Steps for a Successful Capital Campaign

Is your land trust considering a capital campaign? Then it’s time to read Story Clark’s advice on capital campaigns from A Field Guide to Conservation Finance. Clark notes that the process begins with the group’s leadership: “For all organizations, staffed or not, campaign leadership is essential. These leaders will invest a great deal of time asking many prospects for gifts. They will be involved in planning the campaign, writing and editing letters, thanking the donors and working with the media. ...The commitment of campaign leadership and the members’ determination to succeed will keep the team energized and help you reach the campaign goal."

A capital campaign is a drive to raise money for a specific project. In the case of land trusts, that is usually land or conservation easement acquisition, or more complex projects or collections of projects. A campaign gifts for an exceptional need. Capital campaigns should not be taken on lightly. They have lots of moving parts, require attention to detail and must be well organized. That does not mean that a small organization can’t undertake a capital campaign, however. Many volunteer land trusts successfully raise money for highprofile land projects, but they usually have a strong team of volunteers who have had experience with other capital campaigns.

Funding for an acquisition project usually requires larger gifts than for annual operation. But because annual donors already support the land trust and are most interested in seeing it succeed, many will be willing to stretch to make a larger capital campaign gift. So the best prospects for your campaign are your annual donors with whom you’ve established a strong relationship.

Though most of the revenue for a capital campaign comes from large gifts, smaller donors and other categories of supporters play a vital role. In addition to their financial support, they provide a positive campaign atmosphere in the community. The classic and prudent steps for developing a capital campaign follow.

• Project identification. Ideally, this involves applying the land trust’s project criteria to identify priority projects for acquisition. But it often happens the other way around, by applying the project criteria to assess whether a parcel immediately threatened by development meets land trust standards. The cost of the acquisition plus fundraising, administrative and stewardship costs determine the campaign goal. Some organizations roll their annual operational needs into the campaign goal so that donors are asked only once for a contribution.
• Assessment of organizational and fundraising readiness. This includes a fundraising feasibility study to assess whether there are the donors and prospects needed to raise the money required for the campaign. To find this out, ask the donors or, better yet, hire an outside consultant to ask; you will likely get more candid answers with the latter approach.
• A campaign plan. This should lay out the steps, cost and cash flow for a campaign. This is also the time to develop a formal case statement defining the campaign’s purpose. Drafting a case statement should involve all the people who will be centrally involved in the campaign. (It is assumed that the project has, by this point, a financial plan its conservation.)
• Donor Identification. Identify lead donors, many of whom should come from the board, as well as peers who are willing to ask them for gifts. Start cultivation immediately.
• The campaign gift table or pyramid. Estimate the specific number of gifts at each major level of giving with specific donors in mind. Once estimated, show the levels graphically. Normally, this looks like a pyramid, with one or two major donors giving the most at the top with bottom. Be cognizant that some donors who you project to give certain amounts will make surprise giving decisions (both good and bad). Taking some variability into account, the total estimated revenue from all the gifts at different giving levels will generate the bulk of the money raised for the campaign.
• Quiet stage of the campaign. This stage occurs before any public announcement and generally allows the organization to raise about a third to a half of its goal, usually from key major donors and all of the board members. A campaign that has strong community support can go public sooner than a campaign that must build support from scratch. Use the quiet stage of the campaign to get ready for the more chaotic public stage. Although it is highly recommended, this strategy is not always possible if the project is very visible and the community is monitoring the land trust’s efforts to save it.
• Public stage of the campaign. This is the time to solicit the general public and small and major donors; strategies to do so include events, newspaper and radio interviews, mailings, Web links, and much more. When the public announcement is made, the campaign should already have the momentum to be successful. Since people tend to rally around a winner, the momentum will stimulate greater community involvement.
• Celebration. A celebration is a great way to thank everyone and to have so much fun that even more people want to be involved to help with the next campaign.

Many books, seminars and consultants are available to help with capital campaigns. To get the most out of a consultant, clearly define his or her job. What exactly are you hiring him or her to do? Do you need guidance in how to conduct a campaign? Do you think that a person outside the organization would be better helping you plan the campaign? Do you need help with prospecting for donors or writing the case statement? Do you need extra hands-on help for the duration of the campaign? I have worked on campaigns that successfully used consultants for all those purposes, and others that did not. [Editor’s note: See sidebar on page 29 about a land trust that did not hire a consultant.]

Here are a few words of caution.

Though a campaign can energize an organization, everyone must move at lightning speed all the time. It is exhausting. It can strain relationships and disrupt daily operations. Good people may unnecessarily burn out. Everyone in the organization, including the board, should be responsible for making sure this doesn’t happen. If necessary, take a breather, go out to dinner together, take another year to complete the campaign and lower the sights. The health of the organization and its people are more important than meeting every goal exactly on time.