What fundraising skills should NGO staff prioritise to remain competitive?
Question submitted by: Noel Hara, Centre for Social Concern, Malawi
The NGO funding landscape has changed. Funders are more selective. Competition is fiercer. And the days of winning grants on goodwill alone are firmly over.
The staff who will keep their organisations funded in the next five years are not just passionate. They are skilled. Deliberately, systematically skilled.
Here is what that looks like in practice:
1. Proposal writing that thinks like a funder. Not descriptive writing. Strategic writing. The ability to build an argument – problem, solution, evidence, team, budget – that leaves a reviewer with no reasonable objection.
2. Donor research and prospect mapping. Knowing how to find the right funder before writing a single word. Most proposals fail before they are submitted because they were sent to the wrong person.
3. Monitoring, evaluation and impact documentation. You cannot sell results you never measured. Staff who can design simple M&E frameworks and translate data into compelling narratives are worth their weight in grant income.
4. Relationship management. Fundraising is not a transaction. It is a long conversation. The skill of maintaining genuine, consistent communication with donors, without always asking for money, is rare and extraordinarily valuable.
5. Budget development and financial narrative. A proposal with a weak, misaligned budget signals organisational immaturity. Staff must learn to build budgets that tell the same story as the narrative, and defend every line confidently.
6. Funder intelligence and landscape reading. Understanding funding trends, strategic priorities, and the language funders are currently using. The ability to position your work inside a funder’s framework without losing your organisation’s voice.
7. Storytelling and communication. Data convinces. Stories compel. The staff member who can turn a field visit into a two-paragraph donor update that produces goosebumps and gifts is a fundraising asset.
These are not soft skills. They are the technical backbone of a funded organisation.
Invest in building them, or keep explaining to your board why the pipeline is dry.
(Edward Jengo is a Ugandan fundraising expert, and Chief Executive Officer of Bright Path Consult)
