How We Approach Capital Campaign Management
Your organization has been through the campaign planning process preparing your staff, board and donors for what’s to come. Your consultant has developed a donor-approved case for support for your project and identified a realistic goal and plan for your campaign. Now your board has approved moving into the capital campaign process with the help of a consultant. You’re probably wondering what that process looks like.
Process Creates Potential
Executing a capital campaign is all about process. As we like to say, process creates potential.
Most capital campaign consultants follow a similar process. The major differences between firms lie in the amount of on-site time they spend with you and the fees they charge based on that on-site time. The core process of what they do remains the same and it revolves around these fundamental fundraising principles:
People give to people.
People give because they are asked.
Donors respond to peer solicitations for specific gifts.
Donors often want and always deserve recognition.
People give to benefits and consequences, not just needs.
Achieving a multimillion-dollar fundraising goal depends upon campaign leaders subscribing to these principles and adhering to the fundraising plan based on your project, your organization and your community that should have been developed during your campaign planning study. That plan should outline specific and sequential goals for each phase of your campaign.
The Vital Preparation Phase
The first phase of your campaign includes all the preparation for what is to come. We call it the Family Phase. It focuses on preparing the organization’s internal “family” for the campaign. Steps include forming and training a campaign cabinet, preparing solicitation materials, conducting internal solicitations, and initiating campaign communications.
The campaign cabinet is a small group of four to five members whose initial task is to review and approve campaign materials we develop. They later will become the campaign’s first solicitors and donors. They will first approve the case for support, which embodies the needs, consequences and benefits of the project according to the organization’s leadership and prospective donors. The case is the backbone for all solicitation materials including the video script, brochure, gift plans, pledge forms, naming opportunities and an ask letter. We draft these so that they can be reviewed and approved by the cabinet.
Once materials are finalized, we train the cabinet members on how to solicit and close prospective donors. Our training is done in-person with written and video instructions, role playing and practice by making real personal asks of fellow cabinet members. Cabinet members will be the first to make personal gifts to the campaign, followed by the board members.
The best method for soliciting your wider leadership is personal asks, one-on-one with the leader and their spouse, if possible. By practicing the solicitation process first on their friends and peers, cabinet members gain experience in a low-pressure environment. The cabinet and board should exhibit 100% support prior to moving into the next campaign phase.
We will work together during this time to identify and prioritize the campaign’s major gift prospects based upon their giving potential and the cabinet’s reach. Prospects who are identified as capable of making $25,000+ gifts will be assigned to the appropriate cabinet member for solicitation during the next phase.
As a rule, professional solicitations are led by friends or peers of the donor prospect who have pledged at a level similar to that being requested of the prospect. Not all prospects will be assigned in the Family Phase because the appropriate person to make the ask may not be on the cabinet yet. This means that it is necessary to grow the cabinet as soon as possible to ensure the ever-evolving campaign committee can make professional asks of all major-gift donor prospects. We strategize with committee members on the best approach to their individual solicitation assignments.
Other responsibilities we take on in this phase include creating a timeline for foundation applications and creating and executing a campaign communications plan, which typically includes a campaign newsletter to donor prospects.
Quiet But Not Still
Once all materials are complete, the cabinet and board have been solicited and their gifts closed, the campaign transitions into a series of Quiet Phases. This is when the majority of your dollars are raised in your community.
Now your cabinet needs to expand its size and reach and grow into a campaign committee. To do so, prospective committee members will be identified, solicited and after they have made a pledge to the campaign, recruited on to the committee and trained on the correct process of making solicitations.
This committee and your consultant will meet once a month, but some members will rarely attend meetings. They’re too busy! Their best work is done by opening doors to additional leaders and donors. If this means making a phone call versus attending a meeting, then it is better they make phone calls. The committee grows throughout all phases of the campaign. We provide ongoing training, prospect and solicitation management, and regular progress reporting during all phases.
Success comes down to the number of professional one-on-one solicitations made and closed. Committee members will set-up personal meetings with peer prospects and participate in teams of two in these asks. We begin the quiet phases by concentrating on major-gift prospects with $25,000+ capacity. In subsequent quiet phases, we move to $10,000+ prospects and then lower.
During this time, your consultant is managing solicitation strategy, reporting and closing; drafting foundation proposals; and producing regular campaign newsletters with a focus on information, not solicitation.
We advise most clients to stay in the quiet phases until their campaigns have raised 90 to 95 percent of their goal. When that milestone is reached, we move into the public phase.
Make a Splash
The Public Phase is designed to invite everyone in the community to support the campaign through online and direct-mail solicitations; press releases; letters to the editor; events and every other creative thing you can think of. You can finally put that “DONATE NOW” button on your website! There will be hundreds of donors who will want to support the project. The gifts will be small, but these donors will help secure your future fundraising efforts.
Throughout the campaign and its pledge redemption period, be sure that someone within the organization is focused on collecting those pledges. Don’t let your donors forget about your project. Send them campaign and project updates, reminders and thank you notes to keep the pledges rolling in.
Naming opportunities will have been utilized throughout the campaign to incentivize prospective donors, but now is the time to finalize how all campaign donors will be recognized. Donor recognition can become surprisingly expensive. Care should be taken to ensure the appropriate level of recognition is selected.
Staying on Track
A capital campaign is a systematic process that requires tremendous organization to stay on track and move forward at a good pace. An experienced consultant will journey with you during the process as an expert advisor who cares as much about your success as you do.
We’d love to discuss your project. Contact us to chat.
Melissa Sais is a Campaign Counsel vice president and partner.
