Once you have identified potential donors, you need to write a convincing project proposal and submit it to the donor organization(s).

Note that drafting a convincing project proposal takes time and thought. Raising funds is like finding investors for a business. You will have to be very persistent and patient. Practitioners estimate that even in experienced institutions the ratio of positive project proposals is about 1:10, which means that out of 10 proposals only one gets accepted for funding.

The cost for writing proposals, especially staff time, is a fixed cost for the institution and therefore needs to be calculated in the overall price charged for your programmes and services – or be paid out of baseline funding.