The Ins and Outs of Capital Campaigns
Capital campaigns are major undertakings for not-for-profits. But they need not be if you first assess both your readiness and your constituency. Even if you’re already in the midst of a capital campaign, following these steps can help you meet your goals.
Six Keys to Internal Readiness
To be truly ready for a campaign—whether it’s for a new building, a special project, or an endowment fund—you need six key elements:
- A purpose. Why do you need the money? All campaigns should have a well-defined purpose that describes why the community should support this effort and how it fits into your strategic plan. Develop a detailed budget of how you’ll spend the funds, and update your PR material. When doing so, put yourself into your current and potential donors’ minds. Ask what questions or objections they may have as well as what information will help them decide to give. This will help you demonstrate why they should contribute to your campaign.
- Leadership. Do you have a leadership committee? Without direction, a campaign will soon flounder. So create a campaign committee—including board members, employees, and volunteers—and look to them to set the tone and ensure tasks are accomplished.
- Staff commitment. Do you have a development staff or a consultant experienced in running a campaign? This team or person must be able to develop a feasibility study, manage cultivation events, and coordinate the campaign calendar. Also, remind employees to get involved and reach out to their contacts. If they don’t continue to build relationships with donors and prospects, you may miss out on major gifts.
- Board assistance. How will board members help with a capital campaign? Their primary responsibility should be to bring new names to the table. Set a goal: for every gift you would like to receive, aim for your board to provide three or four prospects. Board members can also assist by personally calling on prospective donors.
- Financial resources. How does your financial history affect your campaign? Before you begin, find out if your financial position can support the additional time and costs needed to run your campaign.
- Ongoing communication with supporters. How do you communicate with your constituents and how often? Expanding your donor base should be a daily process. Frequent and regular contact with former and prospective contributors is an effective technique to keep people giving continuously. For example, send them your newsletter and annual report. Thank donors for significant gifts by calling them, sending a note, and recognizing their contributions in your annual report.
Be careful you don’t turn them off by contacting them too frequently. Check with major donors to see how often they would like you to call or send materials.
Community Support
In addition to ensuring your organization has leadership and resources, you must identify and solicit community support. This includes holding an event, such as a kickoff breakfast or cocktail party, to tell the community about your mission, your campaign, and related activities.
To understand your community and see how prepared your organization is for the capital campaign, conduct a feasibility study. This entails talking to your key prospects for individual, corporate, government, and foundation gifts. Ask questions such as:
- How do you perceive our organization?
- Is our work respected and well-known in the community?
- Does the project address a community need?
- Is our financial goal attainable?
- Is the campaign time frame reasonable?
- Will you contribute your time and money?
- Can you identify potential campaign leaders or are you interested in this position?
Most importantly, you’ll get a sense of the level of support you can expect. This information is particularly helpful because you can design your desired gifts and donor recognition levels. Before kicking off your campaign, commit to receiving half of your goal from a few top contributions. For example, plan to obtain 30 percent of your funds from one lead gift, 10 percent from a second lead gift, and 10 percent from two smaller gifts.
Time and Financial Investment
Although taking these steps to assess your organization’s readiness and build your community image may be time consuming and delay the start of your capital campaign, doing so will be worthwhile in the long run. You’ll be able to smoothly run the fundraising project without disturbing your ongoing services.
