Planning Your Capital Campaign
Posted by [email protected] on Feb. 24, 2021 / Subscribe 0
The Axe Needs Sharpening: Planning Your Capital Campaign
“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe."— Abraham Lincoln
by Matthew Ghiorsi
As we forge ahead into 2021, our nation yearns for a speedy end to the pandemic and a return to normal for our social fabric. For nonprofit organizations, that means revisiting campaign plans kept on hold last year for all the reasons we know too well. Now is the time to be bold and to put those plans into action.
Planning vs. Feasibility
An initial step in the campaign process is conducting a campaign planning study. We at Ghiorsi & Sorrenti, Inc. prefer the “planning study” nomenclature rather than the traditional “feasibility” study because we have learned over the years that the true purpose is to “plan” a campaign, not just consider the possibility of conducting one or determining if it is “feasible”. In most instances, organizations don’t have the option…campaigns have become integral to funding institutions’ strategic priorities.
During the planning study, participants react to the case for support, which is presented in abstract form. The case abstract details the organization’s mission and vision, its role in the community and beyond, its plans for the future, and the critical role philanthropy plays in achieving those goals. A compelling case conveys ambition, passion and urgency, enabling donors to see exactly how their philanthropic investment can make a profound difference.
Nothing is more important in a planning study than the confidential personal interviews. These interviews should feature an organization’s top donors and prospects—including those who may have only recently given in response to pandemic challenges—as well as volunteers, staff leadership, and other influential members of the community. You may be asking, “how can I conduct these interviews now, given current norms for social distancing?”. Well from our experience it has been seamless. We have conducted several studies completely virtually, involving donors in the same conversations and yielding the same results, all while saving money on travel costs and expediting the process for our clients.
More than Just a Report
A planning study is much more than just a report on public opinion about your capital, programmatic or endowment plans. It is a golden opportunity to educate your donors, cultivate relationships with prospects, and importantly, it can be leveraged to initiate the quiet phase of the campaign. For instance, our methodology carefully “integrates” lead gift strategies into the campaign planning process, if the circumstances warrant it. Often, while conducting the personal interviews, we encounter sources that are willing and capable of considering a major financial commitment, at that point in time. With the prospective donor’s permission, and in collaboration with the client, a strategy is developed to activate what has evolved into a very real lead gift possibility. In effect, these opportunities jump-start the campaign, accelerate gift income and inject a reality factor into the pivotal process of calculating a realistic range of campaign potential.
The Confidence to Succeed
As a result of a planning study, you are better positioned for your campaign. You should not only know how much you can potentially raise but specifically from which sources those funds will come. You should know who might be lead donors and who might emerge as campaign leaders. And you should know what aspects of your case for support resonate best with prospects and what initiatives people are eager to fund. You should move forward with confidence in the knowledge gained from a thorough process that charts the path to a successful outcome.
“You cannot shortcut the campaign process, and a great campaign begins with a great campaign planning study,” said Laura Gingras, Vice President for Philanthropy and Community Relations at Monadnock Community Hospital. “The confidential interviews raise the sights of prospects and bring a level of professionalism and credibility to the effort. The study set the campaign up for success and we exceeded the goal. Nothing was left to chance or good fortune. We were prepared…completely.”
Sharpen Your Axe
Over the past year, we have seen our clients rise to the nation’s healthcare challenges and confront the pandemic head-on. In doing so, they have underscored the critical role they play in keeping communities safe and healthy and they have inspired philanthropists of all types and sizes to make impactful investments in human potential and wellbeing. Now, hopefully, as your organization begins to emerge from the crisis and revisit campaign plans that have been put on hold or to fund new strategic initiatives it might be…as Abe Lincoln noted…time to sharpen the axe.
What began as a partnership rooted in healthcare philanthropy has grown into Ghiorsi & Sorrenti, Inc. (GSI), a full-service philanthropic consulting firm with clients across the full spectrum of nonprofit organizations. Over our 30+ years we’ve helped hundreds of organizations raise over $8 billion and, more importantly, strengthen their ability to make an impact long after our engagement concludes.
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