|
|
YWCA of Northwest Louisiana
Shreveport, Louisiana
$800,000 Capital Campaign
|
|
 |
| |
|
The Dreaded
Stalled (or Even Dead) Campaign ….
Sometimes it just happens. Sometimes it’s a product of poor
planning. Many times it’s a result of poor execution or
over reaching in setting the goal. Whatever the reason,
organizations facing a “stalled campaign” face doubt,
turmoil and stress. Staff may face the loss of their job
and certainly a blow to their professional image. What
should an organization do with a “stalled campaign”?
|
This campaign
renovated the domestic violence shelter of the local
YWCA - offering women and children from abusive
households a place to start re-building their lives.
Prior to this campaign, the YWCA had conducted only
minimal fundraising through grants.
|
|
First, let’s realistically
determine if the campaign is stalled or if it is dead. Much like
putting spoiled milk back in the refrigerator hoping it will not be
spoiled in the morning, not admitting that a “stalled campaign” is
really dead is a form of delusional behavior. But, for the moment,
let’s assume the campaign is really “stalled”, and not road-kill
(getting out of dead campaigns is discussed at the end of this article).
The Stalled Campaign
First, don’t panic. Don’t call
big meetings and cry that the campaign is in danger of failing unless
someone does this or that. No one is more motivated to give to a
failing campaign than they are a campaign that is succeeding. A
campaign isn’t going to motivate people by telling them the campaign is
going to fail. It may motivate YOU, if you are a staff person and want
to keep your job, but it won’t motivate most volunteers.
Take careful stock of the reason
why the campaign is stalled. Take a quick review of key elements:
Is
the Board of Directors engaged by allocating time at meetings, by making
and following-up on appointments to THEIR friends and associates? Have
they given a gift?
Has
the campaign generated internal support from board, volunteers, staff
and others who are already familiar with the organization and its
mission?
Is
the case carefully defined? Can it be summarized in one or two simple
paragraphs? Is it compelling to the community at large, not just those
who already love the agency?
Does
the organization have a legitimate prospect base – or does it consist of
“suspects” that have no realistic connection to its mission? Go back
and look at the donor pyramid (see gift charts under major gifts on this
website) – can campaign leaders name three or four prospects for every
gift the campaign STILL needs?
Is
the fundraising plan being followed and, most important, is it still
accepted by the internal and campaign leaders?
It
may be beneficial to go back to basics and review the “Are We Ready”
segment of this website (found under pre-campaign planning). It will
help identify the major problem areas that need to be addressed.
Chances are there will be more
than one area that is weak, and most will have varying strengths and
weaknesses. Do a realistic assessment and then develop solutions where
needed. But until you know where the campaign weaknesses are, you’ll
just be guessing at how to fix the problems. Be realistic.
Generally speaking, there are
three reasons why capital campaigns stall:
- Not
enough personal visits
- Not
enough prospects
- Too many
“no’s” or low gifts
top of page
Not Enough Personal Visits
If not enough people are being
asked for a gift, then the problem is usually about campaign
leadership. Assuming the campaign has enough prospects, but visits
aren’t being made, it’s an issue either of recruiting additional leaders
– or getting the leaders to do the work they said they would.
Take
some time, some real time, at a board meeting to identify five or ten
NEW leaders the board can reach RIGHT NOW, without calling someone else
to help. Find out who the board members know personally. Review the
options for recruiting top leadership found under the “leadership”
segment of this website. Get some new blood into the campaign
leadership ranks and work with them to infuse the old leadership with
renewed excitement.
Have
a “summit meeting” of existing leadership. Don’t tell them the campaign
is “dead” or “stalled” or at risk of failing. Start with a review of
where the campaign has been, and outline where it needs to go. Then get
specific assignments from them and, most important, a timetable for when
they are going to do those things.
Sometimes it is the little things that make a difference. Change the
format of the “to-do” list that tracks what everyone has agreed to do.
Share what each leader has volunteered to do – and share it with all the
leaders (peer pressure is an amazing motivator). Simply increasing the
amount of communication can be helpful in a major gift campaign.
Look
at the public relations efforts carefully. Is the campaign being too
cautious or would it benefit from “going public” earlier than usual?
What about special campaign newsletters – are they motivating people or
have they become stale?
top of page
Too Many “No’s” or Low
Gifts
If it is more of a case of
people NOT giving, or not making decisions at all, then the first step
is to honestly evaluate WHY this is happening. This evaluation may lead
to the realization that the case is weak or that it doesn’t have the
“heavy hitters” necessary to open doors with authority or even that it
hasn’t really made the case for people to make leadership gifts. In
other words, the problem is definitely NOT with the prospects, it’s with
the campaign. Address those underlying reasons.
Here are some additional options
to consider to help encourage people to make decisions.
Do
“update visits”. Go back and visit prospects that haven’t made a
decision. Re-explain the case and how important the support of that
prospect means to the campaign.
Focus on the public relations efforts. Get the story out and create
some buzz. Speak at clubs and functions where both the campaign and the
campaign leadership can be re-invigorated
Spending weeks planning a big press conference does no good if your key
recalcitrant prospects are out of town the day the story runs. Have you
been communicating with the prospect AFTER you’ve solicited them – or
have you left them alone to “think about it”? If you haven’t been
communicating in writing, by phone, or in person with the prospect on a
weekly or bi-monthly basis, and it has been months since you asked them
to give, they aren’t “thinking about it” – they’ve forgotten about it.
