5 Questions to Ask Before Launching a Campaign

First, let’s tackle the why. Why would your nonprofit want to launch a campaign? The Cogeo team has heard all sorts of answers, but the overall reason is that the nonprofit is ready to evolve — perhaps it’s ready to expand its programs and the types of community it serves, or grow physically through a capital improvement project, or increase its annual revenue and evolve financially. If you and your team are ready to see your nonprofit onto its next phase where it can thrive and make a real impact to the people and the community it serves, then we can move on to the how. Once you’ve committed to evolving, a natural and efficient first step is to launch a development campaign. 

However, before diving in with both feet, you must first ask a crucial question: Is your nonprofit and your team ready to launch a campaign? This article provides five follow-up questions that will help you arrive at an answer.

Does your nonprofit have an authentic mission and vision?

Likely you’re thinking Of course we do! What kind of nonprofit would we be without a mission and vision?! What we encourage you to do is go back and take a look at the original words. Does the same mission and vision apply to the current goals and the long-term plan of your nonprofit?

If yes, wonderful! Otherwise, the leadership team will need to get together to discuss the future of the nonprofit and its alignment to who it serves, how it operates, and the change it’s determined to make. If these goals and this messaging are not in sync, it could ruin a campaign from the get-go. Major gift donors, corporations, and foundations need to know where their money is going and how the nonprofit will use it in the long-term.

Do you have a reliable leadership team?

Not only is it incredibly important for an evolving nonprofit to have present and reliable decision makers who can support and guide the nonprofit’s progress, but running a campaign needs manpower. While your nonprofit likely has a board of trustees, a successful campaign typically requires at least one person who can drive development efforts. Perhaps this person is a paid Director of Director or Campaign Manager. Perhaps this person is a dedicated volunteer. The person or people in charge of the campaign should have a strong affinity for the nonprofit, as well as several hours a week at minimum to dedicate to outreach and execution work.

If there is a team of one or more that has the backing of the nonprofit’s decision makers and has the will, the drive, and the time to do development work and help the nonprofit evolve, then your nonprofit is ready to launch a campaign.

Do you have the right resources?

A development campaign by definition is all about building relationships and growing your network. So, surprise surprise, having access to people who have an affinity for your nonprofit, who are well-connected and have access to others within the community, and who potentially have affluence will give your campaign a big leg-up. 

If your nonprofit has a collection of data, including a list of names and contact information, then you’re in great shape to start a campaign. While it is not absolutely necessary to have access to this information right away, it significantly helps the momentum of the campaign.

Do you have the passion, determination, and patience?

This is the most important of all. The campaign journey is full of ups and downs and if your team is lacking these traits, it will be a long and exhausting road.

Your affinity for the nonprofit needs to be coursing through your veins! An intense desire to see your nonprofit thrive combined with the unique amount of determination that a campaign requires are just a couple of the components to success. Campaigns are long, demanding, and incredibly exciting. With the right amount of patience, you’ll be able to see it all the way through.

There will be lulls and rejections, but the drive to push through the challenging days will pay off. With the right expectations and attitude, you will see big changes within your nonprofit and the community you serve.

Do you have the right development strategy and power to execute?

If you don’t have a strong development strategy and the power to execute that strategy, you are not ready to launch a development campaign. One of the worst mistakes a nonprofit can do is rush into this without first considering the nonprofit’s long-term plan and the messaging around it, making sure there are available decision-makers with the capacity to do development work, and determining if the potential to build relationships with major donors, corporations, and foundations exists. Money is left on the table every day because of flimsy strategies and a lack of follow through from the nonprofit.

Normally, if this happens and a nonprofit begins raising funds without asking this question, it’s not because the team was lazy or unwilling. Most nonprofits do not know to think about these things ahead of time or perhaps do not know how to create a development strategy.

That is where Cogeo comes in. If your nonprofit is ready to evolve and launch a development campaign, but would like guidance and support with your development strategy and the execution work it takes to make a campaign run, then chat with Cogeo. This is what we do!