FREE Fundraising Event Planning Template (Gantt Chart)

Why use our Fundraising Event Planning Template instead of Excel or Google Sheets?

Get started with our Fundraising Event Planning Template in seconds while skipping the hassle involved with Excel or Google Sheets.

Build Gantt charts in minutes, not hours.

No project management experience? No problem. Tom's Planner offers a user-friendly, drag-and-drop interface that's intuitive and easy to learn. Creating Gantt charts is a breeze, saving you time and effort. Compare that to the time-consuming, frustrating, manual formatting-intensive process of building a Gantt chart in Excel or Google Sheets.

Create a Gantt chart in minutes, not hours

Move at the pace of modern business with no learning curve or Googling formulas.

Good luck figuring out how to make a Gantt chart work in Excel or Google Sheets. Excel’s user manual weighs in at a hefty 500+ pages. It takes just five minutes with Tom’s Planner to start planning your first real project plan.

Headache-free collaboration and sharing.

Tom's Planner offers powerful options for sharing and collaborating on Gantt charts, including public links, PDF exports, and team access with customizable permission levels. It’s never been easier to communicate or ensure everyone’s on the same page. Compare that to Excel, where sharing and collaboration mean jumping through hoop after hoop and dealing with confusion and chaos.

How to use Tom’s Planner’s fundraising event planning template to build and share your fundraising event project.

Getting your project off the ground is as easy as 1-2-3.

Step #1

Click the 'start with template’ button to open the Fundraising Event Planning Template.

Step #2

Register for a free account and watch a short video on using Tom’s Planner. The account is free forever, with no strings attached.

Step #3

You’re all set to use the Gantt chart template. Need additional help? Our AI assistant can create a custom Gantt chart Fundraising Event Planning Template based on your project description.

Start with template

What is a fundraising event planning template?

Fundraisers are crucial events for many organizations and initiatives. From nonprofits to charities and religious organizations, fundraisers help draw interest to and provide funding for important programs.

Given the importance of these events, planning them correctly is vital. A fundraising event planning template provides the scaffolding necessary to plan an effective, memorable event that brings donors together to raise awareness and funds. Putting together a fundraiser involves more than just asking potential donors to contribute toward your goal. You’ll need to include promotional events, plan catering, secure a venue, schedule guest speakers, plan for entertainment, and much more.

A fundraising event planning Gantt chart template delivers powerful benefits

While a spreadsheet might provide you with a convenient way to add information and track it, that’s not enough to successfully plan your fundraising event. You need to go beyond a basic fundraising event checklist. A Gantt chart can give you the customization and planning capabilities that you need.

A Gantt chart like Tom’s Planner allows you to create custom timelines, track task progress over time, assign task priority, view dependencies between different tasks, color-code entries, and so much more. It’s time to take your planning to the next level.

When to use a fundraising event planning template

When does a fundraising event planning template come into play? Here are just a few of the times when one is necessary:

Planning Phase:

Fundraising event planning is an in-depth process that requires not just a lot of time, but a great deal of collaboration between those involved. A Gantt chart offers the flexibility, customization, and advanced capabilities necessary for accurate planning.

Resource Allocation:

All fundraising events require resources – people, equipment, funds, and more. A Gantt chart allows you to allocate resources and then track usage over time leading up to and during the event.

Venue Selection:

In most cases, you’ll need to choose between different venues for your event. Even once one is chosen, you’ll need to track tasks related to the venue, such as deposit dates, early access dates, and more. A Gantt chart simplifies this portion of your planning.

Using a Gantt chart like Tom’s Planner to help plan your fundraising event is the key to success.

Who should use a fundraising event planning template?

Planning a fundraising event requires input from a very wide range of individuals. Just some of those who may need to use a fundraising event planning template include:

Organizers:

The event organizer will need to create an overarching plan for the event, determine costs, identify funding sources, and more. A fundraising event planning template helps bring all these elements together into a seamless, scalable plan.

Program Directors:

Many events include multiple programs, each with its own director or manager. These individuals will need to plan everything related to their specific part of the event, whether that’s managing IT, handling guest reception, dealing with physical security, or something else.

Vendors and Suppliers:

Your organization will need to work with a range of vendors and suppliers, from equipment rental companies to venue representatives and catering companies. A fundraising event planning template helps keep all these relationships straight.

With a fundraising event planning Gantt chart template like Tom’s Planner, you can create an actionable event plan and then monitor and adjust it in real time.

