Use Your Capital Campaign to Build a Long-Term Major Gift Program

Many people assume you need a major gift program before launching a capital campaign. But it actually works the other way around. Many of our clients use their campaign to jumpstart their major gift program.

Of course, what counts as a “major gift program” varies widely from organization to organization.

What Makes a Successful Major Gift Program?

One fundraiser might insist they don’t have a major gift program, yet their efforts consistently generate dozens of gifts of $10,000 or more — through events, direct mail, online giving, and more. Donors are cultivated, even if they’re never asked for a specific amount in a one-on-one setting. That’s already the beginning of a major gift program.

Another fundraiser might say the same thing and genuinely mean it. They have no donors above $1,000. No major donors yet.

Those are two very different situations.

Major Gift Fundraising: What You Need (and What You Don’t)

While you don’t need a formal major gift program to run a successful capital campaign, you do need major donors, or at least a clear sense of where your largest gifts will come from.

Here’s An Example

For example, let’s say you need a $1M gift to anchor your gift range chart. It’s perfectly fine if no current donor has given anywhere near that amount.

What matters is that you can identify people who could give at that level, and who realistically might.

Say your organization has a board member who has given between $5,000 and $25,000, every year, over the past decade. You also know they’ve given $1M to the local hospital and $500,000 to the public library. That’s a strong prospect for your $1M ask, even if they’ve never given at that level to your organization before.

Why a Capital Campaign is a Great Launchpad for a Major Gift Program

I often describe capital campaigns as major gift programs on steroids. No matter where you are in your fundraising journey, a campaign can take you to the next level.

4 Ways a Campaign Can Help Build a Major Gift Program

Starting a major gift program from scratch can feel overwhelming, but a campaign creates a natural, structured opportunity to do exactly that. Here’s why:

1. Built-in justification for outside expertise.  A campaign makes it entirely appropriate to hire a consultant to train your team, set up systems, and build accountability.
2. A compelling, concrete case for donors.   You have a specific goal and a clear story to tell, which makes asking for major gifts much easier.
3. Structure, strategy, and deadlines.   Campaigns create the discipline and momentum, and deadlines, that major gift programs often lack in their early stages.
4. Formal cultivation and stewardship.   The feasibility study provides a unique opportunity for cultivation, deepening donor relationships, and campaign stewardship opportunities, like naming opportunities, provide meaningful touchpoints.

No Major Gift Program?  Don’t panic; Prepare

If you don’t have a major gift program but want to launch a capital campaign, don’t panic.

A Real-World Example

We recently worked with an animal rescue organization. They had never asked for a gift face-to-face. Their fundraising was built almost entirely on events, mail, and email. They were convinced they didn’t have a major gift program, and technically, they were right.

But they did have over 100 donors giving $1,000 or more every year, and a dozen giving $10,000 or more. That’s a solid foundation.

They reached out to us for capital campaign support, and we helped them build a campaign on the strong foundation they didn’t realize they had. The result? A highly successful campaign that raised several million dollars.

Loyal Donors Are Essential

What you do need: loyal donors who give generously and have the capacity to make your campaign’s largest gifts. It doesn’t matter if they’ve never given at the levels you’ll need, or if you don’t yet have a formal system for soliciting major gifts.

Your campaign will build the structure for a permanent major gift program. It will sharpen your strategy and give your team the training (and confidence) to lead a successful major gift effort long after the campaign ends.