Fundraising without tracking is like running a race without knowing how far you have gone. You have no idea whether you are on pace, ahead, or falling behind.
Tracking your income also helps you identify which fundraising activities are working best — so you can do more of what works and less of what does not.
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What to track
For each fundraising activity or donation, record:
1
Date: When the money was received
2
Source: How it was raised — bake sale, donation, easyfundraising, sponsorship, etc.
3
Amount: How much was raised (before any costs)
4
Costs: Any expenses associated with this activity
5
Net total: Amount raised minus costs — this is your actual fundraising income
6
Running total: Your cumulative total to date
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Use the Ways2Raise tracker: Once you sign up to Ways2Raise, you get access to a personal fundraising tracker that does all of this for you — automatically calculating your running total and showing your progress towards your target.
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Simple tracking options
You do not need anything complicated to track your fundraising. Here are three simple options:
1
Ways2Raise tracker (recommended): Sign up free to access your personal dashboard with built-in tracking, progress charts, and milestone celebrations
2
Google Sheets: A simple spreadsheet with columns for date, source, amount, costs, and running total
3
Notes app: Even a simple list in your phone notes is better than nothing — just record every amount as soon as you receive it
✏️ Set up your tracking system now
Choose one of the tracking methods above and set it up right now. If you choose Google Sheets, create a new spreadsheet with columns for Date, Source, Amount, Costs, Net Total, and Running Total. Add any amounts you have already raised.
Brilliant! You now have a system that will keep you on track throughout your fundraising campaign. In Lesson 3, you will learn how to budget your fundraising events so you know exactly how much profit you are making.