Capital Campaign Slump or Stall? Here’s What To Do

Most campaigns go through ebbs and flows. That’s normal.

However, for those who haven’t been through many campaigns before, it can be difficult to tell the difference between a normal slump and a concerning stall.

If your campaign is going through a slump or even feels like it’s stalled, there are many strategies you can employ to get yourself out. Once you’ve tried several, and still can’t see a path to your goal, your campaign might have come to the end of what you can raise.

Stalled Capital Campaign? 6 Helpful Strategies

Sarah Plimpton, the Director of Client Happiness at Capital Campaign Pro, came up with a list of strategies we suggest to our clients to help them get moving again when their campaign slows down.

Here are a few items from Sarah’s list (in no specific order):

• Make a list of campaign donors who have made a one-time gift (not a pledge) and determine whether you should ask them for another gift for the campaign.
• Make a list of campaign donors who have paid off their pledge to the campaign. You may want to ask them to extend their gift by another year (if their gift was $75K over three years, maybe they would give another $25K, bringing their gift up to $100K).
• Schedule individual hard hat tours to reengage prospects and donors during the final leg of the campaign. People love a behind-the-scenes look at a construction site, which is great for cultivation.
• Schedule another round of “feasibility-like” conversations with top donors and remaining prospects. Explain where you are in the project and invite them to advise you on how to close the gap to your goal. Share a prospect list. Could they help with introductions? Would they be open to a discussion about an additional gift?
• Reapproach anyone who was asked earlier in the campaign but hasn’t yet made a gift.
• Consider the power of a challenge gift. It’s an opportunity to reapproach donors, both those who give to match, as well as the one who issues the challenge!

These are just a few of the strategies our advisors work on with our clients to help them get over the normal ebbs of a campaign.

Extend Your Capital Campaign’s Timeline?

Many organizations get stuck in a campaign and the normal instinct is to extend the timeline. In theory, you could extend the campaign’s timeline indefinitely, but that in and of itself is not going to help you raise more money.

If you have no plan of action and aren’t sure what to do next, extending the timeline won’t solve your problem.

The only good reason to extend your timeline is because you have viable prospects left to visit. In other words, you create a plan to employ the strategies outlined above.

Getting stuck and not reaching your goal is not ideal. Sometimes organizations need to recognize the ending, celebrate what they’ve accomplished to date, and share with the donors what they were able to accomplish with the funds raised (even if they fell short of the goal).

Extending the deadline indefinitely and pretending you’ll get to your goal is not a good strategy. It leaves donors feeling deserted and with a bad taste in their mouth.

Avoid Your Campaign Getting Stuck In the First Place

The way to avoid getting stuck is to create a solid plan from the start. Instead of hoping for the best and diving into a campaign:

1. Take your time with pre-campaign planning.
2. Go through the important process of a feasibility study.
3. Work with a campaign expert (consultant) and develop a solid plan from the start.

This proactive investment in your campaign will ensure your organization starts and ends well.

Campaigning is Hard — Get the Help You Need

One of our amazing clients, a ED at a community college, worked with an advisor to help plan the campaign. They did a Guided Feasibility Study and started raising gifts. They were on a roll!

They got to 50% of the goal easily and felt confident. They decided they could go it alone and no longer needed our expert support. We parted ways as mutual fans and wished them well.

Almost a year later, the ED reached out. She was sad and frustrated and seemed to be stuck at 80% of her goal. She didn’t know what else to do. We reengaged and employed some of the strategies above, as well as a few others. Within 6 months, they surpassed their goal.

Nearly Every Campaign Becomes a Slog

Sometimes campaigns stall because of lack of major gift prospects. But mostly, they stall because of lack of ideas, strategy, and the motivation to stay on track when campaigns become a slog (and they all do).

Campaigns stall because staff and board members become frustrated and lose confidence in the campaign and themselves. Having an expert campaign advisor by your side helps prevent and keep those campaign killers at bay.

If you want to talk with us about how we can help you plan a campaign and support you through your goal, sign up for a free strategy session today.