Why You Need a Capital Campaign Coordinator to Make Your Campaign a Roaring Success

If you want your campaign to be successful, you’ll have to invest in it.

You simply CAN’T do it all yourself!

Your campaign will suffer. You will burn out. And the details won’t be right!

And … drum roll … you can add the cost of your campaign coordinator (and other campaign expenses) to your campaign goal.

That’s right.

You can raise the money you invest in your campaign through your campaign.

Take a moment to check out this post for important things you need to know about developing your campaign budget.

Don’t cut corners on getting the support you need. That’s an investment that will pay off in oh-so-many ways.

Who Do You Need to Make Your Capital Campaign Hum Along?

If you’re in a small 2-4 person development shop, your Executive Director, Board Chair and Development Director will probably shoulder the bulk of the work with major donors. After all, donors who make capital campaign-level gifts expect to meet with your organization’s top leadership!

So, rather than hiring a high level Campaign Director, it’ll make more sense for you to bring on a great Campaign Coordinator.

Free Yourself Up to Spend More Time With Donors

Your campaign coordinator will schedule and follow up after meetings with donors, your campaign committee, and volunteers. She’ll take notes during these meetings and make sure everyone has a copy of the minutes and their to-do lists after the fact.

Your campaign coordinator will:

• Support all of your work with major donors
• Manage the work of the campaign committees
• Organize and update campaign materials
• Acknowledge and track campaign gifts
• Make sure campaign progress reports are up to date and that the naming opportunities list includes the very latest “sale”
• Handle all of the arrangements for donor cultivation meetings and small campaign events, so everyone feels well cared-for

Capital Campaign Support Really IS a Full Time Job

Don’t kid yourself, the myriad small tasks that make a campaign look and feel seamless constitute a very full time job.

If you have a crackerjack person supporting your campaign, then you can spend the bulk of your time focusing on the all-important work of building relationships with your donors and — yes — asking them for gifts!

With a great campaign coordinator, you’ll know that the many small pieces that are necessary for a good committee meeting, effective donor meetings and every thing else you need will not just get done — but will be done well. You’ll have the confidence to spend more time with donors! And your donors will feel special, too.

Avoid Disaster: Hire a Capital Campaign Coordinator

Many a campaign gets bogged down because there’s no one to take care of the details.

• A great donor meeting goes nowhere because no one follows up.
• Thank you letters take days or even weeks to get out.
• A committee meeting flounders because the material wasn’t well-organized or wasn’t there at all.
• Volunteer solicitors who were willing in the beginning, become disenchanted when they realize that they aren’t getting the materials and support they need.
• Your already overworked staff threatens to quit because of the extra burden of the campaign.

Don’t let those things happen to your campaign. Hire a great campaign coordinator!

Check Out This Campaign Coordinator Description

Ellie Altman, Executive Director of the Adkins Arboretum, has shared with us the description she created of what her Campaign Coordinator will do. It’s clearly written and detailed. And as you will see, it makes great sense of a complicated and important campaign job!

Download the description here: Campaign Coordinator Position  (Thank you Ellie for sharing this.)

How much it will a good campaign coordinator cost?

That will depend in part on the job market where you live. But in relative terms, the salary is somewhat higher than an administrative assistant but a bit lower than your development director.

What’ll Become of Your Coordinator After the Campaign?

Keep in mind, that your campaign coordinator may well continue with your organization after the campaign.

If you are going to capitalize on the success of your campaign, you’ll want to continue your push with major donors long after the campaign is over.

During the campaign, your Campaign Coordinator will have gotten to know all of your major donors and the ins and outs of your organization. If your campaign coordinator is terrific, you will probably want to move her into a non-campaign major gift position.

Remember, your successful capital campaign is likely to result in an increased annual fund long after the campaign, so you’ll be ready to add to your development staff! (Stay tuned for a post on the relationship between your campaign and the annual fund!)

So hire your campaign coordinator with the long term in mind. Believe me, you won’t regret it!