Home Library Translate
A A A
Share »
Follow us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Follow us on LinkedIn
Connect »

Blog: Fundraising for Nonprofits

Menu

  • This Blog's Home
  • Guest Writer Submissions
  • Policies
  • To Subscribe to a Blog
  • About
  • Feedback

Capital Campaigns #4: More Than Raising Money

By Hank Lewis, MA, CFRM on November 2, 2010

It’s important to understand that, for many nonprofits, the benefits of conducting a successful capital campaign often extend beyond merely raising a specific amount of money. Of course, the purpose of the campaign is to raise the dollars, but an effective/successful campaign will also have a number of very worthwhile side benefits:

• The more people who support/give to the campaign, the more people who
  create/enhance a bond with the nonprofit organization.

  Where the “campaign” period (the actual timeframe needed to attain the dollar
  goal) should be as short as possible, the visible campaign can last much longer —
  as long as needed to involve as many members of the organization and/or the
  community as is realistic. To a point, the more people involved, as volunteers,
  donors and/or event participants, the larger your constituency becomes and the
  stronger your constituents bond with your NPO.

• It makes everybody feel good – campaign leadership, volunteers, donors. It makes
  all those folks feel good about success, and it makes them want to stay involved
  with the organization.

  People that have been leaders/volunteers for a successful capital campaign take
  away a feeling of accomplishment, of satisfaction, that they will likely want to repeat.

• It gives others (potential leaders & donors) a look at how an organization
  treats/recognizes its volunteer leaders and donors, and makes them think about
  how they could get the same “treatment/recognition.”

  Different people have different needs that have to be satisfied.
  If people who were not involved in your campaign see how the needs of others were
  satisfied, next time there is an opportunity to participate as a leader/volunteer these
  folks would be more likely to want to be involved.

• When properly publicized/marketed, it educates a broad spectrum of participants
  and non-participants about an organization’s mission, leadership and current
  and future programs/services.

  A campaign goal can represent many needs to be satisfied with a specific dollar sum.
  Once the goal is attained, each of those satisfied needs can be discussed in various
  kinds of publicity/marketing pieces over many months after the campaign. Every new
  and/or expanded service the NPO provides is something to brag about!!

• Donors tend to give more to a major campaign than they have to the organization’s
  ongoing fundraising; and, after completing their campaign commitment, they tend
  to give at levels higher than they gave before the campaign.

In essence, a capital campaign can have a great impact on an organization’s marketing and community relations.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Have a comment or a question about starting or expanding your basic fundraising program, your major gifts fundraising program or a capital campaign? Email me at AskHank@Major-Capital-Giving.com. With over 30 years of counseling in major gifts, capital campaigns, bequest programs and the planning studies to precede these three, we’ll likely be able to answer your questions.

« Previous Next »

Search Our Site

Meet the Blog’s Host

Hank Lewis with Development Consultant Associates has over thirty years as a fundraising consultant and is a specialist in Board and Leadership Development, Capital Campaign, Bequest Program and Major Gifts. [Read more ...]

Recent Blog Posts

  • Show Me … Don’t Tell Me: Say It With Video
  • Video – An Often Overlooked Development Tool
  • Using Video in the Development Process … And Increasing Dollars
  • Corporation Solicitation Programs: Not For Every Nonprofit
  • The Gift Table: An Essential Fundraising Tool
  • The Planning Study: Implementation
  • The Planning Study: Conceptualizing & Preparing
  • Leadership: The Key to a Successful Major Gifts Program
  • Ensuring The Future of Your Nonprofit: Major Gifts Are The Way
  • Top Ten “Rules” of Fundraising

Categories of Posts

  • Accounting For Fundraising
  • Basics and Overviews
  • Board and Fundraising
  • Fundraising & Social Media
  • Fundraising Basics: Concepts & Philosophy
  • Fundraising: Beyond The Basics
  • Fundraising: Capital Campaigns
  • Fundraising: Consultants
  • Fundraising: Corporate
  • Fundraising: Database/Software
  • Fundraising: Direct Response
  • Fundraising: Grants
  • Fundraising: Hiring Development Staff
  • Fundraising: Major Gifts
  • Fundraising: Millennials In Development
  • Fundraising: Planned Giving
  • Fundraising: Planning
  • Fundraising: Special Events
  • Fundraising: The Combined Federal Campaign
  • Uncategorized

Related Library Topics

  • Boards of Directors
  • Capacity Building
  • Consultants (Using)
  • Executive Director Role
  • Financial Management
  • Fundraising and Grantwriting
  • Marketing
  • Program Evaluation
  • Program Management
  • Social Enterprise
  • Staffing
  • Starting Nonprofits
  • Strategic Planning
  • Taxation
  • Volunteers

Library's Blogs

  • Boards of Directors
  • Building a Business
  • Business Communications
  • Business Ethics, Culture and Performance
  • Business Planning
  • Career Management
  • Coaching and Action Learning
  • Consulting and Organizational Development
  • Crisis Management
  • Customer Service
  • Facilitation
  • Free Management Library Blogs
  • Fundraising for Nonprofits
  • Human Resources
  • Leadership
  • Marketing and Social Media
  • Nonprofit Capacity Building
  • Project Management
  • Quality Management
  • Social Enterprise
  • Spirituality
  • Strategic Planning
  • Supervision
  • Team Building and Performance
  • Training and Development
About Feedback Legal Privacy Policy Contact Us
Free Management Library, © Copyright Authenticity Consulting, LLC ®; All rights reserved.
  • Graphics by Wylde Hare LLC
  • Website maintained by Caitlin Cahill

By continuing to use this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy.X