Finish Strong: Keep Your Capital Campaign Momentum Going

You’ve got a great idea that requires capital funding and you’ve asked members of your constituencies and community what they think about your project. Once your organization has finished a feasibility and planning study showing that a capital campaign would be successful, you and your leadership team may turn your attention to how and when to proceed. This is the time to move forward confidently and quickly! It is critical to keep your capital campaign momentum going. Doing so sends a message to donors that you understand the study is the first step in launching a successful campaign.

Why Conduct a Feasibility and Planning Study?

The feasibility and planning study lays the foundation for a successful campaign because it identifies prospective donors and campaign leaders, refines the case, gathers critical information necessary to build an appropriate campaign plan, and begins building momentum for the campaign. A study should convey to your community, “We are ready to build the future and we hope you will join us, because your help is important to our success.” Often, the study is the first experience an individual has with your organization.

During a feasibility study, high-level fundraising professionals conduct confidential interviews. The interviews methodically engage prospective donors in conversations regarding your organization and proposed project. During the interview the study director is gathering and sharing information, which helps to correct misperceptions and attract a prospective donor or leader to your campaign. The interview draws individuals in by asking them to share their opinions, suggestions, and comments.

This process helps a donor prospect take the first step toward feeling a sense of ownership of the proposed project. Once that connection is made, you don’t want to let it cool. You want to be prepared to engage key volunteers and donor prospects while your project is still fresh in their mind and they feel valued and engaged through the study process.

Stay in the Capital Campaign Momentum

When you move immediately into a capital campaign following your feasibility study, you maintain momentum. This conveys a success-oriented posture of confidence, conviction, and enthusiasm to prospective donors and campaign leaders. Momentum gives donor prospects confidence that an early, significant donation to your organization will help lead to a successful project. Momentum also attracts the visionary leadership that will energize and attract others to your campaign.

The study process requires systematic and concentrated scheduling of interviews and gathering of information—and then organizing the information for the next level of campaign activity. This staffing and reporting infrastructure transitions well into the broader structure designed to conduct a campaign.

Losing Out While You Wait

It is critical that your organization retain the base of knowledge gained during the study. The study director will use this knowledge while the interviews are fresh in his or her mind. A study gathers many pieces of information that are sorted as you would sort puzzle pieces. If you delay moving into the campaign, inevitably some of those pieces will change or be lost completely. For example:

• Your study director moves on to another client. This means you lose out on certain dynamics created during the study interview and the rapport that was started are impossible to pass on to anyone else.
• A lead gift donor is approached by another organization, and the donation that could have been yours goes to them instead.
• Your volunteers commit themselves elsewhere. You may lose out on involving dynamic leaders who could help take your organization to new levels.

Donors know that feasibility studies are a significant expenditure for any nonprofit and that their shelf life is short. When you proceed directly into your campaign, you show that you are prudent with your finances and that you planned the project wisely.

Conversely, when you conduct a feasibility study and do not proceed to a campaign, you lose:

• Money that donors intended to commit to your campaign
• New leadership that was prepared to serve on your campaign board
• The wealth of information gathered
• The momentum created by the study and valuable time that could have moved your organization forward

By not being prepared to proceed, you run the risk of being perceived as an organization that:

• does not finish what it starts
• does not plan properly
• does not understand the process
• or wasted the prospective donor’s valuable time

Obviously, this would be a bad impression to leave with important people. They might think twice before engaging with you again.

Summary

We live in a fast-paced, competitive world. Many nonprofits are seeking major gift-level donors and strong community leaders. When beginning a study, be prepared to move forward immediately into a campaign. Don’t hamper your own success. Capitalize on your investment and realize the profits that will come in new donors, new leadership, and the vitality that a successful capital campaign creates. Start the race to finish strong!