This article contributed by Al Boren.

Are you among the many smaller community and faith based organizations with heartfelt needs that can be met with capital funding projects IF you can only raise the money?  Well established cornerstones of successful capital/project campaign development such as a sound strategic plan, board leadership, stakeholder involvement, business sustainability, and compatible donor prospects are not always in place, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be successful!

In my experience, the best investment an organization can make for a major funding campaign readiness in today’s challenging environment is to develop a thorough vision plan as a well as executing a fund raising feasibility/assessment study. It may not produce what you want to hear, but what you need to know.    

The first step is for the organization to work with reputable fund-raising counsel to assist in discerning the vision plan, assess the findings, and undertake the necessary steps for ensuring campaign readiness. Essentials of a quality assessment/study will highlight strengths and weaknesses in the case, timing for philanthropic participation, perception of the organization, commitment of key leaders, plan for sustainability and the reception of top donor prospects.

Passion is a major driver of nearly all visions.  And, when supported by time-proven prerequisites for successful campaigns, your organization will achieve its vision at some level.

 

Al Boren is a development professional that has conducted numerous capital campaigns and feasibility studies with a successful career in the management of not for profit organizations.

The earlier, the better, is the rule to follow when involving fund-raising counsel in your new project, whatever it might be. Projects are completed by taking these four actions:

• Defining your project in writing; what, where, when, how much and whom.
• Securing all of the required funding.
• Designing the project architecturally and structurally
• Building the project with reliable construction

The two most time consuming actions are usually the fund-raising and the construction. You must allow for the time it takes to secure the gifts in a fund-raising campaign and to get sufficient payments in hand to begin construction. The construction–either new or remodeling–cannot be rushed. Chose and involve your counsel early.

Clearly Identify Your Potential for Fund-Raising

You need to identify your potential for fund-raising before your dreams for your new project get far beyond your potential to fund the project. You may have reserve funds, the ability to borrow money at an attractive rate, and the capability to raise significant dollars. How much do you have of each?

A fund-raising feasibility study early in the project will indicate ho much you can raise. This may help the architect in designing something you can afford. Then, all you need for fund-raising purposes is a site plan and ‘foot-print’ of the building to begin fund-raising. An architectural sketch might also be helpful, but you do not need complete architectural drawings. You save considerable money by not proceeding to complete architectural drawings to soon.

Types of Counsel Help

It is also important to involve fund-raising counsel early so you can decide which type of help will serve you best. The most common options are: Full- Time (on-site) resident counsel and Part-Time (periodically on-site) consultation. In the final analysis, the costs of raising funds are the same whether you use full-time resident help or periodic part-time help. The differences between the two are these:

Full-Time Resident help gives you a professional on-site full-time to guide your effort. Though a relatively intense effort is required, this process actually accomplishes the objective quickly and requires less staff time overall. More money is raised–usually significantly more–and the funds start coming in earlier. This approach works best when your constituency is well defined and fully informed.

Periodic Consultation gives you serve a few days a week or month and works best when you have a development professional on staff. The campaing takes longer, which can be an advantage when you need to build broad community awareness for your project. Out of pocket travel costs for the periodic visits do mount up and can be expensive.

Timing is Everything

Finally, early involvement of fund-raising counsel will permit you to plan the timing of your campaign correctly. Timing can be very important. Major gifts are often best sought in early fall. Churches may want to coordinate a capital fund campaign with their fall stewardship efforts.

Educational institutions may want to avoid conflicts with annual fund-raising campaigns while coordinating with major campus events. Social service agencies may have to schedule around United Way campaign or other important events. In the South and Southwest fund-raising may be most productive in the late fall to early spring. The northern portion of the country presents other issues relating to vacation schedules and winter migrations by major gift prospects.

The earlier the better is a smart move when it comes to bringing fund-raising counsel into your project planning. The nice part is that in generally costs no more to do so.