Posts Tagged ‘Campaign Feasibility and Planning Studies’
Pareto’s Principle – The 80-20 Rule
Vilfredo Pareto (1848-1923) was an Italian economist who, in 1906, observed that twenty percent of the Italian people owned eighty percent of their country’s accumulated wealth. Over time and through application in a variety of environments, this analytic has come to be called Pareto’s Principle, the 80-20 Rule, and the “Vital Few and Trivial Many…
Read MoreUpgrade Your Capital Campaign Committee
In a well-organized capital campaign, it is the Campaign Executive Committee, or CEC, that understands and assumes responsibility for the success of the campaign. The members of the committee are often serious business professionals in their own right, but each campaign is typically a multi-million dollar project. Therefore, as fundraising counsel, we cannot assume that…
Read MoreThe Campaign Cabinet Gets the Campaign Moving
Your nonprofit organization has decided to take the plunge and begin a capital campaign to raise $5 to $6 million. You have just retained Custom Development Solutions (CDS) to direct your Feasibility Study to help determine the timing and size of the campaign. Now you’ll begin to use the capital campaign plan which was the…
Read MoreThe Ask — There is a Way to Ask, and then there is a RIGHT WAY to Ask
Perhaps the most critical part of a capital campaign is ‘‘the ask’’ing process, especially with major gifts. Each solicitation is an opportunity to close another great gift, but it is also possible to make some critical errors. We have all made the mistake of low-balling a potential prospect with an “ask” that was too easy…
Read MoreA Major Fundraising Capital Campaign –Take Your Marks, Get Set, and Go!
Preparing for a major fundraising campaign can be a momentous process in the life of a non-profit organization. Board members, executives, and professionals are excited and probably more than a little anxious as they consider how best to begin the complicated and important process of raising major capital commitments. The objective viewpoint of experienced campaign…
Read MoreStrategic Planning Puts Business On The Road To Success
With all the emphasis on change these days, why in the world would an organization want to create a five-year strategic plan? Ask most business people and they’ll concede that they can’t predict what will happen in the next quarter, let alone several years from now.
Read MoreWho Asks Whom and for How Much?
In the beginning of any campaign, there are many important decisions to make, but none is more important than who is asked first, and for how much money. Those of you involved in classic major gifts fundraising know that it is crucial to start with the largest gifts first, before moving gradually through medium sized…
Read MoreWhat to Do about “Billy Big Bucks”
As a national consulting firm, our team of professionals conducts business in a wide variety of communities across the country. As we compare notes among ourselves, we discover there are a few opinions often voiced by the clients we serve and the non-profit executives we meet. One that seems to come up in most communities…
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