Podcast: Unlocking Campaign Success: The Power of a Donor Engagement Mindset

Season 3, Episode 41

In this episode, Amy Eisenstein, CEO and co-founder of Capital Campaign Pro, and Andrea Kihlstedt discuss the often-overlooked but crucial aspect of campaign success—campaign mindset and donor engagement. They delve into the importance of engaging potential donors long before soliciting gifts, emphasizing the significance of building relationships and seeking advice from philanthropic leaders in your community.

Learn how adopting a generative approach to capital campaigns can lead to not only fundraising success but also a more enjoyable and rewarding journey. Discover the real secret to campaign success in this insightful podcast episode.

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Amy Eisenstein:
The real secret to campaign success is something that not too many people talk about, but that’s what we’re going to talk about right now.

Hi, I’m Amy Eisenstein. I’m CEO and co-founder of Capital Campaign Pro. And I have here my colleague and co-founder and co-conspirator, Andrea Kihlstedt. And today we are excited to talk about a really important topic that’s not spoken too frequently about in the campaign world and that is campaign mindset. But even more than campaign mindset, it’s really a process by which you engage your donors way before you ask them for a gift.

Campaign Mindset: Donor Engagement and Early Planning

Andrea, get us started. Why is campaign mindset and engaging donors… how are they linked? Why are they important? Why are we talking about it?

Andrea Kihlstedt:
Yeah, thanks, Amy. I love this topic, and the more I think about this business and what really makes the difference between success and not success, it is this. That early on as you start thinking about and planning, not the campaign, but the project that the campaign is going to fund, if right back then you are already thinking about engaging the people who have the capacity to give the largest gifts to your campaign, you will greatly increase the chances of your success.

Now, think about that for a minute. Most people, when they go into a campaign plan think that the beginning of a campaign is when they do the feasibility study, and then the real beginning of the campaign is when they go and start asking people for big gifts.

But what we’re suggesting today, and we’ll talk a little about how to do this, what we’re suggesting today is that your campaign actually starts much before that when you are planning your project. Because if you have campaign mindset back then and you start engaging the people who have the potential to give and will have the potential to give those largest gifts, you are going to increase the likelihood that they’ll do so when you’re ready to ask them.

Amy Eisenstein:
Yeah. I think that’s so important. And maybe even backing it up a step further before you’re planning your project, but when you have the seed of an idea, starting to talk to people about this is the vision, this is the idea.

• What would a project look like?
• How might it take shape?
• Is this the right vision?

And I think that a huge mistake or a trap that nonprofit leaders often fall into is that they think that they need to have really concrete plans before starting to talk to their biggest potential donors. That they want to have it buttoned up or perfect, or a beautiful case statement or a beautiful brochure. And what we’re suggesting the real secret to campaign success here is today, is to start engaging your donors way before your plans are solid and final. Engage them in pre-planning, pre pre-planning, feasibility, and all the stages and steps that come before asking for a gift.

Start with the Top Philanthropists in Your Community

So what else would you like to say?

Andrea Kihlstedt:
Yeah. Well, Amy, it’s fine and dandy for us to talk about doing that, but I’ll bet a lot of people are saying:

“Well, I don’t really know who those people are. We don’t have access to those people. They’re not we. Or maybe we know who they are, but makes us nervous to go and talk to them. We’re not ready to talk to them.”

I mean, how many people go in with that idea?

So one of the ways to start this process, just at the same time you’re working on a strategic plan, at the same time you’re putting together the vision for the future of your organization, make a list of the top 20 or 30 or 40 philanthropists in your community. I mean, start there. Who are those people? Some of them are going to already be connected to you, I hope, but there are likely going to be a bunch of them who aren’t connected to you yet. And if you start thinking about them now, you start making that list now, then you have a much longer timeframe to actually start to engage them.

Now, if you’re in a small or mid-size community, chances are those people are fairly well known. It’s not going to be so difficult to find out who they are. Start asking around your community. Start seeing whose name is on a plaque in your hospital for example. Start seeing who are the major donors in your community and make a list of those people. Really, that’s the first piece of campaign mindset. Saying okay.

