Communicating Your Capital Campaign to the Right Audience at the Right Time
Capital campaigns are guided by process. We help nonprofits follow a proven, phased approach that capitalizes on reaching the right donor at the right stage of the campaign. Every part of the process and of the communication plan is designed to inspire the biggest gifts a donor is capable of making.
Your campaign’s case for support will provide the backbone for all your communications materials, including your campaign video, brochure, naming opportunities, newsletters and press releases.
Communicating Your Capital Campaign to Lead Individual Donors
Most lead individual donors are identified before your campaign begins. They may even have been asked for their perceptions of the organization and the campaign during the feasibility study process, as your nonprofit refined its vision and shaped its plan.
These lead donors are your initial investors looking for a solid return on their major investment (ROI). That ROI might be food security for all in their community, access to nature for kids, or a thriving arts scene. Through their involvement with your organization or participation in the feasibility study, they have become trusted partners who want to know how their investments, made through your campaign, impact the community and improve lives.
These philanthropists want to invest in your vision for tomorrow rather than your problems of today. Keep your communications focused on your potential to improve your community and advance your mission. Gifts from these trusted leaders will inspire confidence in your campaign throughout the effort.
Communicate with these lead individual donors during campaign planning and in the early, quiet phases of your campaign, before it is announced publicly. They will see your campaign video, brochure and naming opportunities during direct solicitation meetings with members of your campaign committee.
Personal communication with these donors also will come through a monthly campaign newsletter. The newsletter is specific to the campaign. It reinforces the case for support and places your vision and the ROI before them regularly with campaign stories, images and graphics. Lead individual donors who have made their gift love to see the progress being made; they may even be inspired to give again or increase a pledge. Potential donors who have not yet committed are primed for your solicitation visit or are inspired to call you directly to get involved and make a commitment.
Communicating your Capital Campaign to Corporate Donors
You also will be sharing your campaign with businesses in your community. These are organizations that look to support nonprofits that improve the lives of their employees and customers in ways that align with their business values and goals. Remember, these generous companies are comprised of people, so you’ll be looking to foster relationships and communicate on an individual level even with these corporate donors.
Communicate with corporate donors in your campaign’s early, quiet phases, and do your homework. Their representatives will be interested in learning how the campaign aligns with their philanthropic interests. Use internet research to identify what those are before reaching out. Then show how your campaign impacts the company’s employees and customers and shares the values of the brand. Inquire about the company’s giving policies: will one representative from the company champion your project among the leadership, or do you need to submit a grant application to be considered? If you can make a personal solicitation with one or two company representatives, use this opportunity to share your campaign video, brochure and naming opportunities. Then, send the monthly campaign newsletter to company leaders.
Communicating your Capital Campaign to Foundations
Foundations present excellent opportunities for capital campaign funding when your campaign and organization align with the foundation’s areas of giving. Use databases like GuideStar to research foundations efficiently and determine how your efforts match theirs. Then be ready to clearly communicate that alignment during the grant process, comprehensively addressing the specific metrics and statistics they require in your letters of interest (LOIs) or applications along with your case for support language.
If you have a previous relationship with a foundation, speak with them early in your campaign’s quiet phase about a lead gift. However, most foundations like to see that your organization has gathered significant community contributions before being approached – aim to have 50 percent of your goal raised before applying for grants.
As with companies, relationships are the driving force behind many foundation decisions. Your best success will come when you seek out or build those relationships. Your grant application or LOI will be the most important, detailed communication you share with foundations, but also send your monthly campaign newsletter to key leaders of the foundation to keep the relationship growing.
Communicating your Capital Campaign to Your Wider Community
Communicating with your entire database of donors and your community comes at the very end of your campaign, during the effort’s public phase. That phase should begin after you have raised at least 95% of your funds during the previous campaign phases. These communications will emphasize that donors are helping to complete an already successful effort and that every gift counts. You might consider featuring in your communications a respected leader in your community who has given and will inspire confidence in your campaign and organization.
Communications pieces used during this public phase of your campaign are the things many people recognize as fundraising vehicles, but which the campaign process indicates you should hold until the final push. They will invite the entire community to get behind the effort in ways that are appropriate for them personally. These will include press releases about the project and campaign, direct mail and email solicitations, a campaign page on your website with a “Donate Now” button, and materials for any event you hold for the public campaign.
Remember You are Speaking to Individuals
Above all, remember that your campaign communications should be created and presented with individual people in mind. Speak to the head and to the heart, sharing with them the facts surrounding the campaign along with the vision that drives the downstream impact. Their personal gifts play a vital role in advancing their communities; remind them of that.
If you like this article, you might like to read more about 3 Ways to Keep Your Capital Campaign Quiet.
Melissa Sais is a CampaignCounsel.org consultant and communications director.
