Afp2009 conference mdw tpcc rev 10-16-14

46th AFP International Conference on Fundraising

March 29 – April 1, 2009New Orleans, Louisiana

46th AFP International Conference on Fundraising

March 29 – April 1, 2009New Orleans, Louisiana

THE TRANSFORMATIONAL POWER OF CAPITAL

CAMPAIGNS

Grow and transform your organization

Michael J. David-Wilson, CFRE

Chief Executive Officer

The Arc of Atlantic County

Egg Harbor Township, NJ

46th AFP INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON FUNDRAISING — www.afpnet.org

Grow and Transform Your Organization

Successful capital campaigns provide a unique sense of urgency and can be consciously used to transform boards, institutions, fundraising staff, donors, and public perception.


Grow and Transform Your Organization

Elements of the campaign case tend relate to the very core of the organization’s mission and resonate with your leaders and constituents.

Success in reaching or exceeding a campaign goal is clearly something positive for all concerned.


Establishing a Sense of Urgency

Determine the impact and scope of your organization’s programmatic element:

•How many clients, patients or students with valid need were unable to receive assistance due to insufficient resources?


Rising Costs and Decreased Buying Power

How has the cost of service, treatment or tuition continued to rise in recent years?

Do your established endowed scholarship funds buy less of a percentage of tuition every year?


Increasing Constituent Financial Responsibility

Because the performance of the economy is in decline and the cost of living, fuel, medical care, food, taxes and fees have increased, will the gap between what students can contribute toward their tuition or what clients can contribute to their cost of care get ever wider?


Establishing a Sense of Urgency

Finally, in an environment where public and / or private funding, bank loans and lines of credit are harder to secure and more people are loosing their jobs and medical benefits, how will this impact your organization, its mission and its constituents?


Urgent Need Requires Timely Action

Use the “F” and “L” words…

Your board and executive leadership have the fiduciary and legal responsibility to ensure the advancement of your organization’s mission.


Transforming Your Leadership

How to transform your existing Board and leaders into a more informed, committed and financially engaged team.


Create a Cheerleading Squad!

Identify and cultivate your volunteers and members of your leadership team who are most enthusiastic and committed to undertaking a campaign.


Cultivate Your Cheerleaders

Schedule lunch meetings with these key volunteers and leaders and brainstorm with them.

Make each person feel like an insider whose input is important to the future of the organization.


Discover What Motivates Your Cheerleaders?

Remember each of these key leaders is a future campaign contributor… You can learn much about what motivates them over lunch.


Form a Coalition Among Your Cheerleaders

Presumably your Officers and Trustees are among your most enthusiastic cheerleaders.

Create the conditions whereby it is clear that they all agree a capital campaign is necessary and planning needs to begin.


Dream The “Impossible” Dream!

Dreams are powerful! Visualize the best possible outcomes for your institution, its leaders, its constituents, its donors, its alumni, its fundraising staff, and its public perception.


If Necessary, Engage Them In “Dream Therapy”!

If your cheerleaders aren’t dreaming big enough, share your biggest dreams of what could be achieved. Big dreams appeal to what is best and most creative part of our nature.


Characteristics Of An Effective Vision

Imaginable: Conveys what the future will look like

Desirable: Appeals to the long term interests of all

Feasible: Comprises realistic attainable goals

Focused: Is clear enough to provide guidance in decision making

Flexible: Is general enough to allow individual initiative and alternative responses in light of changing conditions

Communicable: Is easy to communicate; can be successfully explained within five minutes

Kotter, John. Leading Change. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1996.


Transforming Your Organization…

How to transform your organization, infrastructure and capacity.


Create A Well Thought Out Plan!

If a strategic plan is not in place, start the strategic planning process. Outline the goals, initiatives, timing, responsible parties, resources needed and actions or outcomes required to accomplish a successful campaign.


Create A Realistic Financial Plan

Determine what resources are needed.

Be realistic and anticipate actual expenses will be higher than initially projected.

Project realistic fundraising and investment achievements.


Make Sure To Get The Campaign Budget You Need!

Make sure you budget sufficient funds to retain qualified campaign counsel, expand fundraising and support staff to an appropriate level, and make infrastructure and technology upgrades necessary to provide the capacity needed to be successful.


Transforming Your Fundraising Team And Capacity

How to secure support and financial commitment to ensure appropriate staffing and capacity for a successful campaign.


Communicate The Vision And Plan

Identify the volunteers or leaders who can most enthusiastically and effectively communicate the vision and plan.

Make it clear that the vision is attainable and that the plan has no downside.


Transform And Engage Potential Critics

Be prepared for critics. Identify the likely suspects. Have someone they respect and admire meet with them in advance to address their objections and gain their support.


Present A Realistic Budget

It costs money to raise money. A campaign cannot succeed with less financial support than is required.

No one wants to be associated with a failure. Campaign expenses are an investment in the future.


Get The Vision, Plan and Budget Approved.

If you and your volunteers have prepared well, a unanimous vote of approval is possible.

Unanimous approval will encourage personal ownership and responsibility for the success of the strategic plan and any future campaign which is a part of it.


Establish Clear Expectations For Your Leadership

If your board does not have written expectations for Officers, Trustees and Directors, establish one now.

