Fundraising 101: 10 Things You Need to Know About Capital Campaigns

The following 10 key points address issues that are essential to conducting an effective fundraising campaign.

1. Take a disciplined, realistic approach to planning
Devote the time and energy necessary to thoroughly develop a vision for the future and plan (involving key stakeholders early on) for what it will take to actualize that vision. Once those elements are defined, testing the appeal with a broader group — some who know the organization and others who are less familiar with it— to determine what resonates and which individuals will support it is invaluable. You might need to adjust your own expectations, and you might discover you need to explore a variety of funding options, including phasing.