Campaign Rules and Failures

Common Rules 1.   80/20 Rule (often 90/l0) 80% of the total raised will be given by 20% of the donors to the campaign. 2.   Rule of Thirds l/3 of the goal will be given in the top l0 gifts l/3 of the goal will be given in the next 90 gifts l/3 of the goal will be given in all other gifts 3.   The top l00 donors are key in the campaign 4.   Half-way rule Go public with a campaign after one-half of the goal has been reached. 5.   Rule of sequential solicitation. Solicit gifts in order from the largest to the smallest and from the board first, then "inner family," then "distant family," then public.   Common Failures 1.   You can't make an omelet without eggs. Campaigns don't "cost," they pay. When a board expects the staff to "just do it" without increasing the budget or adding personnel or refuses to evaluate or strengthen its own membership, the board makes clear that it does not intend to intensify its level of effort or "ownership" and that it considers the whole exercise a staff operation. 2.   "We're worthy, you're wealthy, therefore!" Money doesn't roll in, you have to plan well and ask high for significant investment. 3.   Masters of the Universe. When the campaign does not involve its primary stakeholders - trustees, staff, local residents, benefactors - in strategic planning or long-range vision, the process of fund raising is kept "quiet" in a few people's hands, so skills and ownership are not shared, and the "system" is self-limiting. 4.   Ready, fire, aim! Fund raising is 90% planning, l0% asking. When a board wants to take short-cuts - "Never mind with a feasibility study," "Don't worry about whether prospects will like the case statement, we're a worthy cause," "Why hire additional staff? - the resulting limit on planning and capacity will doom the campaign and the board will blame the staff for failure. 5.   The magic pill and the golden pot. When organizations don't systematically develop a donor base through prospecting, research, cultivation and gift upgrading, hasn't tested its trustees and best prospects with increased annual fund asks or special projects, they complain that they don't have any "major donors."   Adapted from "Failures" from Moore, "Why Capital Campaigns Fail," Fund Raising Management, Aug l988. Home Projects Strategic Planning Facilitation Work Smarter Fundraising Board Governance Clients Yellow Brick Road˙, PO Box 300, South Strafford VT 05070 USA 802 765-4743 voice ||| 802 765-4436 fax ||| anne@yellowbrickroadconsulting.com