Charity Marketplace
Business Plan

Who is the customer and what problem do you solve?

Your customers are twofold: donors (individuals, corporations, trusts) who want to give effectively but struggle with finding and trusting non-profits, and the non-profits themselves (sellers) who need consistent, low-friction access to funding and new supporters. You solve the discovery and trust gap for donors while providing a vital fundraising channel for charities.

Key Customer Segments

• Individual Donors: Seeking verified, impactful causes for smaller, recurring donations.
• Corporate Givers: Need a streamlined platform for employee giving programs and CSR initiatives.
• Non-Profits (Sellers): Require new, digital channels to reach a broader donor base beyond traditional methods.

Why this market and why now?

The market is driven by a permanent shift toward digital-first charitable giving, a trend accelerated in recent years. Donors, especially younger generations, expect the same transparent, seamless experience they get from e-commerce platforms. Your timing is right to capture this demand by providing a trusted, centralized marketplace that simplifies philanthropy.

Market Opportunity Highlights

• Growing Donor Expectations: Users demand transparency, ease-of-use, and direct impact reporting.
• Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): The corporate giver segment is projected to grow from 15% to 35% of your donor mix, representing a major revenue opportunity.
• Fragmented Landscape: The current ecosystem of direct donations and disparate platforms creates a clear need for a trusted aggregator.

Do the economics work?

Yes, but it requires significant upfront investment to build the two-sided marketplace. Here's the quick math: your initial $200,000 marketing spend in 2026 is projected to acquire 200 non-profits (at $250 CAC) and 5,000 donors (at $30 CAC). This initial scale won't be profitable, leading to a Year 1 EBITDA loss of -$399k due to high fixed costs like salaries ($590k). However, as the user base grows, your revenue from commissions (3.0% of GMV) and subscriptions scales faster than your costs. The model hits breakeven in just 14 months and achieves a 25-month payback period, showing the plan is defintely viable once you reach critical mass.

Financial Plan Viability

• Path to Profitability: The business is projected to reach its breakeven date in February 2027.
• Positive Cash Flow: EBITDA turns positive in Year 2, reaching $709k as revenue outpaces fixed costs.
• Solid Returns: The plan demonstrates a 28.45% Return on Equity (ROE) over

This charity marketplace business plan is not a generic template; it's meticulously researched and tailored for the non-profit fundraising sector. It addresses the unique dynamics of connecting donors with charities, ensuring your social impact business model aligns with industry standards and donor expectations from day one.

Tailored for non-profit fundraising platforms.

Reflects current charitable giving trends.

Covers specific operational challenges.

Your online giving platform business plan template comes as a standard Microsoft Word document, making it incredibly easy to customize. You can effortlessly edit text, modify financial tables, and insert your own branding without needing any specialized software. This flexibility allows you to create a polished, personalized plan quickly.

No special software is needed.

Easily change text and numbers.

Add your own logo and branding.

The template includes a detailed financial section with pre-populated tables for your Profit & Loss, Cash Flow, and Balance Sheet. These projections provide a clear financial roadmap, which is essential for securing grants, attracting impact investors, and guiding your strategic decisions. This is a core part of any donation platform business plan.

Includes Profit and Loss statement.

Cash Flow analysis is built-in.

Balance Sheet projections are ready.

Our template provides a structured approach to market analysis, guiding you through identifying target donor segments, assessing other fundraising platforms, and understanding key market trends. This framework is crucial for positioning your charity marketplace effectively and developing a successful fundraising technology strategy.

Identify your target donor demographics.

Assess the competitive landscape.

Understand key market trends.

The business plan features a clean, professional layout with consistent formatting throughout. This high-quality design enhances readability and ensures your proposal makes a strong, credible impression on potential partners, board members, and investors, reflecting the seriousness of your mission.

Clean, easy-to-read layouts.

Consistent formatting for a professional look.

Makes a strong first impression.

Using this pre-written business plan for a donation platform saves you dozens of hours of work and the high cost of hiring a consultant. All the foundational research and structure are already done, allowing you to focus your valuable time and resources on building and growing your platform.

Avoid expensive consultant fees.

Save dozens of hours of writing.

Focus on building your platform.

This philanthropy business plan template is structured to meet the rigorous expectations of investors, banks, and grant committees. The comprehesive content, clear financial summaries, and professional format are designed to help you effectively communicate your vision and secure the funding you need to launch.

Meets investor and bank expectations.

Clearly communicates your financial viability.

Formatted for grant committee review.

For new founders in the non-profit tech space, this template serves as an educational tool. It provides clear instructions and examples for each section, demystifying the business planning process and helping you build a robust strategic plan for your charity marketplace startup.

Perfect for first-time non-profit founders.

Simplifies the business planning process.

Learn essential business plan components.

To support diverse teams and international ambitions, the business plan template is available in multiple languages. This ensures that language barriers do not hinder your strategic planning, facilitating clear communication and collaboration with global partners and stakeholders.

Supports diverse and international teams.

Eliminates language barriers in planning.

Facilitates clear global communication.