Picture this: you’ve read our post on running a capital campaign, you’re wildly psyched, and you’re ready to get started! Only problem…you’re not totally sure how to plan a capital campaign. Don’t despair. We’ve got your back and by “got your back” I mean we’ve put together this complete guide to building the plan for your capital campaign. From choosing your project to the day before launch, we’ll walk you through every step so you jump into your campaign confident and ready to raise some funds.
Planning Your Goals
As a quick recap, a capital campaign is a targeted fundraising effort that aims to raise large amounts of funds for a specific project or purpose. You set a period of time, a goal amount, and a purpose for the fundraiser. The first thing you’ll need to determine is what your project is.
Some of the most common types of projects are:
- Building or renovating a space
- Buying land
- Starting a new program
- Purchasing supplies or equipment
- Increasing staff
- Upgrading technology
Truly any project that is specific and requires a significant amount of money to pull off could work as a capital campaign project.
Choosing a project is more than simply saying “we want to purchase a new building.” You’ll want to get specific: where exactly will the dollars go? Are there specific requirements you have for the project? Add as much detail as you can early on. This will help you build your budget and create a solid marketing strategy.
Making a Budget for Your Plan
Speaking of budget, that’s your second step! The easiest place to start is with the practical question of how much your project is going to cost. Let’s say you’re looking at major renovations to your current building. Get some estimates to see what the work would likely cost. This will be your starting point for building your fundraising goal and budget.
Once you have this first number there are some other elements to take into consideration. First, build yourself a fundraising budget: what do you plan to spend on marketing materials, fundraising events, staff time, and so on? You’ll want to build those costs into your goal as well.
It’s also a good idea to consider inflation: depending on the length of time you’ll be setting for your campaign, costs may have risen significantly. Build in a good buffer to account for inflation.
Next, think about attrition. Many of your donations will come in as pledges and some number will drop off over time. To help combat that, use automated pledge fulfillment (we recommend using CauseVox’s pledge donation functionality) to make sure these pledges come through.
Finally, you’ll want to add a bit extra to your fundraising goal just in case: tons of projects go over budget and you don’t want to be left in the lurch after running a large and successful campaign because you didn’t include space in the budget for unexpected costs.
Don’t be afraid to set an ambitious goal! You can always adjust it after your silent phase, and there’s no shame in that. Sometimes setting a much higher goal that you don’t reach will still earn you more than setting a safe goal and hitting it.
Now that you have your fundraising goal, you can start to think about the time frame for your campaign. In general, capital campaigns last about 3-5 years. Typically about one year of that time is spent focused exclusively on major donors (this is called the silent phase). Look at the size of your goal and your typical fundraising ability to determine how long you think the campaign should last.
Planning Fundraising Tiers
Now it’s time to get more specific. To help you break down your overall fundraising goal into more approachable pieces, you can create donation tiers (sometimes called a gift range chart or gift table). The purpose of this chart is to help you see how many gifts at each level you will need to hit your goal. That will help you to target specific donors at each level.
This is also the first place you can double check your fundraising goal for feasibility.
You’ll want to write down the tiers of donations or pledges you believe you can reach and how many of each you think you can reasonably fundraise. For example you may think you can bring in three $50,000 gifts, four $25,000 gifts and six $10,000. You’ll see that your total is then $410,000. If that gets you close to your fundraising goal, you can feel confident that you’ve set your budget well.
Above is a great example of a tier chart from the Capital Campaign Toolkit.
You might be asking how you choose your tiers. There are a few helpful hints that can get you started:
- Look at the donors you have and identify the largest donation you believe any of them will give. This is your highest tier. This could be a significant amount, even up to 50% of your campaign total. It probably should not be less than 15% of your goal.
- From this first donation, cut the amount in half to get your next tier (while rounding to get a nice, even number).
- You’ll want 3-5 prospective donors for each gift level. For the folks who say no, they may give at a lower level. Take that into account when you’re making up your goals: you may not need to come up with as many prospects at the lower levels because some of your higher prospects will give smaller gifts.
Continue with this process until you reach the low end of your major donors, or until you’ve created enough tiers to reach your goal.
