Campaign Components

Annual Appeal vs. Capital Campaign

A common question we entertain from our clients is: “What do we do about our annual appeal when we start campaign fundraising?”

Generally, it is our perspective that the annual appeal should not be suspended during a campaign because these funds are essential in supporting your yearly operations. The intent of the campaign is not only to raise the necessary monies for your capital needs but to complement and elevate the annual support you receive.

Primarily, we recommend two options. The first is to include the upcoming year’s annual appeal budget as a campaign line item, then resume your normal annual appeal method during the campaign pledge period. The second option, the one we typically suggest, is to combine the annual fund and campaign request into one appeal. Over the last 10 years, we have consistently received feedback from our client’s benefactors that they were grateful for one request to support both initiatives.

Let me illustrate a method of how to incorporate the annual appeal in your campaign, which is assuming both are running congruently. With your campaign’s major gift prospects, who you personally visit, ask them to consider one gift and inform them that their investment will support this year’s annual appeal and their campaign pledge. This gives the prospective donor an efficient vehicle to support all initiatives that are important to them.

While remaining sensitive to our client’s annual appeal and campaign needs, we have seen increased support to their annual giving. In analyzing the more than 500 campaigns that we have completed, annual giving has increased six percent in the year of the campaign, eight percent in the first year after the appeal, 17 percent in the second year and 28 percent in the third year.

Other Campaign Components articles: