divided as per below,

Competitive advantage

Homelessness Ireland will have below advantage which will help to grow and serve the community,

  • Ability to raise funds
  • Rapid service delivery
  • People friendly
  • Quick response time to crises
  • Strong publicity campaign
  • Loyal donors

Target Market

All the people in the surrounding of Mayo will be part of Homelessness Ireland’s service program with a special focus on the homeless.

Total Market Valuation

The Charity sector in Ireland has an annual turnover of over €14.5bn, employs over 190,000 staff, benefits from the voluntary work of over 50,000 volunteer board members/directors and the work of over half a million “operational” volunteers, (valued by the  Central Statistics Office  at around €2bn per year). Indecon Economic Consultants estimate (in a  report  published by the Charities Regulator in 2018) that the total direct, indirect, and induced value of the impact of the work of Ireland’s charities exceed 24bn Euro.

As per the charity regulator report, 2,165 charities reported annual income of over €250,000 in 2019, 875 of the categories had income in excess of €1million. This is up from 855 in 2018.

52% of charities on the Register had an income of more than €100,000, 32% had an income of between €10,000 and €100,000, and 16% had an income of less than €10,000.

72% of charities on the Register had fewer than 20 volunteers. 43% of charities had no employees.  42% reported having between 1-19 employees, 8% had between 20-49, 5% had 50-249 while 2% had between 250-499 (Source: charitiesinstituteireland.ie).

Market Growth

Nonprofit organizations directly employ 189,000 people and are supported by 300,000 volunteers.

A report by Indecon International Economic Consultants, commissioned by the Charities Regulator, shows that registered Irish charities have a direct, indirect and induced expenditure of €24.98 billion and support 289,000 employees which shows charities are already an established sector in Ireland.

Based on the number of volunteers and the donations collected, it is clear that the future of charities is very bright in Ireland and these are supposed to serve better in future

Market Trends

Below are the fund-raising trends which are common in the charities sector,

  • Donor spend big but less often
  • Value and trust
  • Digital technology is the new growth engine
  • Slight fall in public donations

Marketing and Sales

Homelessness Ireland marketing and communication section will consist of below,

  • Number of views on the website page
  • Material downloaded from the website
  • Social media activity
  • Media placement and press coverage
  • Newsletter distribution and subscription

Social Media Ads on Facebook and Instagram

Social media will be our hub for connecting with donors in order to develop a personalized relationships and to keep them involved in the events. Here again, the power of word of mouth will be utilized and people will be convinced via the testimonials our trust will receive from the satisfied beneficiaries.

Social media has been the enabler and has motivated many trends to hold a place in the market. Social media has been driving our lives according to the needs of the market as what we see affects a lot of our needs.

Trust has a dedicated website that is hosting all the information about our services and donors will be able to donate from the same platform.

Print Media

Trust will advertise its services in the social and community section of local magazines and newspapers. Also, the trust will distribute its own customized broachers with details of services mentioned over them.

a) Market Positioning

Homelessness Ireland will position itself as the leading charity trust in the surroundings of Mayo.

Homelessness Ireland will distinguish itself from other charities in the following ways,

  • Strong purpose and vision
  • Loyal and recurring donors
  • The increased donor growth rate
  • Ability to raise funds quickly

Income sources

Homelessness Ireland will run its activities by the donations given by the donors. Below will be the source of funding for Homelessness Ireland,

  • Membership dues
  • Private donations
  • A grant from other NGOs
  • Government funding
  • Funding from corporations

Sales strategy

Charity will approach donors by following ways/activities:

  • Organizing awareness and fund-raising events
  • Use of social media to reach the donors and spread the message by creating social media groups/Fundraising appeal on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
  • Directly approaching the donors for the donations/Direct mailing the donors
  • Placing donation boxes
  • Online donations through the website
  • Fundraising through training, seminars, and conferences

  Membership

The general membership fee for a life time period will be 250 euros for one person. Homelessness Ireland will be very transparent and informative in its pricing plans. Trust will encourage its members to contribute to specific events organized for the fulfillment of objectives.