Establish new lines of communication.
Not Enough Prospects
Finally, find new prospects.
Maybe your old ones just aren’t interested, or at least not interested
at this time. Look for new prospects, maybe even considering some type
of research consultant just to help you generate new names.
Any campaign needs prospects –
go look for new ones. If you can’t find any new prospects, your
campaign isn’t stalled, it died.
Don’t just focus on the one or
two top level gifts. Look for the middle range prospects, say $50,000
to $250,000, and use those prospects to generate new excitement and
interest. Sometimes campaigns get so worried about scoring that “one
big gift”, they forget about all the good work that can be done with a
few medium size gifts.
Break out the gift chart –
revamp it if necessary – and start to put different prospects into
different categories. Look for that magic three to one ratio of
prospects to donors: it takes three prospects, usually, to generate one
gift.
top of page
The Stalled Campaign –
Conclusion
If you face a truly stalled
campaign, as opposed to a dead campaign, you’ll have to HONESTLY
re-evaluate every aspect of the campaign. Rarely is there just one or
two things that are wrong. Stalled campaigns almost always have
multiple problems. Quickly identifying, and correcting them, will
un-stall a campaign faster than anything.
As important as the things you
should do are, the things you shouldn’t do are just as important. Don’t
panic and let on to everyone that the campaign is stalled. That’s not a
motivating factor. Don’t look for a quick fix – that one gift that will
fix all the problems (if it existed, you’d have found it by now). And,
most important, don’t think there is only one thing wrong. Campaigns
don’t stall and/or fail because one thing went wrong. They stall or
fail because a whole lot of things went wrong.
top of page
The Dead Campaign
Okay, let’s accept it. The
campaign has failed. Despite all the best efforts of everyone involved,
the organization just didn’t raise enough money to do everything it
wanted to do. It happens – polite company doesn’t talk about it, but,
yes, it does happen.
Now what?
First, recognize it’s dead.
JFK once said, in answer
to a question about being a hero, "well, it isn't hard when they sink
your boat". Well, your boat is sunk – accept it. How your organization
reacts will determine whether it is a hero or a goat. In the south, we
once heard a saying - "when the dog steals your biscuit, it's time to
quit sopping". Well, recognize that the dog is running away with your
biscuit and there is no value in trying to sop more gravy.
Don’t try to stretch it out and,
in turn, damage the long-term reputation of the organization. You don’t
have to publicly flog your organization in the town square either, but
it is possible to just quietly end a campaign.
It’s also important to recognize
that the organization might be ahead in the long-run NOT to exhaust all
the potential gifts once an organization recognizes success in a
specific campaign is unlikely. Leaving money on the table for a later,
perhaps more successful project, might be better than bringing potential
donors into a failed campaign.
So how does your organization
deal with it from a public relations standpoint. We’d suggest it
consider what we’ve nicknamed the “Vietnam Strategy”.
You've been stagnant for a
while, you've run through your prospect list (which includes all
identifiable foundations, corporations, government sources and
individuals) and those who are going to give have given, and there are
no more sources of funding - that says, regardless of your goal, your
campaign is over. Assuming it's not over because you haven't raised the
goal is not logical.
Remember, chances are,
most people don't remember what the goal was - just what the money would
be spent on anyway. That’s the way campaigns are. People remember what
the organization wants to do with the money, but not usually how much
money it wanted. The goal becomes the two-thousand pound gorilla for
internal leaders – but the real gorilla for the community is what gets
done with the money.
Focus on the positive -
build something – the quicker the better. Split off some part of your
building plan and get started on it. People will remember a lot longer
that you built something than they will that the organization didn’t
build everything it said it would. In fact, the day something starts to
get built will be a great catharsis for everyone focused on the failure
to reach the goal.
This isn’t, however, the
“Field of Dreams”. If you build it, they may come, but they won’t
necessarily pay for it. Don’t make the mistake of assuming great
amounts of debt hoping to pay it off when people see how great the new
building is – it just doesn’t work that way. Now, they might have a
tendency to give more later if they see something reasonable being built
now, so the effect of building something might generate more success
later. But always build what you can afford now – don’t build what you
hope to afford later.
And what of the people who have given. Simply tell everyone who has
given how grateful you are for their support and play up what part of
the case you are going to fulfill ("declare victory"). Whatever amount
you've raised, spend it on things that the donors and leaders think are
the most vital as defined by your case statement ("declare victory").
Stop talking about the goal - and emphasize how much you HAVE raised
("declare victory"), and stop talking about reaching the goal ("go
home"). Noble causes that fail are still noble. It may be best to look
to the long-term before the organization's short-term goals (this
campaign) impact your long-term goals (consistent funding in the
future).
And What of the
Consultants?
Do you change consultants
in the middle of a struggling campaign? It’s a great question, and if
you’ll go to the article titled “Switching Consultants” in the section
of the website, you’ll get some ideas on when, and how, to switch
consultants.
top of page
|
