®See what your fundraising system is really doing.
Most charities do not have a fundraising problem. They have a system problem that shows up in fundraising.
The Audit gives you a board-ready read of your fundraising system across eight Forces and forty sub-dimensions. It shows where the system earns a return and where it leaks value, scored against the same rubric our consulting work uses.
A note from Damian
I have spent two decades watching brilliant fundraising teams hit a ceiling that is not about them. Every time I have gone deep enough to find the cause, the cause has been structural. Strategy that does not turn into delivery. An income portfolio nobody designed. Leadership intent that runs into governance friction. Data that describes what happened but never says what to do next.
The Audit exists because most charities do not need another campaign idea. They need someone to look honestly at the system producing the results they are getting, and to name what is in the way.
It will not tell you everything, and it is no substitute for the conversation an experienced consultant brings to the room. But it gives you a defensible starting point and a clear next step.
Damian Chapman
Founder, Fundraiser In The Room
One system, eight Forces
Fundraising performance is not produced by effort. It is produced by eight Forces, working together or against each other. Most charities have never named them, let alone measured them. So when income stalls, the instinct is to look at the people: the team, the campaign, the last appeal. The real story is almost always in the system around them.
The Audit reads all eight. Each Force is scored from helping to hindering, built from five sub-dimensions. When the Forces pull together, fundraising compounds. When they fight, it becomes heroic, reactive and fragile, and no amount of trying harder fixes it.
You get one clear system score and a Force by Force picture of where your system helps your income and where it holds it back.
Start on your own, or bring us into the room
The same eight Forces, scored against the same rubric, at three depths. The difference is who is in the room, not how much rigour you get.
Self Audit
£495
plus VAT
- You do it yourself, online, in about 30 to 45 minutes
- Your answers save as you go, so you can stop and come back
- Add the documents you have, such as your strategy and accounts
- A person at Fundraiser In The Room reads every report before you get it
- A scored report to read on screen or download
Guided
Priced after a conversation
- The same method, with evidence from up to twelve people across your organisation
- You choose who takes part, ideally a mix of roles
- You get the scores and the spread. The spread is often the finding
- One of our team reviews the evidence and leads a conversation about what it shows
- Upgrade from the Self Audit within 90 days and the £495 comes off
Full
Priced after a conversation
- We run a full systems audit: interviews, document and strategy reviews, and workshops
- The diagnostic, a designed intervention plan and a board presentation
- Facilitated sessions with fundraising leadership on your next steps, and three coaching sessions
Getting started with the Self Audit
- Buy the Self Audit on the Audit site, by card or by invoice against a purchase order.
- Answer the questions online, one at a time. Your answers save as you go.
- Add the documents you have. Missing some is fine. The report flags where the evidence was thin.
- We score your answers against our method, and a person reads your report before it reaches you.
Common questions
Who is it for?
Charity chief executives, fundraising and income directors, finance directors and trustees who want an honest read on the system, not a performance review of the team.
How long does the Self Audit take?
About 30 to 45 minutes, online. Your answers save as you go, so you can stop and come back to it.
What if we do not have all the documents?
You can still run it. The report names where the evidence was thin, which is itself a finding about how visible your system is to itself.
Is the Self Audit a substitute for a consultant?
No. It is one person's view, scored against our method, and built to open the conversation with your board, your leadership team or your fundraising managers. A person at Fundraiser In The Room reads every report before it reaches you. It gives you a defensible read and a clear next step. Guided and Full bring more voices, and us, into the room.
Not ready yet?
The free Stress Test takes two minutes. It reads four pressure points on the surface of your system and shows where the strain is coming from.