A Small Change- Fundraising Blog

I am hosting the Carnival of Nonprofit Consultants and I thought this would be a great opportunity to get a bit of input on what makes a great capital campaign. I heard back from a couple people on this topic and have included their submissions below. But I’d love to hear more so I will keep the offer open. If anyone posts on the topic of capital campaigns and wants me to link to their post in the future send me an email and I with highlight it here.

Joanne Fritz talks about what a capital campaign is at About.com. Visit the article about capital campaigns to find some really useful information.

Definition: A capital campaign is a time-limited effort by a nonprofit organization to raise significant dollars for a specific project.

Sandy Rees has some great insights on how to run a successful capital campaign. She talks about the need to start preparing your donors years in advance, and to have the right people on board. Check out her post on her blog, Get Fully Funded.

At its heart, a capital campaign relies on the same things as other fundraising efforts: a compelling case, relationships with donors, and the right person asking for the right amount at the right time.

Robert Guinto from Nonprofit Capital Management sent me a few pointers about how important messaging is to a capital campaign. Check out his blog.

The branding and marketing of the message is critical to capital campaigns. There is a need to have the capital plan designed in a manner that strategically seeks funding from foundations, businesses and individuals… Another element of a campaign is that it does not just state and end on a short time period. It is important to note that your organization needs to be in front of an individual several times before there may be a positive outcome.

I thought I would highlight some examples of capital campaigns online for you to check out.

• The Elevation Church kicked off their capital campaign, Dominate, giving away $40,000 to their congregation in increments of $5 and $10. Congregation members had so spend the money on other people. An interesting way to share the vision of their campaign but resulted in huge success.
• The University of Rio is trying a video approach to bringing university alumni.
• Do you have any links or stories to successful capital campaigns?

In a few weeks make sure to check back to read my interview with a few capital campaign leaders. I have asked The Collins Group, Convio, Lipman Hearne, and Tavro Lund and they will be sharing their expertise.

There is a lot to think about in today’s world when you talk about online fundraising. In many ways it is still in its infancy. I write a little bit about it in my post, A Foretelling of the Birth of Peer-to-Peer Fundraising. What will the future look like? What is coming in the new frontier of online giving? I think that it has a lot to do with what is happening in online chat rooms, on message boards, on blogs, and other social media networks. Richard McPherson says in his book, Digital Giving, “Charitable success online will be driven not by the size of your email list or even your donor base, but by the number of people who are talking about you through social media.”

Here are a few simple rules that I gleaned from that book:

• Start with a clear idea of what you want your community to do
• Plan for your superusers
• Have a growth plan
• Balance listening and leading

You need to know what you want to promote online. Is it a general issue, a cause linked to a geographic area? Make sure that you have this idea in place. Once you start your online community you will start to see a few “superusers” emerge. These are the one out of a hundred that leave a comment or send you an email. Make sure that you are talking to them, thanking them for their comments, asking for their input. Make sure that you are responding and changing based on what your community is telling you. If you ignore them and don’t listen they will go away. Here is another interesting quote from Digital Giving:

Online networks for social action and engagement, of course, compete not for retail sales but for the affections of people willing to speak up or at least listen to others with a cause… “The more connected people feel, the more active they’ll be.” Randy Paynter, founder of Care2

I’m just starting to see the power of this kind of planning and action. There are a few places that I’m trying to start some online community. One of them is connected to each post. A few examples of this working really well would be my All Donors as Major Donor’s post or I Don’t Want to Ask for Money. A couple places that I’m going to try and start some new conversations is are my Idealist Group, my Facebook page, and the Search & Questions section. I want to create a place where I can be listening to the kinds of things that you want me to talk about. Have you had success creating online communities? Has it contributed to fundraising success for you?

I am currently in career transition. In a few weeks time I will be leaving my current job to start as the Campaign Manager at a local community college. It is going to be a great opportunity to be a part of a great institution of higher education and participate in a capital campaign. I am very excited and hope this will bring a whole new skill set for me to reflect on at A Small Change.

Over the next couple of weeks I would really appreciate any input and advice from you on capital campaigns. Next week on April 21, I am hosting the Carnival of Nonprofit Consultants on the topic, “Ingredients to a Successful Capital Campaign.” Please send your submissions to me at infosmallchange@gmail.com, the last day to submit will be Friday, April 18. I really want this carnival to be a good one so if you have a few minutes to craft a creative and exciting article (on Capital Campaigns) I’d love to promote it on next weeks post.