Identifying Potential Donors
As you create your gift tiers, you can also create a list of potential donors alongside it. This is a great place to start identifying your major donors. But it’s also a good idea to take it one step further and start creating a list of all potential donors.
So how do you distinguish a major donor? In general, anyone giving over $10000 is a major donor. But sometimes you don’t know who is poised to make that large gift unless they’ve already made one. Here are some things you can look at to give you an idea of whether a donor is ready to receive an ask:
- How long they’ve been associated with your cause, and if they support you in other ways
- Using wealth screening
- If they have given before, how often, and how much
- How long it has been since their last gift
- How interested they are in your projects and programs.
One great way to find major donors is through wealth screening sites. Wealth screening is the process of buying access to data about your current donors or potential donors. This data includes real estate holdings, giving history, assets, and more. You can use sites like iWave, Donor Search, or Wealth Engine to do wealth screening.
You can send your donor lists through these sites and get back in depth information about their wealth and giving history, to help you understand who might be ready to move from donor to major donor. Consider using wealth screening on other potential donors as well: your board’s connections, event attendees, or those who give to similar causes.
Making the Ask
Major donors require some special attention. They’ll be your focus during the quiet phase of your capital campaign, and you’ll want to approach them one on one to ask for a major gift. Here are some tips for making an ask of your major donors:
- Remember that you are dealing with people, not just numbers. Make things as personal as possible by paying attention to their preferences and needs. If they have indicated they prefer to be contacted by phone rather than email, make sure you call them. If they historically have given to youth-oriented causes, connect your pitch to youth. You want to build the relationship first, then ask for a donation.
- Focus on their impact and show that impact through stories. How will their gift make a difference? Since you’re asking because of a capital campaign, you already have a specific need that you can highlight.
- Ask for a specific amount. Your gift tier chart will help you know how much to ask for.
- Give them time after you ask if they need to consider it. Don’t be unwilling to follow up with an ask for a lower amount.
- Always have a plan for their response, whether it’s yes, no, or maybe
You’ll start to find your stride for making asks of major donors as you go. Start with a donor you feel particularly comfortable with, and you’ll quickly build confidence.
Putting Together Your Capital Campaign Planning Committee
Now that you have a goal, a timeline, a budget, and some potential donors it’s time to gather your team together and get started! This is where the capital campaign committee comes into play. A committee is an essential part of your capital campaign. This is the core group of people who will plan and execute the campaign and keep things on track.
In general, you should include staff, volunteers, board members, and potential donors. Your board is important because it often includes well-connected folks who care about the future of your organization. Having at least one board member also helps you to stay connected to the board as a whole. Volunteers and potential donors are essential because they help to give your committee a perspective from outside the organization and take some of the work off staff shoulders.
Obviously you don’t want to include everyone who fits those definitions, so how do you choose? You’re looking for folks who:
- Are recognized and connected within the community
- Have experience in the nonprofit sphere
- Will work hard and contribute over the long haul
- Are not afraid to ask for a donation
Put together a short list of folks you’d like on your committee and then be ready for some people to turn you down: being on a capital campaign committee is a lot of work. You want people who are enthusiastic about being involved.
Creating Your Capital Campaign Communications Plan
Okay so here we are: you have the people. You have the goal. You’re ready to go. Now it’s time to start telling the world about your capital campaign. The final major element of your capital campaign plan is the marketing plan.
A great place to start is with your board. You’ll want to keep them up to date from the very beginning by letting them know what you’re fundraising for and what your goals are. The board is also a great resource, whether it’s as part of the committee or through their connections. They can also help as volunteers to do things like asking for donations or calling to thank donors. You’ll want to craft some specific language for your board early on to let them know what their role is and how they can help.
Case for Support
The next major piece of your communications plan is what’s called a case for support. This is the heart of your communications. Essentially it is an outline of what you are fundraising for and why the project is important. You’ll use it when speaking to donors, volunteers, and community members, so be very thoughtful in putting it together. It should help highlight the impact of the project, and connect that impact to personal stories.
