About Course
Building a Sustainable Funding Strategy
CPD Accredited – July 2026 Edition
A comprehensive, UK-focused online masterclass for charities and voluntary organisations on building a resilient, diversified and legally compliant funding strategy, grounded in current legislation, best practice and real-world fundraising expertise.
Who Is This Course For?
This course has been designed for anyone involved in leading, managing or overseeing a charity or voluntary organisation, regardless of your job title or level of experience. Whether you are a:
- Trustee with strategic or financial oversight responsibility
- Chief Executive or senior manager responsible for income and sustainability
- Fundraiser or development professional managing grant applications and funder relationships
- Volunteer taking on a fundraising or strategic planning role
- Finance lead wanting to understand the funding landscape that sits alongside the numbers
- New entrant to the sector who wants to build genuinely solid foundations from the start
This course will give you the knowledge, frameworks and legal grounding to build a funding strategy that is resilient, diversified and built to last. No prior fundraising experience assumed.
Course Overview
6 modules · Average 3 to 4 hours to complete · Work at your own pace
Understanding the UK Funding Landscape
Before you can build a funding strategy, you need a clear picture of the landscape you are operating in, who funds what, how much is available, and what changes in the sector mean for your organisation’s financial future. This module maps the key funding sectors available to UK charities, from charitable trusts and foundations to the National Lottery Community Fund, statutory funders, community foundations and individual giving. You will also explore the current trends shaping funder priorities, including the shift to outcomes-focused funding, the growing emphasis on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, and the movement towards core cost and trust-based funding.
Organisational Readiness and Governance
Funders do not just fund ideas, they fund organisations. Before a funder invests in your work, they will scrutinise how you are governed, your financial health and your legal compliance. This module covers what funders look for in terms of governance and charity law compliance, including the Charities Act 2011 (as amended by the Charities Act 2022), annual reporting requirements, trustee responsibilities and the Charity Commission’s CC3 and CC19 guidance. You will also audit the key policies and documents funders expect you to hold, from safeguarding and data protection to reserves policy and financial controls.
Building Your Funding Strategy
A funding strategy is far more than a list of grants to apply for. It is a deliberate, evidence-based plan that aligns your funding ambitions with your organisational mission, capacity and the opportunities available in your environment. This module walks you through the essential components of a robust funding strategy, how to conduct a funding audit, and how to develop a Theory of Change to underpin your case for funding. You will also explore tools including 360Giving and GrantNav to research potential funders, and learn how to build a realistic 3 to 5 year funding pipeline.
Diversifying Your Income Portfolio
Over-reliance on any single funding source is one of the most common causes of charity financial crisis. This module explores the full spectrum of income available to UK charities, donations and legacies, grants, charitable activities, trading income, investment income and social investment, and how to assess the risk profile of each. You will also learn the key legal and practical considerations around public service contracts, including the Procurement Act 2023, full cost recovery, TUPE obligations and sub-contracting arrangements, with reference to Charity Commission guidance CC35 on trading.
Compliance, Stewardship and Funder Relationships
Winning a grant is only the beginning. How you manage funder relationships, report on your work and comply with funding conditions will determine whether that funder invests in you again, and whether they recommend you to others. This module covers the Code of Fundraising Practice, effective grant management and reporting, and your obligations under the Data Protection Act 2018 and UK GDPR in a fundraising context, including valid donor consent, the Telephone Preference Service and the Fundraising Preference Service. Practical, compliance-focused and grounded in current regulation.
Building Long-Term Financial Resilience
The ultimate goal of a sustainable funding strategy is not just to secure the next grant, it is to build an organisation that can weather financial shocks, adapt to a changing environment and grow its impact over the long term. This final module brings everything together, covering what financial resilience really means for a UK charity, how to plan for financial shocks through scenario planning, how to evaluate earned income and social enterprise opportunities, and how to build a culture of fundraising across your whole organisation, from trustees to frontline staff.
What You Will Learn
On completion of all six modules, you will be able to:
- ✓ Map the key funding sectors available to UK charities and understand what each type of funder is looking for
- ✓ Assess your organisation’s governance and compliance readiness against the expectations of funders and regulators
- ✓ Build a robust, evidence-based funding strategy aligned with your organisational mission and a 3 to 5 year horizon
- ✓ Conduct a funding audit and identify concentration risk, gaps and opportunities within your current income mix
- ✓ Develop a Theory of Change to underpin your case for funding and your approach to impact reporting
- ✓ Diversify your income portfolio across grants, contracts, trading, individual giving and earned income
- ✓ Comply with the Code of Fundraising Practice, UK GDPR and the legal framework for charity fundraising
- ✓ Build long-term financial resilience through reserves planning, scenario planning and a whole-organisation fundraising culture
Benefits for You and Your Organisation
✓ Win More Funding
Understand exactly what funders look for, and position your organisation to meet those expectations with confidence. A stronger strategy means stronger applications and better outcomes.
✓ Stay Legally Compliant
Know your obligations under UK charity law, data protection legislation and the Code of Fundraising Practice, and fundraise with confidence that you are on the right side of the rules.
✓ Protect Your Organisation
Diversified income and proper reserves planning mean your organisation can absorb financial shocks without crisis. Stop putting all your eggs in one funder’s basket.
✓ Build Funder Confidence
A well-governed, strategically focused organisation signals credibility. Funders invest in organisations they trust This course helps you become one of them.
✓ A Resource You Will Keep Using
Download and save the course for future reference. Your investment keeps delivering every time you revisit your strategy, onboard a new trustee or review your income portfolio.
✓ Recognised Achievement
Complete all six modules and receive a personalised, printable CPD-accredited certificate of completion, demonstrating your continuing professional development to employers, trustees and funders.
– Amie Elliott, GeckoFundraising Ltd
How It Works
Complete your purchase using our secure online card payment. Access to the full course is granted immediately upon payment being received, no waiting, no delay.
Work through the six modules online at any time, at your own pace. Your progress is saved automatically in your browser, so you can dip in and out across multiple sessions to fit around your work. Please complete the course on the same device and browser throughout, as your progress is stored locally and will not transfer between devices.
Once complete, save the course as a PDF to keep on your desktop. Return to it whenever you are reviewing your funding strategy, a practical reference resource you will use again and again.
Complete all six modules and generate your personalised, printable CPD-accredited certificate of completion instantly, at no extra cost, a record of your professional development that you can share with trustees, employers or commissioners.
Course Investment
One-off payment including VAT · No subscription · Instant access on payment
- Complete online at your own pace, 3 to 4 hours on average
- Full course available to download and save for future reference
- Knowledge checks and reflection checklists throughout each module
- Links to authoritative UK legislation, Charity Commission guidance and official resources throughout
- Personalised, printable CPD-accredited certificate of completion on finishing all six modules
- Course content covers the legal framework for charities in England and Wales · Also available in course bundles and the Full Catalogue (£649 including VAT)
Access to the course content is granted immediately upon receipt of your completed online card payment. You will be able to start learning straight away.
Important: complete this course on one device
Your progress, knowledge-check answers and certificate details are saved locally in the browser you use to open the course. They are not stored on our server and will not transfer to another device, or to a different browser on the same device. Please start and finish the course using the same device and browser. Clearing your browser history or site data, or using a private or incognito window, will also erase your progress. Your downloadable copy of the course is unaffected and can be opened anywhere.
Course Content
Building a Sustainable Fundraising Strategy
Building a Sustainable Fundraising Strategy