Two Human Skills that Will Help Your Capital Campaign Succeed

Now more than ever, particularly with the rise of AI, we shouldn’t overlook the human skills that play an integral role in the success of capital campaigns. After all, it’s often in the most high-pressure moments that our human strengths matter most.

The High-Stress Nature of Capital Campaigns

Embarking on a capital campaign means you’re in for some stress and sleepless nights. No matter how good you are or how well prepared your organization is, your capital campaign is likely to push you, your staff and your board beyond what’s comfortable.

• You’ll spend many anxious nights worrying.
• You’ll stress about whether and when the top donors will make their commitments.
• You’ll have heart palpitations about whether the construction estimates will come in where you hoped they would.
• You’ll wonder what to do about the campaign volunteer who isn’t returning your emails.
• And what to do about the key staff member who just told you she needs a medical leave as the campaign is heating up.

These things, and more, will happen over the two or three roller-coaster years of your campaign. And while I can’t stop any of those things from happening, I can share with you two simple but powerful skills that will help you and your team create a positive atmosphere despite the inevitable challenge.

2 Human Skills to Help Your Capital Campaign Succeed

These are not specific capital campaign skills — these are human skills that you can use in many situations. And perhaps you already do. But now, in the run-up to your campaign, it’s a good idea to put them into regular practice.

Skill #1:  Use the Oreo Cookie Approach When You Give Feedback

Rather than diving right into critical feedback you have for someone, sandwich your feedback between two honest, positive statements.

Imagine that you have worked hard on drafting the case for support for your campaign and after reading your draft, your ED sends you and email like this:

Susan, I don’t think this flows well. Particularly in the third paragraph. And at the end, it gets lost in details. Keep working on it.

Did that rock you back your heels a bit? If you got that email, you’d probably feel discouraged and unappreciated!

Here’s an example of how the same information could be shared in a more constructive way using the Oreo Cookie approach. Imagine yourself getting this feedback instead:

Cookie layer 1:
Thanks for pulling this draft of the case for support together. I know you’ve worked hard on it and I love the way it’s organized.

Filling layer:
For the next draft, here are a couple of things I caught when I was reading it. In the third paragraph, the flow of information doesn’t quite make sense to me. And toward the end, the lively tone you had in the beginning lags a bit.

Cookie layer 2:
I’m so excited to see the case taking shape. I know how challenging it is to write the first draft! Thanks for all of your hard work on it.

What a difference a encouraging few words can make!

The two cookie layers make the corrections easy to swallow. In fact, with this approach, the corrections don’t read as criticisms, they read as simple, collaborative suggestions.

I know it takes a bit more effort to use the Oreo cookie approach, But if you couch your feedback in between sweet layers, you’ll find that your work and your relationships will all benefit. Staff members and volunteers will want to work with you. And that simple shift will make your campaign much easier.

Skill #2:  Thank People Early and Often

We in fundraising usually think of thanking donors for their gifts. But in my opinion, we don’t do nearly enough to thank people for all of the small things they do every day.

Part of the problem is that we think we must thank people in grand and formal ways. But in reality, often the most effective thank you’s are the small, personal ones.

Offer quick thank you’s, but be specific.

You can send simple, one or two sentence emails. Or you can thank people in person when you see them. The key is to thank people for something specific they’ve done that you noticed.

With email, it takes almost no time to write a line or two of thanks. If you make a practice of thanking people every day, you’ll start to notice more things you want to thank people for. You can thank them for simple things:

• For making a really thoughtful comment in a meeting that moved the agenda along.
• For connecting you to someone who’s making a real difference.
• For picking up the coffee for the morning campaign meeting.
• Or for simply being steady and committed.

Forego the big gestures and official communication in favor of more frequent, small, personal expressions of gratitude.

Developing a practice of gratitude not only makes the people you thank feel good, it’ll give you a little drop of happiness too. And the more you do it, the easier it will become to write those short, authentic emails from your heart.

Thank people according to their preferences.

Finally, when you can, thank people in ways that reflect their preferences, not yours. While everyone appreciates a pat on the back and an acknowledgment, sometimes you can find the perfect gift.

My friend and colleague, Cassandra Ramos, shared this story with me some time ago:

I’ve learned that the best way to thank donors requires finding out what’s important to them. When I worked in higher ed, we spent gobs of money on trinkets and other stuff. But I learned that the most meaningful gifts held personal significance to the donor.

Once I sent pet treats wrapped in school colors with a nice note written directly to the donor’s pet. The donor loved it. I could do that because I knew that donor loved her dog.

Recognizing people for their work and gifts is an art. The best recognition reflects the personal things I notice about people. And that recognition is not stuffy or bureaucratic.

Human Skills Matter During Your Capital Campaign

While these may not be the skills you thought about as key to the success of your campaign, your ability to make people feel appreciated and special will make a bigger difference than you might have imagined.