The first test of your case for support will be during your quiet phase, as you reach out to major donors. Most of the communication at this point will be one on one, so it’s a great time to work on the pieces you’ll need for the launch to the public phase. It’s generally a good idea to create a specific campaign announcement for the public phase: that could include social media, website, emails, or press releases. Consider carefully when you want to announce your public phase: if you launch during the holidays you’re likely to be lost in the shuffle. If you launch in the middle of a busy season for your organization, you won’t have the time to dedicate to your campaign.
In addition to the launch, you’ll also want:
- A dedicated website with information about the campaign and a place to donate
- A logo and name for the campaign, as well as general branding (this could include a tagline, additional graphics, or specific language/templates for different channels)
- A communications calendar that includes multiple channels
- A communications budget
- Descriptions of the specific audiences you want to reach and what messaging you’ll use for each one. This is a great place to segment your lists
- Templates for emails and social media posts
- Scripts for phone calls and texts for those reaching out to donors
- A plan for social media posting and any paid advertising you may want to do
- Any printed materials like brochures or postcards
Not every campaign will include all of these elements, but as you build your communications plan, think about what fits into your budget, what your audience prefers, and what makes sense in your workload.
Planning Donor Recognition for Your Capital Campaign
A final element of your communications strategy is donor recognition. Donor recognition all the work you do to make sure your donors feel appreciated and seen. But it doesn’t just happen spontaneously: good donor recognition is the result of careful planning, and it includes multiple ways of thanking and noting your donors.
Start by brainstorming different ways you can recognize donors. That could include:
- Thank you letters
- Social media shout outs
- A donor wall
- Donor naming levels (you might name a building after a major donor)
- Donor events
- Donor highlights on your website or in newsletters
This is a great time to ask your donors what makes them feel appreciated and incorporate it into your donor recognition plan.
From here, you’ll want to decide which type of recognition you’ll give to each level of donor. Obviously a donor who gives $100,000 will get something different from someone who gives $100, but all donors should feel like their gift was noticed. It’s also a good idea to build a timeline for donor recognition: some forms will take longer (for example naming a building), but you’ll want to send thank you’s quickly after a donor gives. Make sure your team knows who is responsible for each step and when.
In addition to tailored levels of donor recognition, it’s also a good idea to send out a blanket thank you to all your donors at the end of your campaign. You can use it to update the community on the outcome of your campaign, share additional news, and highlight major donors.
Choosing Your Platform for Your Capital Campaign
Now it’s time to put everything together and get ready for your launch! The final major decision to think about is the platform you’ll use to host your campaign. As we mentioned before, you want a website that has all the information about the campaign for the public phase and that allows you to accept donations. As you think about all the bells and whistles you could look for, here are some features you’ll definitely want:
- Crowdfunding: a capital campaign is a crowdfunding campaign, so no matter what your platform needs to have crowdfunding capabilities.
- One-time and recurring donations: one of the most important things to consider when you’re putting together your website is the ease of donations. If donors feel frustrated or it takes too long, they’ll give up part way. The ideal platform will allow both one-time and recurring donations and donation tiers that you can use to showcase impact.
- Peer-to-Peer Fundraising: peer-to-peer fundraising allows your supporters to create their own fundraising page and share with their networks. It’s a great way to expand your reach by tapping into the communities that your donors already have.
- Pledge donations: this allows donors to make a donation pledge now and pay in several installments. This is great for capital campaigns because donors will give more when they’re allowed to pay it off over time. It’s the perfect way to automate your pledge donations for major gifts and mid-tier donations.
Run Your Capital Campaign on CauseVox
Guess what? CauseVox has all of these features (and more). Plus it’s wildly easy to set up. You can easily share portions of your case for support in the body of the page: this is where you can focus on the story and impact. In addition to the nitty gritty information about the project, you want to center emotional and personal stories that show what the impact of the project will be.
You can also customize your page with colors and logos so everyone recognizes your campaign. This is where your communications plan will be incredibly helpful.
Add in your goal, turn on peer-to-peer fundraising and you’re ready to go!
Thanks to the amazing plan you’ve built, you’ll have smooth swimming once you launch this page. So what are you waiting for? It’s time to start planning.
To learn more about how CauseVox can make your capital campaign a breeze, schedule a demo.
