What are key tips for fundraising and resource mobilisation in a limited funding environment?
Question submitted by: Francis Alumai, Director: Programme Development, AgriHope International Uganda (AHIU), Uganda
In a limited funding environment, the temptation is to do more fundraising: apply to more opportunities, approach more donors and pursue every possible funding source. I would argue for the opposite.
This is a time for greater focus and more deliberate choices.
First, be honest about where your organisation is positioned. Do you have the systems, compliance capacity and track record to receive funding directly? If yes, strengthen that position and pursue it confidently. If not, partnership can be a strategic route through consortia, sub-recipient arrangements, or technical roles alongside organisations that already have access.
What matters is knowing where you are and building from there.
Second, invest in donor intelligence, not just donor lists. Knowing 100 potential funders is less useful than deeply understanding 10. Which funders are supporting your sector? What are their current priorities? Who have they funded recently? How are they making their grants? Are they funding organisations like yours directly, or mainly through intermediaries?
This intelligence helps you decide where your effort is most likely to pay off.
Third, narrow before you widen. Identify two or three funding pathways where you have a strong fit and invest in building relationships, understanding the funders and developing your positioning. Fewer, well-targeted opportunities will usually serve you better than spreading your team across dozens of applications.
Fourth, diversify intentionally. Diversification matters, but it shouldn’t mean pursuing everything. Consider a deliberate mix of institutional funding, corporate partnerships, local philanthropy, individual giving or earned income where these genuinely fit your organisation.
The aim is resilience, not simply a longer list of income sources.
Finally, resource fundraising properly. Good fundraising requires people, time, relationships, systems and skills. If nobody owns the function internally, people will inevitably do it when they have time, and there is rarely enough of that.
For me, the central lesson is simple: when resources are constrained, your fundraising strategy needs to become more focused, not more frantic.
(This answer was provided by Lucy Njue, a Kenyan fundraising and sustainability strategist, and Founder and Executive Director of Realtime Insights)
