If you planned a fundraising campaign, worked your plan and came up short, don’t be discouraged. It happens. Review the steps below to see what else you can do to reach your goal. One organization used this plan to take $50,000 raised to meet their goal of $300,000.
Most of these recommendations are adapted from the book Essential Principles for Fundraising Success by G. Douglass Alexander and Kristina J. Carlson.
What to do if your Campaign Comes up Short
- Recruit a chair for the campaign, committee members, and volunteers. (Your board of directors may serve as the first committee members.)
- If you need additional help you can hire consultants via Upwork.com or your local Association of Fundraising Professional’s Chapter. You can also recruit volunteers through your connections and social media channels, college internships, volunteermatch.com, and AmeriCorps Vista.
- Agree that the campaign will not be publicly announced until over 80% of the goal is achieved and all major prospects are personally solicited. ”The first mistake that many groups make is to announce their campaigns too early. Capital campaigns should focus on one-on-one communication with top prospects/donors and treat them as insiders to the campaign process.” People give because they are asked, for the joy of giving, and they give to people they know and trust. In the US, about 80% of nonprofit donations come from individuals each year.
- Build you project budget and assess the project’s feasibility. Checking for financial feasibility means making sure you have enough prospective donors to ask for the funds you need.
- List and rank your donors and prospective donors. Rank each person 1 – 3 points each by (1) linkage/connection, (2) interest/enthusiasm and (3) ability to give. Highest score = 9. Review your “9” ranked donors for potential “cornerstone” donors – someone to ask for a gift of 25% of goal: 1 gift, identify your 5 best prospects. (This gift could be giving in installments.)
- Use a “Gift Range Calculator” to make sure you have enough prospects to support your plan. Take your fundraising goal from your budget and add 20%. Plug this number in at giftrangecalculator.org. You will see numbers at the bottom of gifts you need and a higher number of prospects to ask. If you don’t have enough prospective donors identified to meet your goal, conduct the exercise in Chapter 18 for identifying donors. If you find that further feasibility study is needed, hire a consultant or scale back your project – maybe meet your ultimate goal in 3 years rather than one.
- Develop and implement written campaign accounting policies. Checks should be made out to your organization by name, not to individual solicitors. This plan assumes your organization have its tax-exempt status with the IRS.
- Decide if “naming rights” will be offered. For example, if you are raising money for a scholarship fund, someone may want to make a cornerstone donation to name the scholarship after a loved one.
- Will you ask your highest ranked donors, level “9 – 7”, to consider offering challenge or matching gifts.
- Asking – First Wave: Board/leadership team members lead in giving. Use your Gift Range calculation to suggest a gift level for each team member according to their ranking. For example, if your founder is ranked “9”, they should be asked to consider the highest level gift on your calculation. Your “8’s” are asked for the second line amount on your calculation, etc. Recommending a gift level lets people know what you want them to do. It makes them more comfortable than if you leave the question of a donation amount wide open.
- After you give, you are in a position of strength to say, “Join me in giving…” Your leadership team members are among most likely to be major donors who will give in the range of around 20% because of their commitment to your organization. The top few gifts received will likely equal 30% or more of your goal.
- Asking – Second Wave:How much to ask? Solicit your level “9” prospects following the solicitation guidelines in Part 3. Then, ask others according to their ranking and ability to give in descending order. Continue to use your Gift Range calculation to align the amount asked with each donor by ranking.
- Team members practice solicitations together to get comfortable with asking. Wording might include, “Susan, please consider matching my donation of $5,000 toward the completion of this great project.” Loosen up with a bit of role-playing as donors and solicitors.
- Develop a list Frequently Asked Questions in anticipating of what donors may ask their solicitors. This process unifies your messaging, too.
- Send a personalized letter/email including case for support, pledge form, gift range. In the body of the letter, ask for a meeting with two committee members; offer 2 specific meeting times, and mention that you will call within a week to ask for an appointment. Peer solicitations are most effective with two people representing your organization visiting the potential donor.
- Call to schedule meetings promptly. This is very important. If your contacts have time to forget about your request, you’ve lost their initial enthusiasm.
- At solicitation meetings, arrive prepared to ask for the specific donation amount you hope to receive from that individual or business. Take copies of the gifts sought form, brochure, return envelopes, organization chart for the campaign, and budget with you to meetings. Before you leave a solicitation meeting, make arrangements to follow up on the donor’s pledge. Get the (preferably signed) pledges and the cash will follow. Ask the donor when you can expect his/her gift so they set their own deadline. Also, before you leave, ask for referrals, for example, “Who else do you think would like to help?”
- Committee members ask the most-likely-to-give-big donors first (highest donor ranking, 0 – 9, see step 7.)
- Record all donations and signed and verbal pledges in your database.
- Thank all prospects in writing for meeting with you. Thank all donors for their donations within 48 hours.
- Keep donors informed on progress, maybe by way of a newsletter sent out at regular intervals.
- Invite committee members, donors, and volunteers to celebration groundbreaking and project completion.
- Asking – Third Wave, if needed: Ask donors to help recruit additional donors.
- Asking – Fourth Wave, if needed: Ask for gifts from your local Rotary and other service clubs and community foundation to help motivate new donors.
- Asking – Fifth Wave, if needed: Host a “finish line” fundraising event. Charge a high dollar amount per table/seat and get as much of the cost of the event as possible sponsored. Seek out a celebrity speaker.
As always, I am hoping for your every success!
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