Susan Brekelmans, CFRE
Senior Consultant
Planning right for a fundraising campaign
When you’re considering a campaign, it makes sense to start smart, with a campaign planning study (sometimes called a campaign feasibility study). A study is the best way to test your campaign vision and your campaign goal—and it’s a powerful donor engagement opportunity as well.
At Benefactor Group, we’re always thrilled when a study shows a fast track to a successful campaign. But sometimes, study results tell our clients they are not ready to launch a campaign right away.
In situations like these, we believe there is always a path to success. As nonprofit fundraising consultants, our job is to help our clients find and navigate that path—by building internal capacity and cultivating relationships—so they can achieve campaign readiness and ultimately, campaign success.
Taking time to prepare for a capital campaign
Located in Ypsilanti, MI, SOS Community Services is committed to helping families achieve lasting stability by addressing the critical challenges of homelessness, housing instability, and poverty. This grassroots-based organization has a decades-long track record of providing comprehensive, wraparound services.
In late 2023, SOS Community Services asked Benefactor Group to help it test a campaign for a new Family Resource Center to meet increased demand and effectively support families. For years, Executive Director Rhonda Weathers and Development Director Barbara Cecil had devoted themselves to careful and consistent donor stewardship, tripling gifts to the annual fund and running a successful annual fundraising event. “There was pent-up desire to get a new building,” said Barbara. “We knew it was time to test our ability to launch a campaign.”
Through frank interviews with donors and supporters, Benefactor Group found that SOS Community Services had done much of the groundwork for a campaign, but that additional planning was needed before beginning formal campaign activities. For example, the organization needed to firm up its options for a new headquarters location. Most importantly, SOS Community Services needed to circle back to some of the top prospective donors interviewed in the study.
SOS Community Services was not unusual in needing to devote additional time to campaign planning. It is often the case that a Benefactor Group study finds that critical donor relationships must be strengthened, for example, or that essential infrastructure like staff or CRM must be introduced. This extended planning phase sets an organization up for campaign success. Moving forward without addressing these vital “to dos” can put an organization’s reputation at risk: falling short of its goal, alienating supporters, or losing respected leaders.
For SOS Community Services, the study encouraged Barbara to step out of her comfort zone and have frank conversations with potential donors about their willingness to make significant gifts.
“I had never asked anyone for a million dollars before,” she explained. “But since we weren’t sure about those big gifts, we needed to get answers from our supporters. I had a Benefactor Group fundraising consultant coaching me on what to say in the meeting, so I felt prepared.”
Building capacity with a fundraising plan
Help & Hope was founded in Castle Rock, CO to meet the immediate needs of residents who are in financial distress or at risk of becoming homeless, to help them work through troublesome times with dignity. Like SOS Community Services, Help & Hope had outgrown its headquarters and needed more space to serve clients. The board and staff leaders had limited experience with fundraising, and knew they needed more information and guidance before launching a campaign.
Help & Hope’s study showed that the organization was not ready to jump into a campaign.
“You don’t know what you don’t know,” commented Andi Woodring, Director of Development for Help & Hope, as she reflected back on the study. For her organization, the planning study provided vital information about donors. “At the time, we really didn’t know our donors. We didn’t have the resources to connect with them,” she noted. “Being able to see what people had to say about us was so useful,” Andi said. “We learned about donors’ perceptions of us, their level of trust, their feelings about how we communicate with them.”
A growth plan and implementation support
Following the study, Help & Hope worked with Benefactor Group’s Capacity Building team members, who created a clear, prioritized, and right-sized development plan. This roadmap to campaign readiness guided Help & Hope through creating a development department, investing in staff and infrastructure to elevate fundraising operations, developing a case for support, and engaging board members in fundraising.
Benefactor Group consultants met regularly with Andi at Help & Hope to keep the plan implementation on track, offering specific expertise as needed. For example, the nonprofit technology team counseled Help & Hope on using its CRM more effectively and introducing metrics to evaluate individual and team goals.
For Help & Hope, fundraising growth has been steady. Andi is justifiably proud of the way Help & Hope has inspired donors.
“In getting to know our current donors—and we really didn’t know them before—some of them have doubled their giving,” she notes. “The investment in a fundraising plan has been totally worthwhile.”
Andi is committed to following Benefactor Group’s growth plan. “A campaign is our intention at some point, but we’re still working on the vision,” said Andi. “I know we can’t be successful without a clear, defined vision.”
Value of a campaign feasibility study
Both Andi and Barbara agree that a campaign study was a good investment for their organizations. For SOS Community Services, the study was a vital way of engaging key donors. “The donors loved talking to the consultant,” Barbara said. “It was a good cultivation moment.” In addition, working with a trusted partner like Benefactor Group gave everyone confidence. “Having a professional engage your leaders, a professional writing your case for support—that was very helpful,” Barbara said. “The whole thing was a good experience.”
At Help & Hope, Andi also feels that engaging a consultant gave her access to reliable advice.
“We look at Benefactor Group’s philanthropic growth plan often,” she said. “I think it would be foolish to go without a study. And foolish to do it on your own.”
For both organizations, the study helped board members “level up” in terms of knowledge and engagement. “The board could make a good decision thanks to Benefactor Group’s presentation,” Barbara explained. “We hadn’t done a capital campaign before, so this gave us clear direction.” Andi observed that the study helped the board members see themselves as fundraisers. “The study talked about the board’s role and that inspired one member to host thank you events for us,” said Andi. “They have seen the ROI, and we won nonprofit of the year because we—and the board—have been more out there.”
Successful fundraising with a solid plan
Curious to know if your organization is ready for a campaign?
I was privileged to work with both Help & Hope and SOS Community Services as these organizations explored their potential for a campaign. And I’ve worked with leaders at other organizations to help elevate fundraising infrastructure and expertise so that a campaign can be successful.
If your organization is considering a fundraising campaign, I would love to hear about your vision and your ambitions—as well as your pain points. Let’s talk! You can reach me at [email protected].
