How to pick yourself up after a rejection

As fundraisers, rejection comes with the territory, but that doesn’t always make it easy to swallow. We’ve all been there, after finding a funding opportunity that feels like the *perfect* fit, then pouring our heart and soul into crafting an application, waiting on tenterhooks for weeks or even months for a decision. I don’t know about you, but as soon as that decision email lands in my inbox, my heart races, knowing that in the next few seconds I’ll either be ecstatically happy or crushingly defeated. I’ve felt both emotions time and time again and the rejections don’t get any easier! So how do you pick yourself up after the disappointment? Firstly, don’t beat yourself up. Know that you tried your best and sometimes there is nothing else you physically could have done. Trust and foundation fundraising is super competitive, and success rates of just 1 in 10 are not uncommon. You are competing against hundreds or even thousands of other charities for a small pot of funding. So it’s important to expect and plan for rejections as part of your fundraising strategy. Which leads me on to my second piece of advice. Don’t pin all your hopes on one big bid. Make sure you have a strong pipeline of funding applications planned/in process so that *if* you get a no, you have a plan B/C/D etc. Consider diversifying your income streams. Although trust and foundation fundraising can give one of the best ROIs in fundraising, it’s worth taking time to assess whether there are any other potentially profitable income streams for your charity that are currently untapped. If you need help strengthening your pipeline of prospective funders, help to improve your funding applications and boost your success rate, or support with your fundraising strategy more generally, get in touch - I'd love to help.