Start with template

Three top pitfalls to avoid when planning a fundraising event

You want your fundraising event to encourage donors to contribute toward your goal. Avoid these pitfalls to ensure the best chance of success:

Lack of Adequate Planning:
Detailed, ongoing planning is essential to a successful fundraising event. That includes setting fundraising goals, identifying your audience, securing the venue, and so much more.
Solution:
Use a Gantt chart to help make planning your event simpler and to keep everything on track.
Failure to Promote Your Event:
No fundraising event can be successful without supporting promotional activities. Failing to promote your event will lead to low attendance and possibly mean missing your fundraising goal.
Solution:
Use a fundraising event planning template to coordinate promotional activities and spread the word.
Poor Scheduling of Your Event:
Fundraisers can be very successful, but poor scheduling can reduce the number of donations. The worst mistake is scheduling fundraisers too close to a holiday.
Solution:
Plan your event effectively and strategize the best time of year when donors will feel the most generous.

Giving your event the best chance of success is as simple as effective planning, and the right tool can help.

What does a fundraising event planning template include?

Fundraising events can be large or small and can be held to support initiatives and goals of all types. However, most fundraising event planning templates allow you to plan things like the following:

Event Purpose/Goal
What’s the purpose of your event? What do you hope to achieve? Set measurable goals here, rather than just listing the purpose as “raising funds”. What are the funds for? How much do you need? Where will those funds be used?
Event Name
What’s the name of your event? Use a catchy name that ties in with the venue, goal, or mission to help make it more memorable for potential attendees and donors.
Team
Who’s on the event team? What is each person responsible for? How does each task intersect with and support other tasks?
Timeline
What’s your overall timeline for the event? What tasks are most critical to supporting that timeline and meeting your deadline?
Venue
Where will your event be held? What sort of timeline is required to secure reservations? What will the venue provide in terms of equipment and technology versus what you’ll need to provide yourself?

A great deal of planning is required to ensure your success. A fundraising event planning Gantt chart template like Tom’s Planner ensures that you can create your strategy and then adjust as things move forward.

Four tips on how to make sure you reach your deadlines

1. Start Planning Early:

Want to give your fundraising event the best chance of success? Start planning early. The more time you have to plan, the smoother the process will go and the better you’ll be able to promote it.

2. Build an Experienced Team:

You cannot expect to handle planning a fundraiser alone. You’ll need an experienced team to support you. Start building your team before you even begin planning the event so that they can help inform your planning.

3. Set a Defined Goal:

It’s not enough to “raise funds”. How will you know if your event is successful? Set measurable, actionable goals that tell you exactly how close you are to success or if you’ve managed to exceed your goal. You can then use that information for future fundraisers.

4. Tailor the Event to Your Audience:

Who will attend your fundraising event? Tailor it to their tastes and preferences, but also your organization’s brand. This can help ensure the best fit between the event and potential donors, improving the chances that attendees will feel connected to and vested in your mission.

Gantt charts in Tom's Planner vs in Excel

	Excel	Tom's Planner
Cost	License required	Free version available
Learning curve	Hours	Minutes
Create your first Gantt chart	Hours	Minutes
Making an update in your chart	Several minutes	Seconds (drag & drop)
Sharing charts with others	At some point you will save and email a file titled: version_4_def_usethisversion_reallyfinal.xlsx	Online, one source of truth, always up to date, with no confusion
Look & Feel	Messy	Clean, polished and professional
Dependencies
Filtering
Zoom in/out
Automatic Legend
AI-assist		Let our AI assist do the work for you
Export to image or pdf	Requires workarounds to export	One mouse click

Related Gantt chart templates

Charity Fundraisers

Charity Run/Walk Template

Unveil the intricacies of organizing an effective charity run/walk with our astutely designed Gantt chart template. It's a beacon for those seeking an efficient, systematic roadmap to successful fundraising events.

Charity Fundraisers

Charity Gala or Dinner Template

Extravagant Elegance Unfurled: Your indispensable guide for orchestrating a Charity Gala or Dinner. This Gantt chart template seamllessly blends meticulous planning with a touch of grace.

Raising Capital

Crowdfunding Campaign Template

Embark on your fundraising journey with our 'Crowdfunding Campaign' Gantt chart. It's a quintessential compass for capital accumulation, offering a lucid, stepwise roadmap to success.

Join 127,018 customers and have your first Gantt chart live today!

119$ / year
39$ / 3 months

239$ / year
79$ / 3 months

Or, sign up with: Google

The free Personal account allows for only one chart. Professional and Unlimited accounts, allow for multiple charts and allow you to print, export and share your charts online. For more details click here.