Whether you want to call it a Capital Campaign, Major Gift Campaign, or a combination of the two, focused fundraising campaigns provide nonprofit organizations a unique opportunity to advance their mission.  

Different than your regular fundraising, these efforts provide an accelerator of growth and are often directed towards specific needs of your organization that will help you meet the needs of the people you serve. 

While major non-profit organizations, including colleges and universities, tend to perform campaigns every five to seven years, they’re usually not on the radar of traditional non-profits — but they should be. Capital campaigns create exciting times for organizations, allowing boards and organizational leadership to be bold. However, Focused Campaigns are a tactical undertaking. In other words, unlike direct mail or electronic solicitations, the cultivation will be through an intensive stewardship process that will involve multiple meetings and one-on-one activities.  

As you’re framing your strategy, consider the following:

1. Assess whether you have the donors who want to and can support this type of effort.  

Remember, these donors will be asked to give more than they normally give. Will they and can they do that?  It’s important to not sacrifice your donors’ regular giving in order to meet a specific campaign goal.  Consider “bundling gifts” by allowing donors’ annual gifts to count as part of their campaign gifts.  

2. Determine if you have the volunteers to support your initiative.  

Campaigns are large undertakings and staff is often not able to do it all by themselves.  Do you have a history of volunteers who will help you qualify, cultivate, and solicit prospective donors?

3. Determine if you have a compelling case.  

Smart philanthropists will support ambitious programs and ideas, but most of them will first ask, “do they really need that?”  Test your campaign messaging during a feasibility study and see if donors, prospects, and the community at large is aware of what you do and supportive of this idea. At The Killoe Group, we firmly believe that feasibility studies are imperative to capital campaigns’ success — click here to read our blog post describing why.

4. Evaluate your Board of Directors.  

Not only does every Board member need to make a gift and vote to support the campaign, but they also need to be willing to make connections into their peer groups and to help staff and volunteers throughout the solicitation process.  Highly effective Boards of Directors are required for success.

5. Determine if you have the staff capacity to handle this effort.  

Campaigns are quite involved and require a great deal of time and coordination.  While an outside consultant can help, staff is still responsible for a great portion of the initiative.

6. Decide if the reputation of your organization is high in your service area.  

It’s important for your board and staff leadership to be well-respected in order to inspire philanthropy.  

Organizations may see Focused Fundraising Campaigns to plug a hole or create a windfall.  However, knowledgeable philanthropists understand that these types of campaigns are accelerators of growth – not creators of growth.

Given the amounts of time and effort required for these types of initiatives, make sure you and your team are ready before beginning the process!

About the Author

Michael J. Buckley, CFRE is a career fundraising professional and Founder and Managing Partner of The Killoe Group. His firm assists nonprofit organizations increase revenue, exposure and capacity through smart, data driven, successive decisions and effective planning. Mike’s experience and passion for the profession of fundraising have made him a sought-after speaker, consultant and presenter. The Killoe Group’s broad experiences include annual campaign audits and management, capital campaign leadership, feasibility studies, interim program leadership, board governance, strategic planning and capacity building.