Fundraising 101: Your complete capital campaign toolkit

What is a capital campaign?

Are you looking to build a new church, grow your school’s endowment or reduce debt? A capital campaign may be the solution for your nonprofit.

A capital campaign is defined as an intentional, intense, short-term period of fundraising that a nonprofit conducts to achieve one or more specific project goals, such as building an endowment, constructing capital improvements, reducing debt or funding a program.

At some point in the life of every nonprofit, the organization’s leadership will recognize the need for a capital campaign. A campaign is an opportunity for the organization to take the next step in its development. A successful fundraising campaign spurs growth in areas such as facilities, programs, financing or constituents served, allowing the organization to more fully achieve its mission.

Purpose of a capital campaign

Unlike an annual appeal, a capital campaign is designed to fundraise in support of specific projects, not provide ongoing support.

For example, a fast-growing school may see a need for more classroom space for children. Funding the construction of additional classrooms cannot be covered through the annual budget, so a capital campaign is necessary. Campaigns can also be run to retire debt, construct a new church, support seminarian education at the diocesan level, create or support an endowment and many other visionary projects.

Campaigns also differ from annual giving in that they are high profile. Modern campaigns employ strategies including press releases, videos, public gatherings and celebrations, while annual giving programs probably enter the public’s view only at the close of the calendar or fiscal year.

It is important to remember that there is never a perfect time to launch a capital campaign. By its scope and nature, a campaign will occupy a substantial portion of the staff’s, volunteers’, and constituents’ time and energy. It is easy to look at local or national circumstances and conclude that the launch of a capital campaign should be delayed. However, the circumstances will never be perfect. There always will be obstacles to overcome, especially if the initiatives to be funded by the campaign are visionary.

Why hire a capital campaign consultant?

Most nonprofit staffs are already overworked. The prospect of taking on an extraordinary fundraising effort like a campaign may seem daunting. But that’s where a capital campaign consultant comes in.

Your consultant will work with you through every step of the process. They will provide guidance during a feasibility study, crunch the data and provide donor ask strategies, train volunteers as well as keep you and your organization on track throughout the capital campaign itself.

Capital campaign management is a full-time job. Having a fundraising consultant focused on your effort can take much of the pressure off you and your staff. They will be responsible for capital campaign planning, communications, graphic design, data analysis and more.

In order to have success in a campaign, you need a strong case for support. A consultant will help you refine your case for support based on the feedback provided in the feasibility study and then design an outstanding brochure you’ll be able to share with your community. Additionally, a consultant provides an external perspective on your community and fundraising program. This view, free from bias, can help your community navigate the launch of a capital campaign and also provide additional insight into improving your fundraising.

Capital campaign planning steps

A large fundraising endeavor like a capital campaign requires planning well before the fundraising actually begins. Here are few key steps before you embark on a campaign:

• Identify community needs: You likely already know some of the pain points of your community – differed maintenance, debt, lack of resources for a ministry, crowded worship space, etc. But prior to starting a campaign, it is good to do a facility inventory and make sure you know all of the possible needs for your community that could be addressed through a campaign.
• Set realistic but ambitious goals: Once you’ve identified the needs of your community, it is time to decide which ones you should test in a feasibility study. Be ambitious but realistic. You can tier your needs based on priority. Address some in this campaign with plans to address others down the road.
• Identify key stakeholders: In addition to your leadership team and staff members, identify others in your community who will provide valuable feedback throughout the feasibility study and capital campaign. These will be your most engaged supporters, volunteers and major donors. They will be the heart of your campaign.
• Hire a campaign fundraising consultant: Once you are ready to start the campaign process, it is time to interview multiple consulting firms to find the best fit for your organization.
• Feasibility study: The first official step of a campaign is a feasibility study. This intentional effort to receive feedback from your entire community will provide you with the knowledge to properly plan a capital campaign.

Phases and Timeline of Capital Campaigns

There are many phases along the timeline of a capital campaign. In this section, we will walk you through each phase of the campaign and what you can expect. Timelines will vary depending on the size of the campaign. A Catholic church fundraising campaign will be shorter than a school campaign. And a school campaign will be shorter than a diocesan effort. No matter the type of campaign, the pledge period of a campaign is usually three years. Five years is also an option to help donors spread their donations out over a longer period of time.