Be sure to include the expectation that all leaders make a financial commitment to any campaign which they authorize.


Get it in writing!

Have each member of your board read and sign a statement agreeing to fulfill all expectations in the document.

Put a copy of this document in their file in case they ever need a reminder.


Start Campaign Preparation

Form your campaign cabinet with your most capable and committed volunteers.

Recruit a Campaign Chair or Co-Chairs

Recruit Honorary an Campaign Chair or Co-Chairs

Recruit and retain campaign counsel

Develop a draft case for support

Start the feasibility study to test your case and determine whether sufficient support is available to meet your campaign goal at this time.


Be Sure All Voices Are Heard

All potential campaign funding priorities recommended by your insiders, key leaders and “vocal minorities” need to be studied.

A thoughtful feasibility study will establish data supporting which proposed funding priorities have sufficient donor interest.


Prepare, Review and Refine The Study Report

Campaign Counsel should prepare and present a draft feasibility study report.

Based on the findings of your study, advice of counsel and internal insights, further clarifications or final adjustments might be required before presentation.


Establish Financial And Other Goals For The Campaign

The cabinet should vote to recommend a specific fundraising goal, other critical non-monetary outcomes to be attained and a clear timeline for the campaign.


Campaign Counsel Presents Final Report to Board

The Chair / Co-Chairs of your Campaign Cabinet or Board Chair should entertain motions to:

1) accept the study findings,

2) approve a resolution to implement the campaign, and

3) accept the recommended case for support, fundraising and other goals and timeline recommended.


Transforming your donors into major gifts donors

How to raise giving expectations and establish a culture of major giving.


Giving Begins At Home

Your board members need to understand how important 100% personal / business participation is.

Make it clear that each volunteer is expected to make their own major gift before they begin to solicit.


Lead By Example

100% internal participation establishes credibility with individuals, corporations and foundations invited to participate.

Your first solicitations will be with donors most capable of making leadership or major gifts. Why should they give big if the board solicitor or full board hasn’t given?


Work As Solicitation Teams

Train every volunteer in the art of team gift solicitation. Role play with volunteer and staff solicitors working together.

Provide all pertinent background information on the donor, what motivates them, what the gift would be used for and what the exact gift request will be.


Stack The Deck For Success

Communicate before the solicitation to confirm time, date, place and determine who will do what.

Schedule calls with donors most likely to make commitments. Early successes increase volunteer confidence and willingness to solicit again.


Be Prepared To Make The Ask

The staff solicitor should always be ready to make the ask in case the volunteer loses their nerve.


The Ask Is A Special Opportunity

Volunteers are helping match donors whose philanthropic interests are consistent with your mission and case for support with an exciting opportunity.

Remind volunteers that they are not asking for money for themselves.


Don’t Discount Questionable Prospect Leads

We periodically hear of some unassuming neighbor who dies and leaves millions of dollars to a charity.

See if you can identify any of them in your catchment area; especially those with a strong connection to your institution.


Celebrate Every Success

Communicate results of successful calls; especially leadership and major gifts with all your insiders.

Build up some friendly competition: Recognize the volunteer who made the most donor visits, raised the most money, identified the most prospects, etc…


Stay On Top Of Your Timeline

If yours is a two year campaign, make sure you are at half the goal by the end of the first year.

Solicitations need to continue regularly from the very beginning in order to meet the final goal.

Do everything you can do to end the campaign strong and right on time.


Challenge Gifts Are Powerful!

Challenge gifts provide a increased sense of urgency. Their limited timeline requires action on the part of donors and real time commitment from members of solicitation teams and general fundraising staff.

They are particularly helpful tools to close your campaign and go over goal!


Transform Public Perception and Awareness

How to transform public perception and awareness of your organization and its mission.


Share The News of Your Success

Let the whole world know you have met or exceeded your campaign goal.

Invite every campaign supporter, great and small, to your victory celebration.

Make sure the print, radio and television media covers your Victory Celebration or receives press releases.


Analyze Your Success

Prepare a thorough analysis of your campaign experience, report findings to your Campaign Cabinet and interpret the results.

Present the unvarnished facts to your Board of Directors and leaders. This is a great teachable moment as they will be particularly receptive to what you have to say after a success.


Start Planning Your Next Campaign Reinforce that the transformations that have

occurred during the campaign are the new norm.

Turn your new donors into repeat annual donors. When your next campaign comes along, some of them will be ready to make significant gifts.

Cultivate your new major donors so they will be ready to make larger gifts to your next campaign.


In Summary

I’ve demonstrated how you can use your first capital campaign to create a unique sense of urgency, transform your board and leadership, your institution, your fundraising staff / capacity, your donors, and your organization’s public perception and awareness.


Keep the Transformation Going!

Start planning

your first or

next campaign.

Make it a truly

transformational

experience!



Contact Information:

Michael J. David-Wilson, CFREChief Executive Officer


6550 Delilah Rd., Suite 101

Egg Harbor Township, NJ 08234

Phone Number: 609-454-7857 X 140

Email Address: [email protected]

Website Address: www.arcatlantic.org

Afp2009 conference mdw tpcc rev 10-16-14

Presentations & Public Speaking

Transcript of Afp2009 conference mdw tpcc rev 10-16-14