The executive council of Homelessness Ireland will consist of below seven positions,

  • Vice President
  • And three executive members.

Trust has developed a complete process to grant membership to any individual and pre-set criteria have to be fulfilled in order to get a membership. Along with honorary memberships will also be granted.

Moreover, initially, trust has assigned below positions to the respective persons,

  • Secretory: Mr. AAA
  • President: Mr. BBB
  • Member: Mr. CCC

Role of Founders

  • Responsible for providing direction of Homelessness Ireland and its services.
  • Creates, communicates, and implements his vision, mission, and overall direction
  • Responsible for the day to day running of the Homelessness Ireland.
  • Responsible for fixing fees and activities in consultation with staff and feedback by beneficiaries and donors.
  • Responsible for signing checks and documents on behalf of Homelessness Ireland.
  • Evaluates the success of the Homelessness Ireland.

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Table of Contents

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A business plan is a crucial document that is required for several purposes. Charity organizations too produce such documents while starting a new venture, to secure fundings and also for expansion projects and more. The document provides elaborate details on the goals and objectives of the organization or a project as well as the budget plan and the estimated outcomes of the undertaking. We have prepared our professional plan templates to help you make such important documents conveniently.

executive summary charity business plan

Step 1: Provide the Executive Summary

Step 2: give an introduction to the organization, step 3: define your market and operational plans, step 4: provide summary of your finances, step 5: understand the risks.

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  • Project planning |
  • How to write an executive summary, with ...

How to write an executive summary, with examples

Julia Martins contributor headshot

The best way to do that is with an executive summary. If you’ve never written an executive summary, this article has all you need to know to plan, write, and share them with your team.

What is an executive summary?

An executive summary is an overview of a document. The length and scope of your executive summary will differ depending on the document it’s summarizing, but in general an executive summary can be anywhere from one to two pages long. In the document, you’ll want to share all of the information your readers and important stakeholders need to know.

Imagine it this way: if your high-level stakeholders were to only read your executive summary, would they have all of the information they need to succeed? If so, your summary has done its job.

You’ll often find executive summaries of:

Business cases

Project proposals

Research documents

Environmental studies

Market surveys

Project plans

In general, there are four parts to any executive summary:

Start with the problem or need the document is solving.

Outline the recommended solution.

Explain the solution’s value.

Wrap up with a conclusion about the importance of the work.

What is an executive summary in project management?

In project management, an executive summary is a way to bring clarity to cross-functional collaborators, team leadership, and project stakeholders . Think of it like a project’s “ elevator pitch ” for team members who don’t have the time or the need to dive into all of the project’s details.

The main difference between an executive summary in project management and a more traditional executive summary in a business plan is that the former should be created at the beginning of your project—whereas the latter should be created after you’ve written your business plan. For example, to write an executive summary of an environmental study, you would compile a report on the results and findings once your study was over. But for an executive summary in project management, you want to cover what the project is aiming to achieve and why those goals matter.

The same four parts apply to an executive summary in project management:

Start with the problem or need the project is solving.  Why is this project happening? What insight, customer feedback, product plan, or other need caused it to come to life?

Outline the recommended solution, or the project’s objectives.  How is the project going to solve the problem you established in the first part? What are the project goals and objectives?

Explain the solution’s value.  Once you’ve finished your project, what will happen? How will this improve and solve the problem you established in the first part?

Wrap up with a conclusion about the importance of the work.  This is another opportunity to reiterate why the problem is important, and why the project matters. It can also be helpful to reference your audience and how your solution will solve their problem. Finally, include any relevant next steps.

