Campaign Planning

What’s the most important aspect of campaign planning?  A nicely printed folder with a four-color thirty-page case statement?  What about fancy kick-off dinners and campaign-close events?  Or is it your campaign giving pyramid, spelling out clearly how many gifts of what size you need to get to goal?

All of these can be helpful, but truthfully, they are all just icing on the cake. 

The cake is a two-tiered cake.  The base of the cake is your vision and  the top tier is your plan to execute that vision.

If you have an inspiring vision that leaves no doubt that your donor’s gift is going to change the world, it’s very easy to hold a successful campaign even without all the fancy communications collateral. 

So make sure you have an exciting plan, one that truly connects the dots between your donors gift and the change in the world your organization is striving to make.  Think less about the mechanisms that are used to make the change (classrooms, scholarships, etc.) and more about the long term impact of the change itself (generational changes caused by young adults who have stable jobs and go on to have children that are well-provided for).

Don’t stop there though!  Be sure that you have really planned through how the money you raise will be spent to accomplish this change.  If you have large funding goals, administering the money may need to be a full-time job for someone. 

Most high-level donors also will have high expectations for follow-through and delivering on your promises.  Your best way to ensure their future support is to work hard at executing the plan you promised and keeping them updated on the progress to goal.

Are you ready to start a major gift program at your nonprofit? Is the one you have lacking the "oomf" you need? There are twenty questions you need to answer in order to have a strong major gift program! Take my free, 15 minute online class on this topic by clicking the button below!

20 Questions to Ask Before Starting a Major Gift Program