For decades, most nonprofit leaders considering a capital campaign would hire consultants to interview key supporters as a basis for deciding whether to mount what in many cases would be an organization’s most ambitious fundraising drive ever.
The use of an interview-only study has often been combined with this “highly technical” calculation: Double the size of your annual fund and multiply that by the number of years of your campaign to determine the overall amount to set as your revenue goal.
I have worked at Marts & Lundy for more than a decade, and it is still not unusual for us to get a call or inquiry saying something like, “We are planning a campaign and need a feasibility study. Can you send us a proposal for a study with 50 interviews?”
Realistically, this approach falls short. Why? It’s impossible to know how a group of supporters ― alumni, members, or subscribers ― will actually respond to a campaign solicitation, despite how they may react when asked about a general or theoretical campaign while it is still in the planning stage.
Plus, interviewees must be more than nominally familiar with a nonprofit’s goals before they can assess with certainty and accuracy how much they would pledge in support.
And finally, 50 conversations with donors offer only a limited view for an organization with, say, 50,000 households in its records.
It’s no wonder the capital-campaign feasibility study has come under scrutiny.
The Campaign Preparedness Study
You should, instead, conduct a study that provides your decision makers with sufficient feedback to make an informed decision about the nature, size, and scope of a proposed campaign.
The best way to do that is to combine qualitative feedback (interviews and small-group conversations) with quantitative analysis (analytics, surveys, and historic data on annual giving and prior campaigns).
Here are three steps to take to assess your nonprofit’s capacity for a capital campaign:
Defend your campaign. The anticipated outcome of a capital campaign should be measurable, and your donors should be excited by the opportunity to participate. Gain clarity by creating a draft case statement or prospectus for your donors to review and offer feedback.
Assess your program. Make sure you are staffed properly and have a sufficient budget for a multiyear effort. (Your budget should be 8 to 10 percent of your campaign goal, or more if the goal is small.) During capital campaigns, other fundraising demands don’t go away. Be sure you have the capacity to manage all of it, including supporting the volunteer committee and soliciting prospective donors beyond “baseline” giving — what you would be raising through annual giving if you were not in a campaign.
Gather opinions. Ask people what they think about the organization and its goals through:
• Interviews with selected likely top investors;
• An online survey to communicate the goals and seek feedback from a wider audience;
• Small-group conversations that engage prospective donors in the vision of the organization.
These tools provide great feedback about how the organization is perceived and how the proposed goals resonate as articulated in the draft case. People love to give their opinions. Seek it and use it!
Setting clear goals, getting valuable feedback from supporters, and ensuring you have the resources you need will set you on the path to a successful campaign.
Martha Keates is a senior consultant and vice president for client services and business development at Marts & Lundy.
DOWNLOAD: Writing a Capital Campaign Case Statement