If you’ve never written an executive summary before, you might be curious about where it fits into other project management elements. Here’s how executive summaries stack up:

Executive summary vs. project plan

A  project plan  is a blueprint of the key elements your project will accomplish in order to hit your project goals and objectives. Project plans will include your goals, success metrics, stakeholders and roles, budget, milestones and deliverables, timeline and schedule, and communication plan .

An executive summary is a summary of the most important information in your project plan. Think of the absolutely crucial things your management team needs to know when they land in your project, before they even have a chance to look at the project plan—that’s your executive summary.

Executive summary vs. project overview

Project overviews and executive summaries often have similar elements—they both contain a summary of important project information. However, your project overview should be directly attached to your project. There should be a direct line of sight between your project and your project overview.

While you can include your executive summary in your project depending on what type of  project management tool  you use, it may also be a stand-alone document.

Executive summary vs. project objectives

Your executive summary should contain and expand upon your  project objectives  in the second part ( Outline the recommended solution, or the project’s objectives ). In addition to including your project objectives, your executive summary should also include why achieving your project objectives will add value, as well as provide details about how you’re going to get there.

The benefits of an executive summary

You may be asking: why should I write an executive summary for my project? Isn’t the project plan enough?

Well, like we mentioned earlier, not everyone has the time or need to dive into your project and see, from a glance, what the goals are and why they matter.  Work management tools  like Asana help you capture a lot of crucial information about a project, so you and your team have clarity on who’s doing what by when. Your executive summary is designed less for team members who are actively working on the project and more for stakeholders outside of the project who want quick insight and answers about why your project matters.

An effective executive summary gives stakeholders a big-picture view of the entire project and its important points—without requiring them to dive into all the details. Then, if they want more information, they can access the project plan or navigate through tasks in your work management tool.

How to write a great executive summary, with examples

Every executive summary has four parts. In order to write a great executive summary, follow this template. Then once you’ve written your executive summary, read it again to make sure it includes all of the key information your stakeholders need to know.

1. Start with the problem or need the project is solving

At the beginning of your executive summary, start by explaining why this document (and the project it represents) matter. Take some time to outline what the problem is, including any research or customer feedback you’ve gotten . Clarify how this problem is important and relevant to your customers, and why solving it matters.

For example, let’s imagine you work for a watch manufacturing company. Your project is to devise a simpler, cheaper watch that still appeals to luxury buyers while also targeting a new bracket of customers.

Example executive summary:

In recent customer feedback sessions, 52% of customers have expressed a need for a simpler and cheaper version of our product. In surveys of customers who have chosen competitor watches, price is mentioned 87% of the time. To best serve our existing customers, and to branch into new markets, we need to develop a series of watches that we can sell at an appropriate price point for this market.

2. Outline the recommended solution, or the project’s objectives

Now that you’ve outlined the problem, explain what your solution is. Unlike an abstract or outline, you should be  prescriptive  in your solution—that is to say, you should work to convince your readers that your solution is the right one. This is less of a brainstorming section and more of a place to support your recommended solution.

Because you’re creating your executive summary at the beginning of your project, it’s ok if you don’t have all of your deliverables and milestones mapped out. But this is your chance to describe, in broad strokes, what will happen during the project. If you need help formulating a high-level overview of your project’s main deliverables and timeline, consider creating a  project roadmap  before diving into your executive summary.

Continuing our example executive summary:

Our new watch series will begin at 20% cheaper than our current cheapest option, with the potential for 40%+ cheaper options depending on material and movement. In order to offer these prices, we will do the following:

Offer watches in new materials, including potentially silicone or wood

Use high-quality quartz movement instead of in-house automatic movement

Introduce customizable band options, with a focus on choice and flexibility over traditional luxury

Note that every watch will still be rigorously quality controlled in order to maintain the same world-class speed and precision of our current offerings.

3. Explain the solution’s value

At this point, you begin to get into more details about how your solution will impact and improve upon the problem you outlined in the beginning. What, if any, results do you expect? This is the section to include any relevant financial information, project risks, or potential benefits. You should also relate this project back to your company goals or  OKRs . How does this work map to your company objectives?