• Preparation phase: During this initial phase of a capital campaign, vital planning work takes place. You’ll recruit campaign leadership and volunteers – they power a campaign. Craft a strong case for support, capital campaign communications and begin the design process for these pieces. Additionally, data analysis, which starts in the feasibility study, will continue during the preparation phase. This includes wealth research, donor profiling and analyzing the data to set request amounts for donors. Timeline: Depending on the scope of the campaign, the preparation phase could take a few weeks to many months.
• Silent phase (or major gift phase): Once the prep work is completed, you can begin the silent phase of a capital campaign. During this phase, it is common to host cultivation dinners and meet with your top donors. Your organization’s leadership should be heavily involved in these events, because they will yield more buy-in from donors. Before announcing your capital campaign to the world, you’ll want to secure as many major gifts as possible. You can use these gifts to create momentum for the next phase of the campaign. Timeline: This can last from a few months to nearly a year, depending on the campaign scope
• Public phase: You should launch the public phase of the campaign with a celebratory kickoff weekend. Host events. Invite donors to hear about the campaign’s progress and learn more about the campaign goals. Such kick-off events should be fun and should engage the rest of your potential donors with the campaign. Although the bulk of your funds will come from the major-gift donors, strong momentum in the public phase can lead to great success for your organization. In addition to meeting or exceeding your fundraising goals, the public phase allows you to cultivate and engage new donors. These new donors, in turn, can be the foundation of future capital campaigns.
• Concluding phase: And no campaign plan is complete without a commitment weekend. Use this event to attract as many new donors as possible, even at small giving levels. It’s a great technique for a final push over your financial goal. Make it a big celebration. Get the entire community involved. Timeline: From a few weeks to a few months.

There are a few other things to consider throughout the campaign phases and timeline:

• Celebrate milestones: Once the public phase has launched, make sure to celebrate milestones as you hit them. This could include tiering your goals so that you can celebrate the completion of fundraising for each project. Or include stretch goals to encourage your community to give even more sacrificially. A campaign that is fun and feels like a success (even before hitting your ultimate goal) will inspire more support.
• Thank donors: Thank your donors. Every single one. From your lead gift to a small donor, everyone deserves to be thanked. At a minimum, you should send everyone a thank you letter. If you have the capacity, consider sending hand-written thank you cards. Or writing a hand written note on a printed letter. And you should make thank you phone calls or other contact with your major donors.
• Pledge redemption: Campaign pledges are not legally binding. So while a pledge is a great step in a campaign, it does not help your community until the donor fulfills the pledge with cash. Consistent follow-up, in addition to thanking your donors, will keep the capital campaign and your organization top of mind and ensure that pledges are fulfilled.

Capital campaign toolkit

Before embarking on a large fundraising project such as a capital campaign, it is important to reflect on whether your organization is ready.

We’ve created a capital campaign toolkit/checklist to help you identify if your organization is ready to take the step of launching a campaign. And, once you launch the campaign, what you can expect.

Download the PDF checklist below.

Calming your capital campaign fears

In our more than 20 years of conducting capital campaigns for nonprofits, the Steier Group has heard every fear in the book. Some of the concerns are valid – capital campaigns do fail, for a variety of reasons. But if you follow the steps outlined above and plan properly, your organization should be set up for success. Among the typical fears:

A campaign will hinder annual giving
We have great news here. We’ve found that capital campaigns tend to bolster annual giving programs, not hurt them. Why? There are a few theories. Capital campaigns increase an organization’s visibility and provide an avenue to cultivate existing donors in a way that perhaps they’ve never experienced. It also allows organizations to invite and attract new donors to their causes. This often leaves the development office in a better place after a campaign.

Donor fatigue
This is a valid concern. But it is one that can be addressed through proper campaign planning. Timing your capital campaign, especially if you have run several in recent years, is crucial. Use your non-campaign years to thank your donors and foster mission awareness. Donors don’t mind being repeatedly asked to support a cause they understand is worthy.

Missing goal
Failing to reach the financial goal is the most common fear for any organization leader. Such a failure often is rooted in the planning phase, whether it is rushing into a campaign without counsel or getting carried away in setting fundraising goals. Often leadership has the best of intentions in trying to tackle as much as possible through a campaign. But the fact is that, say, a $4 million project might be feasible while a $6 million project isn’t. A campaign planning study will produce a good road map for what your organization can accomplish. Make sure to follow the map. We’ve found tiered goals are beneficial, for instance. When things don’t go as planned, fall back on your core group of volunteers and supporters and, if necessary, adjust your timeline. If you have a well-designed plan and a commitment to the campaign, you will hit your goal.

Campaign materials and marketing

A successful campaign is one-part fundraising campaign and one-part marketing campaign. Without standout communication and marketing materials, your campaign is at risk of falling short of goal.