Amy Eisenstein:
Right. Not only finding out who they are, which may or may not be difficult, but then you’re probably closer to them than you think.

I mean, if you really understand the idea of six degrees of separation, the chances are that you’re one degree separated or maybe two degrees separated. I mean, I’m always astonished on my LinkedIn, I’m connected by one or two degrees to everybody that I could possibly want to meet.

And so you may not have a direct connection, but you are directly connected to somebody that they are directly connected to, especially in a smaller or mid-sized community. It’s interesting that you said that before, Andrea, because I think people in small communities think they have a fundraising disadvantage, but often they have an advantage of knowing everybody or being connected to everybody

Andrea Kihlstedt:
Right. Now, somebody might say, “Well, those people aren’t going to want to talk to me.” Well, you have to look inside your own head, right? And say, “Well, why do I think that? Why am I afraid that they’re not going to want to talk to me?”

You work in an organization that is doing good in your community, that is doing something important. Maybe it’s a youth services organization. Maybe it’s an animal welfare organization. Maybe it’s a hospital. Maybe it’s a school. You are working. If you’re in the nonprofit business in your community, you are doing something that is of value to your community. And chances are those philanthropic leaders in your community are interested in having the community be stronger.

Now, they may not have a direct link to your organization yet, but they certainly are interested in seeing the community get stronger. So they may well be willing to talk to you. That doesn’t mean they’re going to right off the bat be willing to give you a lot of money, but they’re going to be willing to give you some advice and their advice will be helpful and useful. And thinking about it from there, that’s what we mean when we talk about campaign mindset.

Examples of How to Engage Potential Donors Early On

Amy Eisenstein:
All right. Let’s give some concrete examples. A few came to mind while you were speaking.

Asking for Advice

So one is very early in the process, you could reach out to key leaders in your community that you may or may not have a connection with and say:

“Hey, listen, I understand that you were just a big part of the hospital’s successful campaign. We’re planning a campaign. Would you give me advice about how to think about starting a campaign or how to start thinking about a campaign?”

Most people will say yes to that. Ask for 20 minutes. So that’s one example. You can go to everybody who’s been involved in a campaign in your community and ask for that type of advice. That’s a first step of engagement.

Seeking Help with a Land Purchase

Another concrete example is you might be looking for land for a building, right? And you don’t have any experience purchasing land. Maybe nobody at your organization has that much, or you need lots of people out in the community helping look for land, because the more people know that you’re looking for land, the more likely you are to find the right place. So go talk to people and say:

• How do we think about this?
• What kind of properties should we be looking for?
• How do we hear about properties as they come onto the market?

Andrea Kihlstedt:
Yeah. Who should we talk to? Who else do you suggest we talk to? Would you be willing to help us with this in some way?

I mean, it’s amazing how when you get in this mindset of asking important people for advice, all of a sudden the doors seem to open instead of close. We close the door in our minds, but when we actually have the courage to call people and to ask people for advice or even ask someone else to open doors for us, it’s amazing what happens.

This is the REAL Secret of Capital Campaign Success

Amy Eisenstein:
Now, we talk about this being the real secret of campaign success, this idea of campaign mindset, that you’re going to engage people long before you ask them for a gift in multiple ways. Engaging them by getting their advice, by getting their input.

And when we look back at our successful campaigns, at campaigns that are completed, we see that a very high percentage of the biggest givers are people that have been involved since the beginning. That have been on ad hoc committees, subcommittees, been gone to for advice. They just weren’t asked for a gift out of the blue, but they’ve been cultivated.

I mean, this is a big part of cultivation, and we’re bringing cultivation to life in a major way by engaging people multiple times. A lot of people say to me, “Well, I don’t think this person such and such will participate in a feasibility study.” Well, ask them for advice before you ask them to participate in a feasibility study. Don’t make the feasibility study interview the first request or the first outreach.

Outreach months before you do a feasibility study and if you’ve already had one or two exchanges with them, they’re much more likely to participate in the feasibility study. If they participate in the feasibility study, they’re much more likely to participate in a campaign committee. They’re much more likely to give a gift. You can see where this is going. And it’s true.

Andrea Kihlstedt:
We talk about it as mindset because it’s so easy to get into a negative mindset. It’s so easy to get into the mindset of we don’t know who the big donors are. We know who the big donors are, but they’re not going to want to talk to us. We know who the big donors are, but they probably aren’t going to want to give to us.

I mean, that’s such an anti-campaign mindset. So we want to encourage you early on in the campaign to start to engage the most important philanthropists in your community in ways that are natural and appropriate and relatively easy. Because one step of doing that is going to lead to another, and that’s going to lead to a third. And you’re going to gradually feel more comfortable and build relationships with those people, which are both going to be good for you, just in terms of your comfort level in talking to them, and good for the philanthropists in that they will gradually come to trust you and to trust your organization and to know you.

So having this kind of mindset well before you’re ready to have a feasibility study and to start soliciting gifts is the real secret of campaign success.

Amy Eisenstein:
Let’s just give one more example or story.

A Success Story Three Years in the Making

We just heard from one of our wonderful clients who did our model of feasibility study. We call it a Guided Feasibility Study, and we trained her to go out and talk to her biggest potential donors for her feasibility study. And she talked to the head of a foundation who’s prominent in the community and got lukewarm vibes and really told [us]:

“You know what, this isn’t our thing. This isn’t what we do. But stay in touch. Let’s continue the conversation.”

And amazingly, this executive director was really diligent. She touched base with this woman two or three times a year throughout the campaign. The campaign went on for three years, no gift from this big foundation. Well, lo and behold, the campaign’s coming to an end and they just got, I think it was a one and a half million-dollar gift. Probably the biggest gift to the campaign to come in right at the end.

And it’s because she had been consulting with, asking for advice, engaging this woman at this foundation who at first glance, it wasn’t quite the right fit. The foundation leader didn’t see any way to contribute to the campaign. It just wasn’t right. But after years of persistence and patience…

And listen, does it always pay off? No. I mean, no. But you talk to a lot of people. You engage a lot of people. And then gifts — It seemed miraculous, but it’s not. It was persistence, it was engaging, it was opportunity. And those things happen all the time. It’s not sort of a miracle. It’s not by chance. Christie worked hard and got that gift.

Andrea Kihlstedt:
Yeah. Do they work all the time? Well, they don’t always yield money when you think they’re going to yield money. If all you’re thinking about is money, that’s going to be shortsighted. But if you understand that this is a process that is much bigger than money, and that even if you talk to somebody who doesn’t end up giving to you, but who has connected you with somebody who can give to you, that’s what it’s about.

A Generative Approach to Capital Campaigns

So think about this as a generative approach to capital campaigns. And if you are serious about this, if you’re serious about having the courage to reach out and build relationships with the people in your community who could really make a difference, what you’ll find is that not only does it lead to campaign success, but it will lead to a different feeling, a different approach to fundraising in general in you that, and all of a sudden what may feel onerous and difficult and stressful may start to feel more like fun.

Amy Eisenstein:
Yes. If the goal of every conversation and every engagement isn’t a gift. And the reality is that Christie was talking to this woman, even though she had pretty much told her that there was no gift at the end of this, but she-

Andrea Kihlstedt:
Just kept talking. Just kept engaging her.

Amy Eisenstein:
Yeah. It was an important relationship in the community, and she was connected to lots of people. And ultimately it did end up in a big gift, but there was no assurance.

Andrea Kihlstedt:
No assurance. No.

Amy Eisenstein:
Yeah.

Andrea Kihlstedt:
All right, Amy, let’s wrap this up. Let’s summarize.

Final Thoughts

We believe, and it is borne out by all of the things that we know and see in this capital campaign business over many years, we believe that the most successful campaigns are the campaigns that where the people who work on them, start getting themselves in campaign mindset way before they’re ready to ask for gifts.

That means that before they start in the [campaign] planning process even, they should be thinking about, well, who are the people in our community who have the potential to help us in a big way and how can we begin to engage them in this process? And if you do that, you’re going to be good to go.

Amy Eisenstein:
Excellent. Well, thank you so much for joining us. We hope you know the real secret to campaign success, and we’ll see you next time.