With new offerings that are between 20% and 40% cheaper than our current cheapest option, we expect to be able to break into the casual watch market, while still supporting our luxury brand. That will help us hit FY22’s Objective 3: Expanding the brand. These new offerings have the potential to bring in upwards of three million dollars in profits annually, which will help us hit FY22’s Objective 1: 7 million dollars in annual profit.

Early customer feedback sessions indicate that cheaper options will not impact the value or prestige of the luxury brand, though this is a risk that should be factored in during design. In order to mitigate that risk, the product marketing team will begin working on their go-to-market strategy six months before the launch.

4. Wrap up with a conclusion about the importance of the work

Now that you’ve shared all of this important information with executive stakeholders, this final section is your chance to guide their understanding of the impact and importance of this work on the organization. What, if anything, should they take away from your executive summary?

To round out our example executive summary:

Cheaper and varied offerings not only allow us to break into a new market—it will also expand our brand in a positive way. With the attention from these new offerings, plus the anticipated demand for cheaper watches, we expect to increase market share by 2% annually. For more information, read our  go-to-market strategy  and  customer feedback documentation .

Example of an executive summary

When you put it all together, this is what your executive summary might look like:

[Product UI] Example executive summary in Asana (Project Overview)

Common mistakes people make when writing executive summaries

You’re not going to become an executive summary-writing pro overnight, and that’s ok. As you get started, use the four-part template provided in this article as a guide. Then, as you continue to hone your executive summary writing skills, here are a few common pitfalls to avoid:

Avoid using jargon

Your executive summary is a document that anyone, from project contributors to executive stakeholders, should be able to read and understand. Remember that you’re much closer to the daily work and individual tasks than your stakeholders will be, so read your executive summary once over to make sure there’s no unnecessary jargon. Where you can, explain the jargon, or skip it all together.

Remember: this isn’t a full report

Your executive summary is just that—a summary. If you find yourself getting into the details of specific tasks, due dates, and attachments, try taking a step back and asking yourself if that information really belongs in your executive summary. Some details are important—you want your summary to be actionable and engaging. But keep in mind that the wealth of information in your project will be captured in your  work management tool , not your executive summary.

Make sure the summary can stand alone

You know this project inside and out, but your stakeholders won’t. Once you’ve written your executive summary, take a second look to make sure the summary can stand on its own. Is there any context your stakeholders need in order to understand the summary? If so, weave it into your executive summary, or consider linking out to it as additional information.

Always proofread

Your executive summary is a living document, and if you miss a typo you can always go back in and fix it. But it never hurts to proofread or send to a colleague for a fresh set of eyes.

In summary: an executive summary is a must-have

Executive summaries are a great way to get everyone up to date and on the same page about your project. If you have a lot of project stakeholders who need quick insight into what the project is solving and why it matters, an executive summary is the perfect way to give them the information they need.

For more tips about how to connect high-level strategy and plans to daily execution, read our article about strategic planning .

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Free Example UK CIC or Charity Business Plan Template

Uk cic and charity business plan template - 3 steps.

I've used the term charity business plan and as an example. Your business plan is what you aim to achieve in the coming year.  However, this planning template and checklist will work just as well for project and other plans, and will work just as well for your CIC or other non profit

The only right way to carry out planning is whatever way works for your charity.  This resource provides a simple 3 step process to use as a template and checklist to create your plan, goals, objectives and KPIs, with examples.  Follow the process below to create a business plan that will work for you.  That could be anything from a one page plan in Word for a very small CIC to a substantial, detailed business plan for a large UK charity.

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STEP 1 - BUSINESS PLAN GOALS & OBJECTIVES

Your objectives (or goals) are what you must achieve to deliver your charity business plan.  These can either be long term (strategic plan)) or nearer term, such as annual business, fundraising and project plans.

