Doing a Major Capital Campaign to Raise Funding for Your
Nonprofit
by Berwyn J. Kemp
Published on this site: July 15th, 2005 - See
more articles from this month...
A major capital campaign can be one of the most cost effective
ways to raise a large block of capital for the needs of your
nonprofit organization. In fact, today many large nonprofit
organizations use a continuous capital campaign to supply
the funding needs of their organizations. While this course
of action isn't advisable for most organization, an occasional
major capital campaign can still be an effective way to raise
the funds you seek.
But in doing any major capital campaign there are many things
that can go very wrong. That's why it is essential that you
plan your campaign carefully and proceed with caution. Here
are some steps to help you do your major capital campaign
successfully:
- Do, or have done, feasibility study that will answer
such questions as: Are you really ready for a capital campaign?
Do you have the donor bases you need? Does your staff and
people have the expertise to do such a campaign? Do you
have the positive public image to conduct your campaign?
Is any competitor organization doing a capital campaign
when you plan on doing yours? And, have you exhausted all
other fundraising methods to obtain the funds you need?
- Select a campaign chairman for your capital drive to
provide the volunteer leadership that you will need. The
role of being your capital campaign chairman should be this
person's main volunteer responsibility because a great deal
of time and effort will be required of them. Also, if possible,
avoid making your board chairman your capital campaign chairman,
since what you need to do is to supplement your current
leadership with your campaign chairman selection. Rather
than saddling your existing leadership with a heavier workload.
- Set up a capital campaign Coordinating Committee to set
fundraising goals and objectives, and oversee the progress
of your capital campaign. And also set up your other capital
campaign fundraising committees which may include, depending
on the make up of your organization, a Board Committee,
a Past Board Committee, a Friends Committee, a User's Committee,
an Employee Committee, a Top Donor Committee, and other
kinds of committees.
- Prepare good documents that are clear, crisp, and compelling,
which sets forth the goals and objectives of your campaign,
as well as the benefits that will be derived from it. Some
of the many kinds of documents you'll need are: A capital
campaign chart, development proposals, campaign case statement,
campaign newsletter, donor recognition materials, pledge
cards, and three or four campaign solicitation letters for
each year of your campaign to name just a few of the many
kinds of document you'll
need.
- Have your campaign Coordinating Committee do a final
assessment of your campaign goals about two or three months
before your campaign kickoff. This assessment is to decide
if your campaign goals are realistic or not. As a rule,
before you go public with your campaign announcement you
should have 25% of your goal in hand or pledged. If not,
you may need to reduce your goal or postpone your campaign
for now. This is far better than to face the public embarrassment
of doing an unsuccessful capital
drive.
- Implement your campaign plans, if you decide you're ready,
by soliciting your lead gifts, advanced gifts, and employee
gifts first. Then publicly kickoff your campaign, which
can be as short as 9 months for say a church, or a multi-year
effort as most campaigns are covering two or three years.
During each year of your campaign you'll be sending out
three or four solicitation letters, as well as regular progress
reports on just where you stand in relationship to your
campaign goals. If done right, and done very carefully a
major capital campaign can be an excellent way for you to
raise major funds for the work of your nonprofit organization.
Moreover, a successful major capital campaign will also
enhance the public image of your organization in your community
or the geographic area that you serve. Which will make it
much easier to do your regular annual fundraising once your
successful major capital campaign has ended.
Berwyn J. Kemp is a development consultant who helps
nonprofit organizations obtain funding. For free subscription
to his newsletter Nonprofit Funding Solutions, or full details
on his funding products and services, or to read more of his
re-printable articles you can visit:
"http://www.berwynkempassoc.citymax.com/"
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