Posts by Andrea Kihlstedt
Skip the Capital Campaign Public Phase? NO WAY! Here’s Why…
Our friend, Gail Perry, and her colleagues have suggested that you should eliminate the public phase of your capital campaign. Quick Recap: Quiet Phase and Public Phase Capital campaigns have traditionally been...
You Weren’t Born a Fundraiser – It Takes Practice!
The idea of practicing something gets an undeserved bad rap. I suspect it probably comes from childhood, when a parent pushed you to practice the piano or practice penmanship or practice shooting hoops. It seemed like...
Converse with Your Donors through the Amazing Power of Improvisation
Have you ever taken an improv class? I know it’s an unlikely suggestion, but if you’re in the donor relations part of fundraising, you’d learn a ton of transferable skills. Because the best conversation is always...
The Winning Formula for Capital Campaign Success: Optimism + Analysis
Is there a formula for capital campaign success? Absolutely! Whether your campaign will be successful (or not) depends on your ability to have the courage to set big goals and then temper that unbridled optimism based...
Use the Public Phase of Your Campaign to Energize Your Community
After a long and often arduous quiet phase, during which your campaign will raise 60% to 80% of your campaign goal, you will finally kick-off the public phase of your campaign. Prior to your campaign kick-off, you’ll...
Donor Discussion Guide: A Strategic Replacement for a Campaign Brochure
There it is in all its glossy glory: your campaign brochure. All shiny, colorful and artfully-designed, filled with carefully curated photos and your beautiful words. The campaign brochure can be a thing of beauty. But...
How to Announce Your Capital Campaign to the World
Ready to announce your capital campaign to the world? You might be. First, ask yourself these three questions: Can you see your campaign success right around the corner? Were your largest donors as generous as you had...
Endowment, Planned Giving, and Capital Campaigns: A Winning Combination
My heart always sinks when an executive director tells me that they want to plan an endowment campaign to raise enough money so that they don’t have to raise money ever again. It’s just wrong-headed. An Endowment...
Add a Thimble-Sized Capital Campaign to Your Fundraising Toolbox
When you think about a capital campaign, you probably imagine that it’ll take two or three years -- perhaps even more. And often it does. Once you’ve decided and honed what you are going to raise money for, then the...
Want a Complete Roadmap for Your Capital Campaign?
The Capital Campaign Toolkit gives you access to an innovative online platform that provides all the tools, templates, resources and support you need at every stage of your campaign.
