Moving Beyond Your Capital Campaign’s Success
Congratulations on the success of your recent capital campaign! You did it! Amazing!
So then…what’s next?
After the well-deserved breather is complete, how will you (and your Board) make maximum use of that remarkable accomplishment to help move your organization to the next level of revenue generation and community impact?
Everyone deserves a well-earned rest, right? Yes, but defaulting back to your pre-campaign operation virtually guarantees a squandered opportunity to build long-term sustainability and revenue growth.
Charities often “cycle down” after a campaign. Staffing complements get downsized, campaign volunteers migrate away to other causes or activities, and donors get left alone while they wrap up their campaign pledges (“we don’t want to over-ask!”).
After a campaign, decisions about resources and operational priorities derive from a well-intentioned sense of responsibility and accountability, and the desire to “right-size” the operation when annual raised revenue is not getting the lift of a capital campaign’s early years.
But a campaign’s success is its own (major) gift! You have already done the hard work by expanding your organization’s reach, profile, credibility, and donor pool. Avoiding the relentless feast/famine of capital campaign cycles requires that your organization re-align itself in really smart ways as soon as the victory celebration’s confetti gets swept away.
Here’s why:
So as you transition from the success of your capital campaign, and start thinking about what’s next, first get the key players together and ask the most important questions.
Do current operations align with our strategic vision and plan, so that every operational focus moves us toward our long-term revenue and impact goals?
What is needed to make our donors and friends a top priority?
How do we continue to involve our donors in the life and work of our organization?
What purposeful new roles can we create to engage volunteers?
Where can we capitalize on our visibility to broaden our reach?
What relationships and partnerships will be essential to reaching the next level?
How do we keep people interested?
The answers will help illuminate your operational and resource needs, and help ensure you avoid post-campaign drift. As ever, the keys are engagement, sustained momentum, a clear vision and purpose-driven growth.
about author
Seeing around corners for charities and non profits for over 34 years.
