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Making a List, Checking it Twice…Capital Campaign Readiness Checklist

by Greg Ritter on June 30th, 2010
Tags: , , - Posted in: Capital Campaign, Fundraising - No Comments »

The following checklist provides nonprofits with one test to help them assess their readiness to launch a capital campaign:

1.    Compelling statement of the capital need(s).
2.    Engaging case for support.
3.    Strategic plan.
4.    Audited financial statements.
5.    History of balanced budgets.
6.    Enthusiastic Board Chair and Board Members.
7.    Executive in place for at least three years.
8.    Strong volunteer leadership.
9.    Trusted campaign counsel to provide guidance (if goal exceeds $500,000).
10.   Attractive and consistent look to publications and web presence.
11.   Community image that is strong and positive.
12.   Positive report from the feasibility study which should:

  • Test the plan and the feasibility of the financial goal
  • Highlight the areas of the case for support that need to be strengthened
  • Identify planning assumptions that need to be revised
  • Suggest strategies that will contribute to the campaign’s success

Positive responses to the items on this checklist give your organization an excellent chance of succeeding. I recommend you involve an experienced nonprofit consultant who specializes in capital campaigns as early in the process as you are able. An expert consultant will help guide the process saving you time, energy and money in the long run.

Is Your Nonprofit Ready for a Capital Campaign?

by Greg Ritter on June 28th, 2010
Posted in: Capital Campaign, Fundraising - No Comments »

The goal of any nonprofit capital campaign is to be successful in reaching the campaign goals. In order to be successful there are certain critical elements that must be addressed. Some of these elements an organization can assess for itself. Others come from the findings of a professionally-conducted feasibility study. Still others are best determined through targeted prospect research and interactive communication design. Through my years of experience one thing I have learned is that bringing in qualified nonprofit capital campaign consultants early in the process is the best way to save time, energy and money. A good nonprofit consultant will help guide you through these critical elements and lead your nonprofit to reach the capital campaign goals and find success.

Worried about expense?

Remember that the first couple of gifts in a well-executed campaign will more than cover the cost of careful campaign preparation.

How much should we expect to pay?

Hourly rates will vary from one consultant to another. You have to ask. The total amount for professional counsel for an entire campaign will probably average in the range of 7-10% of the campaign goal. This amount should be included in the campaign budget along with architects’ fees, permits, expense for contractors, etc.

When is it worth it for us to pay?

I have asterisked (*) the items below where I believe it is most important to pay for special expertise.

  1. Does the organization have a master plan for growth?
  2. Do you have detailed, accurate estimates of cost for each stage of growth?
  3. Has your annual income grown to a point of including sufficiently large numbers of big-gift prospects and can you identify others who are capable of and may be interested in giving substantial amounts?
  4. Is there whole-hearted agreement among the Board members and staff concerning the importance of your expansion plans?
  5. Are the Board members and staff determined and committed to the success of the project?
  6. Is your organization well regarded and highly respected in the community?*
  7. Is your website and social networking presence up to date?*
  8. Is there a valid and urgent need for the funds to be sought? Can this need be dramatized easily and effectively for emotional appeal?*
  9. Is top-level leadership available for the campaign – leaders who are interested in and committed to success?*
  10. Is it possible for the largest gift to represent 10-15% of the campaign goal, and can it be secured prior to formally launching the campaign? And… can one-half of the campaign goal be secured from 10-15 donors. And…can 65-75% of the goal be secured from approximately 100 donors?*
  11. Can a sufficient corps of enthusiastic and dedicated volunteers be recruited to work on the campaign?*
  12. When you succeed in this campaign, are there resources available to provide the annual operating support for the projects funded through the capital campaign?

Although there is no guarantee of success, these seem to be the areas that are best to address before further campaign activities begin. How does your organization stack up?

BRINGING A GOOD IDEA TO MAJOR GIFT PROSPECTS

by Greg Ritter on June 24th, 2010
Tags: , , - Posted in: Fundraising - No Comments »

To take a major step forward, a nonprofit organization needs to become successful at bringing their best ideas before potential donors for consideration and funding.

I have worked with nonprofits who believe in their mission so sincerely, they can’t imagine that a donor would not join in support, just hearing about the program. But major donor prospects are bombarded with many such program descriptions every week, and don’t have the funds to support them all.

How do you make the case for your nonprofit program or project stand out so it gets the consideration it deserves? It is worth it to bring in professional expertise to help create this case for giving? It will be useful all year long, but needs to be reviewed and updated each year as circumstances change in the organization and/or in its service community.

Does the case state the right set of needs in the vocabulary of a major donor?
Organizations make a common mistake by describing their own needs instead of the needs of those they serve. Another common mistake is to miss the all-important balance between statistics and emotional appeal.

Have you described your program in a nutshell that follows naturally the needs you just described?
Major donors are busy people and have a whole stack of program literature they try to plow through. Don’t make their job harder by going on and on about program details. It’s easy for us to miss the boat on this one, as we are so used to talking about our program.

