Category: Fundraising

You’ve made the decision that it’s time to undertake a major campaign to improve your facilities, your infrastructure, your agency. You’ve set an aggressive goal, and now you have to ask yourself HOW? If you’ve made it this far, chances are you have a pretty clear picture in your head (or at least hope you do). You’ve identified your major donors, cultivated your asks, and maybe even thought about materials. Putting it all together in campaign will be key. The best part of running a major campaign is that you should never have to do it alone.

Campaigns go in phases: The planning phase, the quiet phase and the public phase. Each one is distinct and vital to the success of your campaign. And, importantly, there is no predetermined length of time for the planning and quiet phases. Take your time, be generous with yourself in that regard. Plan, plan again, try, and then make more plans.

Planning

Support for your capital campaign should come from a dedicated committee of people, and perhaps even a consultant to guide the process.  Your committee should be composed of people who don’t entirely serve on your board of directors, unless you have that rare unicorn board every non-profit executive is seeking that does all the fundraising. You should really look at who in your community is willing to champion your cause on  your behalf. They should be connected, they should be willing to do the work, and they should be willing to make asks. If they aren’t willing to do all of these things, move on from them. Capital campaigns require all the work from all the committee members.  Succeed together, fail together.

Your plan should include things like creating a case for support (if you don’t know what this is, call me. Seriously, call). You should explore the creation of your campaign materials- what will they look like and feel like. They should be different than your everyday materials.  It should include your asset inventory, and the inventory from your committee. It should be the place where you create and fine tune your pitch and your asks. It should be the place where your committee has lunch and talks about how your are going to pull this off. It should be a place of learning and training and sharing. AND it should be the place where you establish the majority of the budget you are going to expend to make the money you need.

Shhhh… Quiet phase in progress

The quiet phase of your project should be like a candle lit dinner with your favorite person. The dinner where at the end you’re going to propose, or surprise them with tickets to their favorite show, or that all-inclusive vacation package. Except everyone knows why they are there, and what to expect. The only surprise *might* be the actual amount of the ask. You should expect to raise 50-70% of your goal during your quiet phase, so give it time

. Maintaining momentum throughout the life of your campaign  will be an essential part of the design. If your campaign is long term (more than a year) make sure you are planning activities accordingly. Don’t front load the kickoff with all the exciting events if you haven’t done the work during your quiet phase. And don’t send it out with a bang if your intention is to make up for dramatic shortfalls. Planning looks better on you than desperation.

ATTENTION! ATTENTION! We are doing a thing, and our thing is INCREDIBLE

Let the celebration of your mission begin. Don’t hold back. Tell people about your dreams with impunity. Be real, be vulnerable and let everyone know why your mission matters. This part of the campaign should be the most exciting. There should be media, and videos and thank-yous. There should be emails, and letters and many other strategies. Peer-to-peer fundraising, corporate sponsorships, and timing.  During this phase it’s important hat you also recognize that there are restricted dollars. These funds can’t go to operating, or programming. Be cautious in knowing how to design your “regular” fundraising around this campaign. WOW, that felt like a lot. Remember, the planning phase is important. Take your time so you can have the best public phase, and  fundraising continuity ever.

As a former non-profit Executive Director, I know how important (and helpful) it is to have community support.  Your community supporters are your ambassadors, your volunteers, your employees, your donors.  But I also know that as Executive Directors, we are often stuck behind our desks doing grant reports and making sure we can make payroll. Getting out into the community can often feel like a task we don’t have time for. We rely on our board members or word-of-mouth to spread the word about our mission. But we do our work for a reason. I’ve never heard a single non-profit ED tell me they’re in it for the money (hahahahahaahahah) but we are in it for the mission. AND you my lovely unicorn, are the BEST ambassador of that mission. Once you admit that to yourself, feel free to read on (I’ll wait.. I have teenagers who I patiently wait after for them to clean their rooms, so I’ll wait).

Get out from behind your desk (even though you splurged on that super fantastic chair)!  Think of community building as your opportunity to get out and get a break. It doesn’t have to be flashy, or public, or involve anything other than a cup of tea and your time.  Have a donor you want to learn more about? Call them and ask them to coffee. Have a volunteer that has been exceptional? Pack some sandwiches and have lunch with them. Thinking about planning an event at a local venue? Call their ED and take a lunch time walk. All of these interactions matter. Make these thing part of your routine, and your budget.  In a time of pivoting and Covid and quarantine it’s time to make these things matter. You will always make sure your grant reports get done and your staff is taken care of but wouldn’t it be nice to have one less grant report to do because you spent time with people who are truly inspired by your mission?

Need to rally your community behind your mission? Have you had a moment, an event, need to make a statement? Mostly, do you need to build your foundation in your community as you gear up for any of these things?

Let us help you start a community campaign. We can help you plan a strategy, a mailing, a flier, a donor phone bank to engage your community in your mission. This type of friendraising((Friends, how many of us have them)) is essential for the success of your fundraising strategy. Let us help you explore new ways to engage.

Fundraising and grant writing are a necessary function of the work we are so driven to do. But have you ever just sat back and thought, how can I do this better? How can I write a year end appeal that is actually appealing? How can I incorporate Giving Tuesday in a meaningful way? How do I reach more donors on my social media? And the BIGGEST question, how do I get my Board to do their part? With Covid-19 changing the way you raise money, its time to start thinking more intentionally about how you ask and what you are asking for.

Having a fundraising plan is an essential part of doing the work. Figuring out what that plan looks like is an adventure in calendars and post it notes, and I mean the BIG post it notes. I always like to start with a message, what am I trying to convey, and how can I carry that throughout the year? How do I frame all of my campaigns so that they steward the message for the entire year? How do my grants fit in? For me, this has always started at the end of the year, in my appeal. I set the tone for the upcoming year, state my goals and aspirations. I tell my donors and hope they want to follow the journey with me. It can be as simple as following the adventures of a shelter dog from intake to adoption, or following a teammate throughout the year and the ups and downs they face.

What it cannot be is exploitative. We as a sector have to stop branding the “misery” we perceive our clients go through. We have to stop raising money on the backs of the people we serve. Focus on the good, focus on the positive, focus on the impact your mission makes, your agency makes. Look inward and highlight the difference your team makes. It’s definitely a change. I recognize that it’s one I myself have had to make ( and believe me, my most successful campaign had an element of this in it) and it isn’t easy, but there is going to be a way.

Tell me you fundraising dreams over a hot cup of something, I want to know (unless your dream is that Oprah answers that letter that someone on your Board of Directors told you to write…I don’t live that life). and if I’m honest with both of us right now, I want it to be a cold drink.