Charity Business Plan Objectives - Strategic Plan

Often strategic and business, or other annual plans can be seen as quite separate, but these are not.  Next year's business plan, is Year 1 of your strategy.  Looking at your strategic plan objectives, what must you achieve in the coming year to deliver these?

Charity Business Plan Objectives - Operations

You also need to ensure that your charity continues to be well run and delivers the high quality support you want it to.  Look at your operations, such as delivering services for your beneficiaries, fundraising, finance, people and other activities.  What are the key activities and what must you achieve in these areas areas?

STEP 2 - KPIs (TARGETS) FOR YOU GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

Trying to measure everything would take a huge amount of time and most won't really matter.  Your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are the key targets you use to measure and monitor your progress to achieving your business plan objectives.

Measuring Charity KPIs

There are really only 3 things you might want to measure - quality, quantity and time.  And, these are interlinked.  The public sector is particularly prone to what are called perverse outcomes.  Focussing on a single KPI measure, to the exclusion of the others that nobody thought about, but which turn out to be really important.

  • Buying higher quality fresh food and/or preparing food from scratch, rather than buying in pre-prepared.
  • Preparing more meals and/or extending opening times.
  • Using pre-prepared ingredients and buying more equipment/expanding kitchen capacity.

You don't need to measure all 3 for everything, if the other factors aren't important, or won't change.  I've provided some examples of planning KPIs below.

How To Set Business Plan KPIs

In order to ensure you deliver your charity business plan objectives, you need to be able to measure these and monitor progress.

The first step is to set KPIs for each objective using SMART – that is your KPIs are Simple, Measurable, Achievable, Timely and Relevant.

You then need to decide who will be responsible for delivering and reporting these, any milestones in terms of when activities will be delivered and how and when these will be reported.

Once you've set your KPIs, ask yourself if these are the key issues you need to monitor and manage to deliver your business plan objective. Are there any KPIs you don't need and is there anything missing that you do?  And does each KPI meet the SMART criteria above?

STEP 3 - IMPLEMENTING YOU CHARITY BUSINESS PLAN

The Charity Excellence Data Store tracks sector resilience and a key theme is a lack of realism in charity planning.  Ambition is a hallmark of the sector, but 'Aspirational' is the flip side of planning to fail, if that involves committing people and resources to plans that aren't achievable.  Here are my ideas to help you ensure that your business plan will succeed.

Business Plan Reality Checklist

For your business plan to work, you need to be able to confidently answer 'yes' to each of the questions below.  That's about making an objective assessment of each.

  • Our charity business plan includes everything that's important to us that we want to achieve
  • Our objectives and targets are realistic and achievable
  • We will have enough people, with the necessary skills and experience to deliver our plan
  • The key risks have been identified and quantified
  • We have taken adequate steps to manage these, to ensure no risk remains unacceptably high
  • There is adequate funding in our budget to resource all of our business plan objectives
  • Our fundraising targets are realistic and we are confident that these should be achieved
  • For example, not launching a project until funding is secured, or having plans to scale back activity
  • Our business plan has been communicated to everyone who needs to know about it and it is simple, clear and will be understood by them
  • The information reported focusses on the key issues and will enable us to take action in good time, if we need to

Congratulations, you have created a simple, clear and effective business plan.  If you are unsure about any of the above, revisit your plan and make any changes you need to.

Communicating Your Charity Business Plan And Making It A Success

The World is full of detailed and beautifully crafted plans sitting on shelves gathering dust.  In any, except the smallest of charities, it is your staff and volunteers who will deliver your business plan, so they need to know what you want them to do and feel motivated to do so.  If you e mail a big complicated plan to everyone, it may not be read and, if it is, may not mean much to its readers.

You need to communicate your plan in a simple, clear way that engages them. It also needs to be reflected in any other plans or procedures. For example, your budget and risk plans, any project plans and, for larger charities, appraisal objectives and departmental work plans.

