Are You Ready for a Campaign?
By Penny Hunt, Woolbright Group Principal
A campaign can help your institution organization bring its vision into reality, motivate your donors to new levels of support, and take your development operation to a new level of sophistication and professionalism. Organizations often launch a campaign in response to an institutional milestone such as a new president or an approaching anniversary. As these events drive you toward undertaking a major new effort, it is important to be sure you are prepared to take full advantage of the opportunities a campaign provides.
Here are five key questions to ask yourself as you prepare for a campaign.
Is your leadership ready for a campaign?
A new chief executive – whether a college or university president, an organization’s director, or a dean or unit head – should take some time to get to know the organization and its constituencies, and to develop a clear and persuasive vision for the future. The most successful campaigns are directly linked to compelling and inspiring visions for institutional growth and improvement. Your board must also understand what the campaign will mean to them. Are they ready to give leadership gifts? To volunteer their time at greater levels? To persuade others to participate? This is the ideal time to provide your leadership with hands-on training that will help them succeed in their important campaign roles.
Are your donors motivated by campaigns?
A campaign can inspire feelings of pride and engagement among your alumni, donors, subscribers and patrons. But institutional donors, such as foundations and corporations, typically do not take campaign participation into account as they make funding decisions. In fact, some specifically exclude campaigns from their giving. If you currently rely mostly on institutional donors, think about delaying your campaign until you have further developed your individual donor base.
Do you have the proper infrastructure in place?
Meeting your campaign goal on time may require doubling, or even tripling, your annual fundraising performance. Is your development operation prepared to increase its results by such a margin? If not, get to work right now on a thorough program audit and identify the areas where you need to add staff or other resources. Use appropriate benchmarks, along with the experience of your current and aspirational peers, to make a winning case to your organization for increased resources.
Is your constituency ready for this?
Frequently organizations move directly from the conclusion of one campaign into planning for the next. Do both qualitative and quantitative reviews of your donor and prospect base to assess their readiness. One the quantitative side, consider how many donors are still paying pledges from the last campaign, how many prospects you’ve identified, and what your pipeline looks like for the next five to seven years. One the qualitative side, explore whether your constituency feels the institution needs additional support, and whether they have confidence in the institution’s direction. Use these reviews to determine what steps you should take to bring your constituency forward in their thinking about the campaign.
What would a campaign accomplish for you?
Your campaign’s financial successes will be obvious – buildings built, endowments established. But the non-financial successes are just as important. Now, at the beginning of your campaign, set some non-financial goals, and incorporate them into your planning process. Good targets include increasing alumni participation rates, deepening overall engagement by your constituency (including factor such as club membership or event attendance), and improving the culture of philanthropy within your organization.
A campaign is a great opportunity for growth, both for your organization and for you. Proper planning and preparation will ensure that the benefits of a campaign are felt long beyond the end of the campaign itself.
For assistance in assessing your organization’s campaign readiness contact us for a consultation: .info@woolbrightgroup.com or 585.787.0325
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