Preparing for a Capital Campaign - Part 1

When a campaign isn’t successful, it usually comes back to a handful of common mistakes that organizations make. Not preparing adequately is at the top of the list.

Nonprofits often rush into - and launch - a campaign too quickly. Often, the pace is the natural outcome of a crisis or an urgent need for a particular space or program. It’s understandable, but there are systems and processes to put in place to be sure you don’t miss the mark or kick off a campaign with a goal you can’t achieve.

In this series, we’re specifically looking at how we treat our donors and prospects and the fundamentals of acknowledgements in the context of preparing for a campaign.

Properly thanking donors is an area where most charitable organizations fall short. We take our donors for granted in several key ways, and we miss opportunities not only to thank them but to keep them engaged and excited about their investment in our mission. Acknowledgment is the foundation of any relationship. Consider personal and friendship relationships a model for being seen, heard, and feeling connected. Those needs we all have don’t change when the person is a donor. 

All of our interactions with donors need to begin with appreciation. We’re sometimes so excited to land the big gift or the series of commitments we need for a project or to meet our budget that we forget to circle back with a thank you. Even more, we neglect to keep the donors informed of how their gifts were used, the impact they’ve had, and the fact that we could not do this without them. While this is true for major donors to our campaigns, it’s often more of an issue for those who are making sacrificial, smaller gifts over time. Imagine your organization without all the consistent $25 donors. How often do we make them feel like the lifeline that they are?

In my career, I’ve often gone to thank a donor and had them tell me not to bother, that I don’t need to keep thanking them. Giving is just something they’re happy to do and feel called to, they tell me. Please ignore that when you hear it. While we know most donors are not giving for the recognition, we do them a grave disservice by not appropriately appreciating them and letting them know how vital they are in our work.

Before you kick off a capital campaign, it’s absolutely critical to have a system in place for donor acknowledgments, appreciation, and reporting back. 

In the next blog of this series, we’ll talk about another fundamental in acknowledgments as you launch a capital campaign, which is keeping the focus on the donor despite the temptation to make your interactions with them solely about your project. 

Timothy L. Smith