Kaushik Kappagantulu, Co-founder & CEO, Kheyti

Essential strategies for effective fundraising

Hi, my name is Kaushik and I'm the co-founder and CEO of Kheyti.

Our mission is to increase incomes for smallholder farmers affected by climate change.

Our vision is to see a world where every smallholder farmer is climate smart and has access to a whole host of climate smart technologies that are affordable and accessible.

A lot of the strategies for successful fundraising in a nonprofit are similar to what they are for a for profit because nonprofit investors think many things the same way.

Some of the top ones which are standardized across these sectors are things like, one, tell the story of the vision and the impact. Don't just talk about exactly what you're doing right now because people invest in the vision and the impact. They don't just invest in what is happening right now.

Second is building relationships. Most fundraising really happens through relationships because it's based on trust, and people need to know that they can trust you. Who connects you to your funder is very important. Things like cold emails normally don't work.

The third is this idea they keep talking about called "lines not dots," which basically means that investors or funders don't just want to invest on where you are today. They want to see where you were yesterday, where you will be tomorrow, so that they can draw a line to say, "Actually, there is a success path that can continue over time."

The fourth is, this is a process that you have to generate leads, you have to follow up with the leads, you have to make sure that everything is done on time. There will be a big rejection rate. You just need to follow it as a step-by-step process.

But when we come to things like nonprofit fundraising there may be nuances that are slightly different, how you tell the story and how you position yourself. There's a few things.

One is that it's talking about impact much more than any other sector. Most grant providers want to know that every dollar that they invest in goes towards and generates, maybe, $5 of impact.

You have to be obsessive about your theory of change, defining how your impact is created, but also how you measure that impact and how you communicate on impact.

The second is leverage. Most grant funders want their money not just to go towards one project or one year but they want it to unlock something else for you. It could be product development, reducing costs. It could be unlocking, getting bigger funders, maybe partnerships. So make sure you're communicating that.

For us, communicating that helps people get excited about investing money right now because we can tell them that their money goes longer than the money that they gave us.

The third important factor for the long-term is really for grant funders to know what is your long-term path for sustainability. 

Key takeaways 

• Demonstrate how your work creates meaningful change

• Show your donors how their support unlocks new opportunities

• Share how you’ll sustain your organization after the initial funding runs out