For reporting, sometimes reports are too 'fluffy' or nor easily understandable, or far too long and complicated.  Often these can be simply rubber stamped by boards.  Ensure that your reports meet your needs, focus on the key issues, are clear and understandable for trustees, and acted upon.  Here's the  Charity Excellence guide  to making reports more effective and less work.

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  • Data Finder  - finds data for funding bids, fundraising research, impact reporting, planning and campaigning.

To access help and resources on anything to do with running a charity, including funding, click the AI Bunny icon in the bottom right of your screen and ask it short questions, including key words.  Register, then login and the in-system AI Bunny is able to  write funding bids and download charity policy templates  as well.

executive summary charity business plan

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IMAGES

  1. (DOC) BUSINESS PLAN Business Name: Charity Project

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  2. 16+ Business Plan Executive Summary Template

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  3. Executive Summary Marketing Plan

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  4. Charity Business Plan

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  5. 9+ Charity Business Plan Templates in PDF

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  6. 30+ Perfect Executive Summary Examples & Templates ᐅ TemplateLab

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VIDEO

  1. BUSINESS PLAN PRESENTATION //Business plan presentation discussion //How to make business plan

  2. THIS Is Why YOU Need A Business Partnership

COMMENTS

  1. Charity Business Plan Template [Updated 2024]

    The goal of your executive summary is to quickly engage the reader. Explain to them the kind of charity business you are running and the status. For example, are you a startup, do you have a charity business that you would like to grow, or are you operating more than one charity business?

  2. The Ultimate Guide to Writing a Nonprofit Business Plan

    Layout your goals and establish milestones. Better understand your beneficiaries, partners, and other stakeholders. Assess the feasibility of your nonprofit and document your fundraising/financing model. Attract investment and prove that you're serious about your nonprofit. Attract a board and volunteers.

  3. Business Planning for Nonprofits

    Executive summary - Name the problem the nonprofit is trying to solve: its mission, and how it accomplishes its mission. People: overview of the nonprofit's board, staffing, and volunteer structure and who makes what happen Market opportunities/competitive analysis

  4. How to Write a Nonprofit Business Plan (with Examples)

    21 min read The first big battle most nonprofit and charity organizations have to confront isn't saving the world — it's their nonprofit business plan. Though the project often starts from a passionate "Erin Brockovich" moment, it hardly ever kicks off with ample funding and great renown.

  5. Nonprofit Business Plan Templates

    Strategic planning Free Nonprofit Business Plan Templates Get free Smartsheet templates By Joe Weller | September 18, 2020 In this article, we've rounded up the most useful list of nonprofit business plan templates, all free to download in Word, PDF, and Excel formats.

  6. Charity Business Plan

    1. Executive Summary Charity Business Plan foundation.gg Details File Format PDF Size: 187 KB Download 2. Starting Non Profit Charity Business Plan probonopartner.org Details File Format PDF Size: 96 KB Download 3. Business Plan for Non Profit Organisation westerncape.gov.za Details File Format PDF

  7. The Executive Summary Of A Nonprofit Business Plan

    The executive summary can be used for helping a potential lender, donor, etc. understand the gist of the nonprofit organization and the business side of things. Use this section to communicate the basic concept and the big picture items that are relevant to your nonprofit and to the cause you serve.

  8. How to Write a Nonprofit Business Plan

    Therefore, you should start your business plan with a clear mission statement in the executive summary. The executive summary can also cover, at a high level, the goals, vision, and unique strengths of your nonprofit organization. Keep this section brief, since you will be going into greater detail in later sections. Identify a board of directors

  9. How to Write a Nonprofit Business Plan

    The executive summary of a nonprofit business plan is typically the first section of the plan to be read, but the last to be written. That's because this section is a general overview of everything else in the business plan - the overall snapshot of what your vision is for the organization.

