About the Accelerator

The Strategy Phase is the most time-intensive part of the Accelerator, and you will complete six modules over six weeks. Time investment varies depending on your learning style and how much internal consultation you do with other team members, but most participants spend around 90 minutes per week working through the online materials and assignments, plus a 90-minute weekly coaching session. We recommend approaching the Strategy Phase as a focused period of strategic reflection and planning. If you can protect time in your calendar, you’ll move through the programme with much more ease, and get stronger outputs at the end.

The Accelerator is designed for individual research leaders, and in some cases we can accommodate small research teams. If you join as a solo researcher, the process focuses on your next five years — clarifying your strategic direction, research priorities, and a fundraising pathway that supports your growth. This option works well if you are at an early stage of setting up a research group, if you work across a network rather than within a single lab, or if you prefer to develop your strategy independently before socialising it more widely. If you already have a team and want to build shared ownership from the start, joining together can be a strong fit. Working as a group helps align your team around one strategy, spread fundraising skills, and make the rollout more sustainable after the programme is complete.

Teams can include up to five participants. Each person receives personalised access to the learning platform, and the group works collaboratively on shared assignments. Coaching sessions are held with the group, and the work is structured so you develop one cohesive strategy rather than separate parallel plans. If you join as a team, we recommend including at least one person who can support fundraising coordination and donor engagement after the programme — for example an administrator, project manager, postdoctoral researcher, or junior researcher already working within the group. This supports continuity once the strategy is complete.

By the end of the Strategy Phase, you will have a clear package of core planning outputs that you can use internally and with funders. This typically includes: • A refined vision and mission statement. • A five year Theory of Change (impact or narrative), activities plan, and development budget with fundraising targets. • A one-year fundraising plan, including a funding landscape analysis and an actionable fundraising roadmap.

The Visibility Phase translates strategy into a clear, funder-facing public presence. This typically includes strengthening your positioning and messaging, and building the assets that help your work show up confidently online — such as a refreshed LinkedIn profile and a professional landing page or website. The focus is on making your work easier for funders, collaborators, and partners to understand — and easier to find.

The Sustainability Phase supports continuity after Strategy and Visibility are complete, so your plan can be implemented successfully. This phase focuses on establishing practical fundraising systems and processes, to increase grant and donor fundraising activity. Ideally we would work with a member of your team, such as an administrator or research officer, who wants to take on fundraising coordination as a key performance area. Our fundraising coordination specialist will work with this team member to develop fundraising systems and processes, and develop a progress dashboard. They will also receive practical guidance on how to undertake prospect research, run a development meeting, and track fundraising progress over time.

If you’re running a large research centre, institute, or academic department, you may need a more tailored strategy process. That said, we often work with larger institutions to support cohorts of researchers through the Accelerator. This can be an effective way to strengthen fundraising capability, strategic clarity, and visibility across an existing membership, while allowing each participating research leader to develop direction that fits their work.