In early May you will also see another one of my “Online Interviews.” At the end of January I interviewed a number of online fundraising experts and wrote a five part series. Come early May you will see a very similar interview on the topic of capital campaigns. Feel free to let me know of any great capital campaign resources, or pieces of advice below.

I have posted many times about online fundraising and I think I’ve explained some of reasons why. With online fundraising the stakes are the same for a large multi-million dollar organization as they are for a small $100,000 charity. Here are a few thoughts and tips about merging together online and offline funding campaigns.

Why? At this point online fundraising is growing but for most organization is only represents a small (but growing) portion of the organizations giving. But many people want to have the online option available to them but will use a paper mail product to initiate their gift. Richard McPherson in his book, Digital Giving, says “direct mail is a calm port in a storm of electronic demands. And it’s often easier than giving online.” You will find me quoting his book a number of times in the coming weeks he has a lot of incredible tangible tips on how to fundraise online.

With online giving growing and how easy it is for a donor to use it is something that your organization should start to think about. I would like to advocate for an integrated model of online & offline fundraising. In any of your paper direct mail appeals make sure that your website is on them & that there is a one click link to your donation page. Put a link to donate or visit your website at the bottom of your email signature.

What ideas do you have to integrate your current mailings & emailings?

I am excited to bring to you this month’s feature organization, Charity for Debt. They are looking for some input from you on the most effective way to bring in $1,000 donations. Please check out past Org of the Months and if you want to promote your small non-profit download the sign-up form and email to infosmallchange@gmail.com.

What is your non-profit about? And what areas do you serve?

Charity for Debt is a new non profit aimed at alleviating student loan debt in America and staffing charities with reliable, motivated individuals through a transparent and personal donor-volunteer experience. Charity for Debt serves students and recent graduates with student loan debt, non profits and charities in need of volunteers, and our donors.

The Charity for Debt model enables our donors to select a student volunteer who matches their interests and values. The student volunteer works with the donor to decide on a charity to contribute his/her time. The charity then receives a reliable, motivated volunteer to fill any labor gaps in their operation. The volunteer works for the charity for 4 to 6 hours per week, usually for 6 weeks, and at the end of this time is awarded up to $1,000 paid directly to the student’s education loan company. The donor receive weekly progress reports and activities, which are tracked and archived on the volunteer’s online portfolio. The model creates a transparent process for the donors, students, and charities to track progress and easily show the positive results that were made possible.

What are the major fundraising programs you have?

We just started the Green Light Campaign to attract $10,000, which will enable two pilot programs of the Charity for Debt model to begin in Washington DC and Dallas TX. We are actively looking for individual donors and corporations to sponsor a student volunteer for $1,000 or more in these communities. The sponsoring donor’s name will be forever attached to volunteer’s positive outcomes porfolio on the Internet to show the results the donor enabled in their community. We hope to create a personal connection between the donor and the volunteer and allow the donor to see how their dollars are being spent.

What sector do you raise money for?

We raise money for the financial debt sector and for non profit staffing needs.

What geographic area does your charity serve and where is it located?

We are located in Washington DC and are currently serving the DC and Dallas, TX areas. We hope to serve every community in the United States at some point. We have been approached by an individual in Wisconsin and South Africa who want to open Charity for Debt branches in their communities. We are working with these two amazing individuals (and our lawyers) to create an expansion system that will easily allow other communities to establish a Charity for Debt branch serving their citizens. If you would like to open a Charity for Debt branch in your community, please contact us at charityfordebt@gmail.com.

Any tips on how to approach donors in your area?

Be honest, show transparency for their dollars, create a personal connection for the donors.

Any pointers for organizations in your area that help non-profit professionals?

Explore the advantages of running non profits more like entrepreneurial ventures.

Do you have any problems or questions that you would like to ask for answers form the philanthropic community?

• What are the most effective methods to find individual donors that will give $1,000 or more?
• What donor materials (simple brochure, flier, postcard, emails) are the most effective communication tool to attract new donors?
• What are the most efficient expansion models non profits have deployed to expand to communities across the U.S., and world?