Are you able to describe to the prospect why it makes the most sense to fund your organization (rather than someone else) to meet these needs? Remember the stack of proposals in front of the donor. One or two of them might present a similar program idea to what you are presenting.

Are you able to describe the costs of the project, with just the right amount of detail for the donor to grasp quickly? Although some prospects like spreadsheets of figures, the case for support is not the place for this. In this document we want to establish an idea quickly and in a compelling way. Supporting detail belongs in an appendix.

Have you painted a verbal picture for the reader of what success will mean? Suppose all the needed funds are raised. Can you leave the donor with a mental picture of how life will be different, and for whom?

You can see that writing a compelling case for support is practically an art form. It uses words and paragraphs, but the writing is as tight as poetry. We’ll get once chance with this donor, better invest a little up front to make it shine.

FUNDRAISING’S CRYSTAL BALL

by Greg Ritter on June 22nd, 2010
Tags: , , , , - Posted in: Capital Campaign, Fundraising - 1 Comment »

A few years ago I had the opportunity to address the American Library Association at their annual meeting in Chicago at the Palmer House. They were interested in endowment fundraising, and because I knew the room would be full of English majors I titled my remarks “Is Your Endowment To Be or Not To Be?” I concentrated on the importance of the feasibility study in answering that question. The audience showed great interest. Later, when they published my presentation in their journal, they used a sketch of a crystal ball to illustrate my theme.

Is your campaign to be or not to be? I guess a good feasibility study is the closest thing we have to a crystal-ball prediction. Except that there is no reliance upon magic with the study – just careful details and the skills of a competent interviewer. If you are out to raise $500,000 or more, it is our rule of thumb in the profession that it will be worth it for you to retain an experienced nonprofit capital campaign fundraising consultant to help you with the process.

The first step may well be a feasibility study, a series of confidential, personal, structured interviews to test your project and goal among those potential donors whose support you will surely need for a successful campaign.

Sound expensive?
It is likely that the first gift or two of the resulting campaign will easily cover the expenses of the study.

Volunteer interviewer instead?
The survey instrument must be carefully designed to yield the results you need, and the interviewer must be trained to pick up the nonverbal cues that reveal what the interviewee really thinks.

Can a staff member do it?
Confidentiality is the key to truthful responses. Prospects are more likely to trust that an outside objective professional will keep their responses confidential.

How about doing the interviews here?
There is a better chance of getting truthful answers when the interview is conducted at a site chosen by the prospect. When people enter the nonprofit’s site, they have a tendency to be more positive in their responses than how they really feel.

Finally, the interviewer needs a background in fundraising and development to listen for the cues that the prospect is ready to make a substantial gift. In one instance in my own experience, I followed the cues that resulted in the donor making a challenge grant of half the campaign’s total. That was an interview well worth the cost!

YIKES! A CAPITAL CAMPAIGN IN THIS ECONOMY?

by Greg Ritter on June 17th, 2010
Posted in: Capital Campaign, Fundraising - 1 Comment »

It seems a risky time to launch a capital campaign, yet many successful nonprofits will reach the point where it makes sense for them to move to a new level of service regardless of the economic conditions.

Has that time arrived for you? I have worked for three different nonprofits when the time came for them. Each time, there was a mixture of anticipation and panic. Making a wish list for each campaign was fun, but organizing the effort seemed elusive. And these campaigns were during good economic times!

If I had to do them over today, I’d do things a little differently.

1.    I would allow more time to get ready.
Few operating nonprofits are able to retain a Board whose members are connected, experienced and savvy enough to conduct a successful campaign. These new members need to be recruited, and that takes time. Present Board members need time to determine if they are willing to give the support and effort required for campaign success, or if they instead would prefer to gracefully step aside to make room for new members who can. This takes time, too.

2.    I would be sure our own house is in order.
Thoughtful campaign donors will ask to see the strategic plan and/or the master plan for growth. These donors are used to examining a company’s prospectus before making an investment in the for-profit sector. They like to see something similar before making a large gift in the non-profit sector. And we want to be sure to include detailed, accurate estimates of costs for each stage of our planned growth, especially in this economy.

3.    I would treat our internal feasibility as importantly as I treat the external measure of community support from the feasibility study.
Is there whole-hearted agreement between the staff and Board about our expansion plans? Can we describe the valid and urgent needs for the funds we are seeking? Can we dramatize these needs easily and effectively for emotional appeal as well document their importance? Does our website and social networking presence leave our viewers with a strong, positive and professional impression of our organization and its mission?

4.    I would engage a competent consulting firm to assist us as early as I can.
A firm who has operated in your area will have a good grasp of who might be a good campaign Board member for you and may be able to assist in her/his recruitment. Such a firm should also offer internal readiness services as well as effective feasibility study services and campaign direction if desired. Their objectivity is helpful as well during a time when strong opinions and emotions are being expressed internally.

5.    If it is time to advance the mission, I’d go for it! With careful planning and the help of professionals with good references you will find success!

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