Capital Campaigns are the pinnacle of fundraising. There’s truly no better way to boost your fundraising skills and capacity than to conduct a successful campaign.
So, if you want to be a fundraising superstar at your organization (and among your peers), now could be a great time to lead the charge with a capital campaign.
Big, Bold Thinking Fuels a Capital Campaign
If your organization hasn’t done a campaign in the last few years, the last decade, or ever, it’s time to start planning. Most campaigns start with a strategic planning process and the realization among staff and board members that you could (and should) be serving your constituency in bigger and better ways.
If necessary, hold a visioning session with board and staff to imagine blue sky scenarios for your organization. Once there’s agreement in a big vision, you can get started planning on your campaign.
6 Steps to Lead the Charge for a Capital Campaign
As a preliminary step, head on over to Capital Campaign Pro and download our free Campaign Readiness Assessment to help determine your strengths and weaknesses as you prepare for this monumental fundraising effort. This will be super-helpful in giving you the bigger picture regarding your organization’s campaign readiness.
Beyond completing the free assessment, here are five additional steps you’ll want to take to gear up for a capital campaign.
Step 1: Establish a Core Committee
Bring together a core committee of key leaders who will move the idea of a campaign forward. This initial committee includes the ED/CEO, Development Director, Board Chair, and one or two other key leaders or volunteers.
Step 2: Identify Campaign Objectives
Identify the objectives of your campaign. In other words, make a list of what needs to happen to make your vision a reality.
Sometimes this includes a new or renovated building. Other times it’s startup funding for new or expanded programs and services. It can be anything necessary to build your capacity including marketing, branding, endowment, fundraising capacity, and more.
Step 3: Determine a Working Goal
Your working goal is an estimate of the cost of your campaign objectives. Take each objective and assign a cost. The total will be your initial working goal.
Step 4: Hire Outside Help
Do a quick assessment of the campaign expertise on your team. Ask yourself and others:
Do you have any staff members who have led multiple campaigns from start to finish?
If not, you’re going to want to invest in some outside expertise. Ask peers, colleagues, and board members who they’ve worked with for a successful campaign.
I’ll admit my bias here, but I strongly suggest including Capital Campaign Pro as one of three consultants you consider. Our model is different and could be a better fit for your nonprofit.
Step 5: Conduct a Feasibility Study
Along with your consultant, start planning your feasibility study. This will include developing a gift range chart and drafting your case for support.
Once you’ve met with the biggest potential donors to your campaign through the feasibility study process, you’re ready to start asking for major gifts and the quiet phase of your campaign.
Are You Ready to be a Capital Campaign Pro?
Over the last five years as the CEO and Co-Founder of Capital Campaign Pro (formerly Capital Campaign Toolkit), I’ve had the honor of watching dozens of organizations — large and small — complete successful capital campaign.
I’m so proud of the work we’ve done to make campaign expertise accessible to nonprofit leaders around the country and the world. We’ve created a unique support system which provides fundraisers everything they need to lead a successful campaign — including access to individual advising, online templates and samples, and weekly peer support.
Check out the Pre-Campaign Planning offered by Capital Campaign Pro to learn more about how we can become your capital campaign partner while you become a fundraising superstar… and capital campaign pro!
Do you think its better to keep the originating of campaigns “in-house” or outsourced to experts? This could mean that resident staff are free to maintain their portfolios and look after donors, or conversely, it could mean that staff have less buy-in, and subsequently it reduces commitment and engagement.
I’d appreciate your thoughts on this.
HiTrudy – I’m not quite sure I understand the question, but I think you’ve answered your own question if I’m understanding correctly. Are you asking about the potential value in outsourcing a campaign, including donor relationships (clearly a bad idea)? I believe you’ve provided two key examples of why it should be kept in-house, including keeping relationships in-house as well as increasing staff commitment and engagement. At Capital Campaign Pro, we provide outside support, strategy, and guidance, while keeping the donor relationships and key decision making process with in-house staff. That’s because we believe in empowering staff and helping to strengthen internal fundraising capacity.