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To access the archived articles, and other tutorials
in Grants Mentor, you must be a GrantStation member.
Collecting this information will help you develop
impressive and top-rate proposals. Make sure you keep
these files up-to-date, because using old information
can truly harm your chances of securing a grant.
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by Linda Lysakowski, ACFRE
The Campaign Plan: Structuring Your Campaign
Part Eight
Once the organization has completed the planning study and
decides to proceed with a campaign, the first step in that
process is to develop a campaign plan outlining the entire
structure of the campaign. If the organization is working
with a consultant, generally the consultant will develop the
plan. If there is no consultant involved, the organization
must allow sufficient time for staff to develop the plan.
The campaign plan is the foundation for a successful campaign
and will help the organization get things off to a good start.
The plan should include a brief overview of the process taken
by the organization that led to the campaign. A key ingredient
of the plan is the campaign organizational chart showing all
the various divisions of the campaign and the number of committee
people that will be needed to staff all the divisions. Position
descriptions for all volunteers should also be included in
the plan along with a timeline for each committee and an overall
time schedule. The campaign budget is also part of the plan.
Volunteers should not be recruited until the plan is completed.
It will be critical to show volunteers that a well thought
out plan has been developed so they understand their role
and the time and monetary expectations that will be asked
of volunteers. The principle groups of volunteers that will
be involved are members of the campaign cabinet, which includes
chairs of all the various committees that will be involved
in the campaign.
Determining the divisions that will be included in the campaign
is the first step in the plan. In every campaign there will
be a gifts division and a major gifts division, along with
a general community appeal division. Sometimes, depending
on the size of the campaign and the scale of gifts that are
needed to achieve the goal, there may be other categories
based on the size of gifts, such as special gifts. Some campaigns,
however, choose to break out the divisions by categories of
constituents and then within these divisions will be different
levels of giving. For example, a school might have a parents
division, an alumni division and a "friends of the school"
division. Or a membership organization might have a division
that will contact its members. Or, if the organization is
national in scope, there may be different divisions based
on geographic location. There is often a civic and professional
organization division that will contact local community groups
for their support. Also a foundation division is generally
in place to coordinate the approach to foundations, and a
small business division to contact businesses in the community.
In addition to the various campaign divisions that will be
directly involved in soliciting donors, there are several
other committees that will be included the campaign organizational
chart. There is generally a prospect evaluation committee,
whose task will be to identify and evaluate prospects and
assign them to the proper divisions. Most campaigns will also
have a PR committee to handle media relations for the campaign
and the development of campaign materials, however sometimes
this is done through internal staff or the PR committee of
the board. There will also be several campaign related events
such as a kickoff celebration, a groundbreaking and dedication,
and open house event, and all of these events will need volunteers.
Usually there is a main events committee on the campaign chart
and that chair will recruit different people to work on each
event. There are often cultivation events held as a part of
the campaign process, and these usually fall under the events
committee as well.
In cases where there is not a finance department or a finance
committee of the board to handle things like the campaign
budget and financing options, a special committee may need
to be established to handle this part of the campaign. Likewise,
if there isn't already a facilities committee in the organization,
a committee to handle the actual construction may be part
of the campaign cabinet.
Some organizations may have other committees as well. For
example churches and faith-based organizations will usually
have a prayer committee as part of their campaign cabinet.
Each committee that will be involved in directly soliciting
prospective donors should have its own goals within the campaign
goal. These goals should be spelled out in the campaign plan
as well as an overall scale of gifts showing how many gifts
at each level will be needed.
Other important parts of the campaign plan are gift acceptance
polices and recognition polices. It is vital to have these
in place before the campaign is launched. One of the worst
experiences for a volunteer can be to successfully solicit
a gift and then find out that the gift is not acceptable to
the organization or that the way the donor wishes to be recognized
is not in conformity with organizational policies.
Having the campaign plan in place and assuring that it is
followed will make any campaign flow smoother. Like the planning
study, it is one of the essential building blocks of a successful
campaign.
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