  10. Nonprofit Business Plan Template & Guide [Updated 2024]

    Growthink's nonprofit business plan template below is the result of 20+ years of research into the types of business plans that help nonprofit organizations (NPOs) to attract funding and achieve their goals. Follow the links to each section of our nonprofit business plan template: 1. Executive Summary.

  11. CHARITY BUSINESS PLAN: The Ultimate Guide To Writing A Non-Profit

    What Is a Charity Business Plan? Why Do I Need a Charity Business Plan? The Ultimate Guide to Writing a Non-profit Business Plan #1. Executive Summary #2. Present Your Opportunity #3. Target Audience #4. Strategic Plan Objective #5. Your Products and Services #6. Operational Plan #7. Marketing Plan #8. Financial Plan #9. Management Team and Board

  12. Charity Business Plan [Free Template

    An executive summary is the first section planned to offer an overview of the entire business plan. However, it is written after the entire business plan is ready and summarizes each section of your plan. Here are a few key components to include in your executive summary: Introduce your Business:

  13. Nonprofit Business Plan Executive Summary

    Although it is normally written last, your executive summary provides an introduction to your entire business plan. The first page should describe your nonprofit's mission and purpose, summarize your market analysis that proves an identifiable need, and explain how your nonprofit will meet that need. With regards to your Mission Statement ...

  14. Non Profit Business Plan Executive Summary

    Nonprofit Executive Summary Business Overview Helping Youths Thrive Non Profit is a startup nonprofit organization located in Chicago, Illinois.

  15. The complete guide to setting up a charity

    Writing an executive summary of your charity business plan Although this comes at the beginning of the business plan, it should be written last. By the time you have explored each area in the plan in detail, it will be much easier to have a birds-eye-view and identify the most important points.

  16. Simple Steps to Write an Executive Summary

    The executive summary sets the tone for your proposal, previews your proposed impact, highlights your organization's expertise, and demonstrates how your work aligns with donors' funding priorities. That's a LOT to accomplish in only a few words.

  17. Sample Charity Business Plan

    Here is how to start a charity business plan: Executive Summary Reach Out is a non profit charity business located in Virginia, which seeks to provide succour and assistance to the down-trodden in society. Our main area of focus is to provide our targets which are the homeless in society with a roof over their heads.

  18. How to Write a Charity Business Plan

    The basic elements of the business plans for charity will be the same as if you write a business plan for any profitable organization. These elements start with Executive Summary, Description of Charity its objectives and key activities, Market analysis, Competitors who run a similar charity, operational plan, and financial forecasts.

  19. 9+ Charity Business Plan Templates in PDF

    Step 1: Provide the Executive Summary. Providing the executive summary is mandatory in every business plan. It is used for providing the key points of the whole document to give a quick gist of what's inside. The reader can take a look at the summary and decide whether they want to keep reading or discard it away.

  20. Business Plan Executive Summary Example & Template

    Bottom Line. Writing an executive summary doesn't need to be difficult if you've already done the work of writing the business plan itself. Take the elements from the plan and summarize each ...

  21. PDF Contents Executive Summary

    1. Executive Summary Introduction Serpentine Community Garden is a community growing project and charitable incorporated organisation (CIO) first established in 2015, based in a heritage plant nursery within the wall of Grade II* listed Serpentine Walks in Buxton, High Peak. It is a fertile space for growing plants and growing people.

  22. How to write an executive summary, with examples

    Environmental studies. Market surveys. Project plans. In general, there are four parts to any executive summary: Start with the problem or need the document is solving. Outline the recommended solution. Explain the solution's value. Wrap up with a conclusion about the importance of the work.

  23. Free Example UK CIC or Charity Business Plan Template

    Charity Business Plan Objectives - Operations You also need to ensure that your charity continues to be well run and delivers the high quality support you want it to. Look at your operations, such as delivering services for your beneficiaries, fundraising, finance, people and other activities.