Stop Chasing Grants, Start Building Relationships
By Jose Ddiba
Last year was one of the best fundraising years we have ever had at Ba Nga Afayo Initiative Uganda. To be honest, it worried me. Not because we had raised money, but because I could not confidently explain why. Had we been lucky? Had we been in the right place at the right time? Or had we unknowingly done something that actually worked? I did not want to spend the next few years hoping lightning would strike twice, so I enrolled in a fundraising course. I wanted to understand fundraising as a skill rather than celebrate it as luck.
One lesson from that course completely changed the way I think about fundraising. Funders rarely give to strangers. They fund people and organisations they know and trust. That statement was both encouraging and devastating. Encouraging because it finally gave me an explanation for many of the opportunities that had come our way. Devastating because I realised how much time I had spent trying to perfect proposals instead of intentionally building relationships.
When I looked back at almost every grant BaNgaAfayo had received, I noticed something interesting. None of them happened in isolation. In almost every case, we had interacted with the donor long before funding was ever discussed. Sometimes we had met at an event. Sometimes we had exchanged emails or connected on social media. Other times, someone they already trusted introduced us. There was always a relationship somewhere in the story.
The same pattern became even clearer with individual donors. Individual donors do not only fund organisations; they fund people. Before they believe in your mission, they first believe in you. They trust your intentions, your consistency, and your ability to follow through. That realisation forced me to ask a different question. Instead of asking, “How do I find more donors?” I started asking, “What relationships am I building today that might become partnerships tomorrow?”
One phrase from that fundraising course has stayed with me ever since: relationships move at the speed of trust. The more I reflected on it, the more I realised that trust is not something you ask people to have. It is something you build. That led me to another concept I wish I had learned much earlier: the Trust Triangle.
The Trust Triangle suggests that people are more likely to trust you when three things come together: authenticity, empathy, and logic. Authenticity is about being genuine. People want to know the real person behind the organisation. They connect with honesty, consistency, and stories that reflect lived experience rather than polished marketing language. Empathy is about creating an emotional connection. It is helping people see the world through your eyes and, in turn, see themselves in your story. When people can relate to your struggles, your mission, or the people you serve, trust begins to grow because your work no longer feels distant or abstract. Finally, there is logic. Even the most inspiring story needs to make sense. People need confidence that your approach is thoughtful, your goals are realistic, and your work can genuinely create change.
Looking back, I now realise that many of the things we thought were “fundraising” were actually trust-building. Every story we shared from the community, every impact report we published, every update we posted online, and every conversation we had with people who cared about our work was building trust long before we ever asked for support. The proposal was simply the final step. The relationship had already been growing.
If you are just starting, spend less time obsessing over the perfect proposal and more time becoming known. Build relationships before you need them. Share your journey consistently. Let people watch your work unfold. Answer emails. Meet people. Listen more than you speak. Trust is built in small moments, long before funding decisions are made.
This is also why I believe every early-stage nonprofit should invest in telling its story well. Your website, your videos, your photography, your reports, and your social media are not just communication tools. They are trust-building tools. They help people know you before they meet you, understand your mission before they read your proposal, and believe in your work before they are ever asked to support it.
At Truth Design Academy, a social enterprise by Ba Nga Afayo Initiative Uganda, this is exactly what we help organisations do. We help nonprofits build credibility through professional website design, storytelling, impact reports, photography, video production, graphic design, and digital communications. We also train organisations and communications teams to tell their stories more effectively because before people invest in your mission, they first invest in their trust in you.
(Jose Ddiba is a Ugandan community activist, Executive Director of the Truth Design Academy and Team Leader at Ba Nga Afayo Initiative Uganda)
