Dear Kevin: Our nonprofit board does not have any major gift fundraising experience, and we don’t know any wealthy people. We can’t even imagine what a capital campaign would look like for us. How is raising this amount of money possible for a board like ours?

Answer: Many nonprofits who come to us seeking capital campaign advice and expertise share your concern.

Our advice: Take deep breath and follow the process.

Capital campaigns find success by following a specific and very common process. A vital part of that process is recruiting committee members who can expand your reach to potential donors with whom you are not yet connected.

But we aren’t recruiting just anyone to our committee. We recruit from among donors who give at capacity, are well-connected to wealthy individuals, and are passionate about our vision and our project.

Potential committee members may be identified during your campaign planning study. During the study, your consultant should be taking note of interviewees who are very excited about the project and who indicate that they will give. When you progress from the study to the campaign, these individuals may be the first with whom you wish to schedule solicitations.

We always want to ensure that solicitors work in teams of two and that one of those two is a peer to the prospective donor by way of relationship and by way of giving level. A friend, colleague or relative who has given a similar amount will be the most effective solicitor. The solicitation will be more successful if you can reach this level of peer connection.

We advise our committee members making solicitations to share the vision and ask the prospective donor to do three things:

1. Be a champion for the project by speaking well of it and sharing it within their circle of family, colleagues and friends.

2. Open doors by sharing the names of or making introductions to other people who they think might like to learn about the project.

3. Make a gift or pledge of a specific amount that your research shows is in line with their capacity.

If the prospective donor is enthusiastic about all three of these, they may be a potential committee member. Once they have been solicited and have shown their enthusiasm by making a gift in line with what your research shows their capacity to be, you can invite them to join the committee. Do have their gift intention form in hand before any invitation is made.

Sometimes nonprofits want to do this in reverse order. They think, “There’s this well-connected person who’s willing and would be great. Let’s get them on our committee!”

Problems arise when you solicit this person after they have joined the committee and find that they aren’t enthusiastic enough about your project to give a personally significant gift that reflects their capacity. (By the way, everyone on your committee and board should give personally significant gifts to the campaign before you begin asking the community for its support.) If they, as a driving force behind the campaign, are not willing to give at capacity, how could they honestly encourage any of their friends, family or colleagues to?

On the other hand, say you’ve identified a potential five-figure donor who is a great community leader and was excited about the project during the feasibility study. If you solicited them and they make that expected level of gift, you can be confident they are fully bought in to your vision, your project and your campaign. They are someone you would want to put in front of other major gift donors. They are someone you would want to invite to join your committee.

In summary, building an enthusiastic camapaign committee that has financial reach and/or capacity takes time. Don’t hurry the process. Be intentional. Recruit people who have evidenced their support of your project and nonprofit through their willingness and ability to champion your organization, willingness to open doors to other major-gift ($25,000+) donors, and a gift that aligns with their giving capacity.

For more on capital campaign committees, read Assembling Your Best Campaign Committee and How to Re-energize Your Capital Campaign.

Kevin Wallace is president and partner at CampaignCounsel.org. He has more than 20 years of experience planning and managing capital campaigns.