The Modern, Forward-Thinking Approach to Capital Campaign Fundraising
I’m sure you know the proverb:
“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for life.”
Yet, so much of what we do in the nonprofit sector is feed people rather than teach them to feed themselves.
You’re helping in the short run, but not addressing the larger issue…
For many decades, capital campaign consultants have swooped in and done the hard work of capital campaign fundraising. But after the campaign ends, the organization — including its staff and volunteers — haven’t significantly improved the skills or systems necessary to continue that game-changing fundraising once the consultant leaves.
This has left generations of fundraisers, staff, and volunteers without key skills needed to lift organizations. Sadly, they’re unable to continue confidently working with major donors after the campaign ends.
Enter the Modern Approach to Capital Campaign Fundraising
The modern approach to capital campaign fundraising empowers nonprofit leaders like you to improve systems and significantly improve their knowledge and skills. This approach also provides staff and board members with the confidence they need to successfully solicit six, seven, and eight-figure gifts, during and after the campaign.
A modern campaign empowers staff and volunteers to be able to figuratively feed themselves.
Modern campaigns help organizations raise a ton of money for special projects, as well as enable them to continue fundraising in more powerful ways long after the campaign is over.
A New Feasibility Study Model
A modern campaign starts with a Guided Feasibility Study.
Traditional Campaigns: The old approach to feasibility studies centers around hiring a consultant who speaks with your biggest potential donors, often confidentially and anonymously.
Modern Campaigns: A Guided Feasibility Study empowers nonprofit leaders to have strategic conversations directly with donors. Therefore, it provides a unique and important opportunity to build donor relationships early in the campaign planning process.
In this contemporary model, nonprofit staff and board members hire an experienced campaign consultant to prepare for and conduct donor interviews. Nonprofit leaders (not consultants) should be “in the room” with their donors.
This new feasibility study process is fully transparent and provides a unique opportunity for you to engage with your donors in meaningful ways, prior to asking for a campaign gift. The campaign consultant stays by the side, supporting you along the way to ensure the data is appropriately collected and analyzed.
Myth Busted! Consultants using the old model of feasibility promote a fear / concern that donors won’t be honest with nonprofit leaders. That is simply not true.
Over the last six years, we have used this new model with nearly 70 organizations. There has been no evidence — not even a little — that donors hold back from sharing their concerns directly with nonprofit leaders.
Leveraging Technology throughout the Capital Campaign Process
The modern approach to capital campaign fundraising also makes use of cutting-edge technology to provide nonprofits access to the best campaign expertise.
Traditional Campaigns: Simply hope you have an experienced and capable campaign consultant in your community, or pay dearly to fly one in.
Modern Campaigns: Gain access to the best expertise (regardless of geography). Thanks to video communication technology, it’s no longer necessary to use a local consultant or bring one in. Every organization can access the best expertise available.
Gain Access to World-Class Materials
What about capital campaign materials?
Traditional Campaigns: Wait for your campaign consultant to provide expertise one document at a time.
Alternatively, you could search for samples and templates on Google, which can return overwhelming, confusing, and often unreliable results. And while AI platforms like ChatGPT are on the rise, the credibility of their results remains questionable.
Modern Campaigns: Easily access a curated, online library of world-class templates and samples, developed by top experts in the field, available on any device at any time.
Embrace the benefits of AI and use every resource available. Use new technology and services to enhance your fundraising at every stage.
Peer Support Adds to Capital Campaign Success
Lastly, modern campaigns add the benefit of peer support to help solve problems and boost fundraising results.
Traditional Campaigns: Competition and fear keep nonprofit leaders from talking to one another. On top of that, consultants don’t want their clients speaking to one another either. So peer support is nonexistent.
Modern Campaigns: Nonprofit leaders wading through the campaign process are encouraged to communicate frequently and learn from one another. These campaigns use virtual meetings to connect executive directors and development directors, enabling them to share stories, offer insights, and celebrate success. It’s win-win!
Best Practices for Capital Campaign Fundraising Remain
Modern campaigns don’t throw out best practices or proven campaign strategy.
Today’s campaigns rely on strong relationships between nonprofit leaders and their biggest potential supporters, as well as a top-down, inside-out strategy. In other words, they aim to solicit the biggest gifts from the people closest to the organization early on. That part of the formula remains the same.
There’s a whole new way to approach capital campaigns and access the best expertise, resources, and support while still implementing best-practice campaign strategy.
Capital Campaign Pro has merged the best of all worlds. We’ve developed the ultimate campaign support system, combining feasibility improvements, technology, expertise, and peer support. This combination empowers today’s nonprofit leaders and fundraisers to lead successful campaigns — and continue strong fundraising long after the campaign ends.
If you’re considering a campaign, sign up to speak with us about your campaign. We’d love to support you and your team through a campaign.
Have An Expert Assess Your Campaign Readiness
Capital Campaign Pro can review your organization’s readiness in detail. We’ll help identify your strengths — and weaknesses — so you can move forward with confidence.
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