Why Board Members Need a “Guide to Capital Campaign Fundraising”

After working on hundreds of capital campaigns over the past several decades, one thing has become abundantly clear:

Capital campaigns are fundamentally leadership-driven endeavors.

And because board members are an organization’s most visible and trusted volunteer leaders, their engagement is essential.

Board Member Engagement is Essential in a Capital Campaign

When board members make meaningful gifts, participate actively, and speak enthusiastically about a campaign, they provide something incredibly valuable: confidence.

Their involvement tells prospective donors:

“I believe in this vision enough to invest my own time, reputation, and resources.”

No consultant, executive director, or development professional can substitute for that kind of leadership.

Boards Are Critical to Capital Campaign Success

Board members help shape an organization’s future. Capital campaigns help fund that future. The two are inseparable.

Yet many board members enter a campaign with little prior experience. For many, a capital campaign is not something they do every day — or even every decade. It’s understandable that they have questions.

That’s why my colleague Amy Eisenstein and I wrote A Board Member’s Guide to Capital Campaign Fundraising: How to Raise Game-Changing Money for Your Nonprofit. We wrote this book because board members deserve a resource created specifically for them.

There Are Too Many Misconceptions About Capital Campaigns

Over the years, we’ve heard the same concerns repeatedly:

• How much am I expected to give?
• Do I have to ask my friends for money?
• Will a campaign hurt our annual fund?
• Why can’t we announce the campaign publicly right away?
• Do we really need a feasibility study?
• What exactly is my role as a board member?
• What if we can’t raise all of the money?

These questions aren’t signs of resistance. They’re signs that people want to understand.

Unfortunately, there are countless myths and misconceptions surrounding capital campaigns. Some have been passed down through nonprofit folklore for decades. Others come from well-meaning advice that simply doesn’t reflect how successful campaigns actually work.

When board members lack clear information, uncertainty can become hesitation. And hesitation can slow momentum at exactly the moment organizations need leadership and confidence.

We wanted to change that.

Nonprofit Leaders Can’t Be Experts in Everything

One of the realities of nonprofit leadership is that executive directors, CEOs, and development professionals are constantly educating and supporting their boards.

Board members rely on staff to help them understand everything from governance and fiduciary responsibilities to budgeting, strategic planning, fundraising, programs, and organizational performance. That’s appropriate. Most board members are volunteers, and nonprofit leaders play an important role in helping them become informed and effective trustees.

But capital campaigns introduce an entirely new layer of complexity.

Many board members have never participated in a capital campaign before, so naturally they have questions. Lots of them.

The Problem — Nonprofit Leaders Don’t Have the Time

What makes campaigns especially challenging is that many nonprofit leaders are navigating their first campaign, too. Even experienced executives may have spent decades leading organizations without ever launching a major capital campaign.

They are experts in their missions and organizations, but not necessarily in campaign fundraising.

At the same time, they’re already managing staff, programs, budgets, donors, and day-to-day operations. Asking them to become campaign educators on top of everything else can be overwhelming.

The Solution — Provide an Invaluable Resource to Board Members

We wanted to create a resource that nonprofit leaders could confidently place in the hands of their board members — a resource that answers common questions, dispels misconceptions, establishes a shared language, and creates a foundation for meaningful conversations about every stage of a capital campaign.

Rather than spending precious board meeting time explaining concepts, leaders can use the book to facilitate deeper discussions about campaign strategy, board responsibilities, donor engagement, fundraising expectations, and the decisions that ultimately drive campaign success.

We Could Only Cover So Much in the Board Room

As campaign consultants, we spend a significant amount of time training and supporting boards. And we love those conversations.

But there is a practical limitation: we only get so many hours with board members!

A typical board meeting might include forty-five minutes to an hour of campaign education. Even the most engaged boards can’t absorb everything they need to know during a handful of meetings.

Nonprofit Boards Are Always in Flux

Complicating matters further, boards are constantly evolving as new members join and experienced members rotate off.

We found ourselves answering many of the same excellent questions for different groups of board members across dozens of organizations.

Eventually, we realized there was a better solution.

Instead of trying to fit years of campaign knowledge into a few board meetings, we could create a comprehensive resource that board members could read at their own pace and revisit whenever new questions emerged.

The Book We Wish Every Board Member Had

This book is the resource we wished existed.

It’s practical, straightforward, and designed specifically for board members.

Questions Board Members Actually Ask

Rather than presenting campaign theory, our new book answers the questions board members actually ask:

• What’s my role?
• What’s expected of me?
• How long will the campaign take?
• What if we can’t raise the money?
• What happens when things don’t go according to plan?

Our goal was not simply to provide information. Our goal was to build confidence.

Because confident board members become stronger campaign leaders. And stronger campaign leaders help organizations raise more money, engage more donors, and ultimately achieve bigger visions for their communities.

Our Hope for This Book

We believe nonprofit leaders are most successful when they are empowered with knowledge. The same is true for board members.

When trustees understand how campaigns work, they become more engaged. They make better decisions. They ask better questions. They lead more effectively.

Most importantly, they become champions for the organization’s future.

If this book helps even one board member move from uncertainty to confidence, or helps one nonprofit leader figure out how to explain campaign fundamentals to an uncertain board member, then it will have accomplished exactly what we hoped.