Comprehensive marketing plan and multichannel marketing approach: Working with your fundraising consultant, you will want to create an extensive marketing plan that reaches your community through all of your marketing channels. For a Catholic church, this could include announcements from the pulpit, bulletin announcements, Flock note, email marketing, text marketing and direct mail marketing. For a Catholic school, that could include the above plus contacting current school parents and alumni.

Creating campaign marketing assets: As part of your comprehensive marketing plan for your campaign, you will want to create many assets. That includes a campaign logo, case statement brochure, social media graphics and videos. These should be well designed and professional to create the best impression of the campaign to your community.

Crafting a case for support: Your donors already support your organization. It is a built in marketing audience! But, in order to reach your fundraising goals, your community needs to make donations above and beyond their usual giving. To inspire this level of support, it is important to create a strong case for support that is clear in the goals of the campaign and how a successful campaign will make life better for those your serve. The stewardship mindset – giving of time, talent and treasure – is the perfect framework for Catholic organizations to inspire generosity from parishioners during a campaign.

Share your wins: Don’t just market the campaign, make sure to market your success as well. That will inspire more donors to give. If you reach a new goal, celebrate it. If you receive a large gift, celebrate it. You could even use a major gift as a challenge gift to encourage more donors to give.

Donor identification and prospect research

A modern capital campaign is not complete without using the data in your donor database to supercharge the campaign. Data analysis will help you maximize your ask amounts and challenge your donors with sacrificial gifts that are within their reach.

Here are some things to consider when identifying donors and researching your prospects:

Clean up your database: If you haven’t already, clean up your donor database. Make sure information is up to date – internally, this means making sure the giving history is up to date and accurate. You should also run the database through a program to confirm addresses.

Wealth research: At the Steier Group, we use a wealth research/prospect research platform to analyze your donors to gauge their wealth and giving capacity. This platform, and others like it, provide a deeper look into the financial picture of your donors.

Feasibility study: During the feasibility study, each donor should be asked if they will give to a possible campaign and, if so, how much they would consider. This is an important data point and should be the baseline for your ask amount for a donor.

This information will be valuable as you set up ask amounts for a capital campaign. You can tier your donors based on giving capacity. The top donors should receive a customized ask amount with a member of leadership meeting with the donor in person to make the request. Smaller donors should be tiered based on giving history and wealth capacity. It is important to find the right ask amount that challenges the donor to give in a sacrificial way while not offending the donor by asking for too much.

Team building and board engagement

Leaders in your organization will play a vital role in the success of your campaign. Nothing sinks a campaign faster than leadership that doesn’t buy in fully to the campaign process. Here is what can be expected for each role:

Leadership: Your leadership team should be the most vocal supporters of the campaign. Champion it whenever you get a chance to speak. Share the details. Have open office hours for discussion. Whatever you can to make sure that your community knows that you support the campaign and care about the results.

Board members or committee members: If your organization has a board of directors or a finance/fundraising committee, these members should also be active participants in the campaign process. Community members will look to you for guidance, make sure to share the importance of the campaign.

Volunteers: No campaign can find success without volunteers. Volunteers will be making calls and asking for support from the majority of donors. As donors are more likely to support a campaign when asked in person, volunteers play a vital role.

Key Takeaways from Your Capital Campaign Toolkit

Capital campaigns are complex endeavors. They require a lot of work, but they are incredibly rewarding. In our more than 28 years of fundraising experience, the Steier Group has seen many churches, schools, museums and other nonprofits across the country achieve success.

A successful campaign will change your community for the better. It will make your community more vibrant. And will inspire your donors to be more engaged in the community.

Frequently asked questions

How do you structure a capital campaign?

Most organizations should hire a fundraising consultant to conduct a capital campaign. These large efforts require one or more dedicated individuals focused solely on the success of the campaign. The campaign manager will help provide structure to the organization. Leadership will be at the top of the campaign hierarchy , followed by staff members and volunteers.

How long should a capital campaign last?

The length of a capital campaign depends on the size of the organization and the complexity of the fundraising approach. Small organizations will run shorter campaigns, while multimillion-dollar campaigns for large organizations can last years.

What are the three phases of a capital campaign?

There are three main phases to a capital campaign. The preparation phase, the silent phase and the public phase. During the preparation phase, a community prepares for the work of the capital campaign. During the silent phase, major gift donors are asked to support the campaign. This phase builds momentum for the final phase of the campaign – the public phase. This phase begins with a campaign kickoff and includes soliciting the entire community for support of the campaign.