Constructing a Building Campaign
A strong rationale for support and a thorough Feasibility Study are key
You’ve worked hard and watched with pride as your organization’s programs have grown over the years to meet the needs of your members and community. You’ve added the necessary staff to meet those needs and suddenly the once sufficient space you occupy is sorely inadequate. Something has to give and fortunately your organization enjoys a good reputation. Time for a building campaign, right?
Maybe not. The need that is so evident to you might not be to others, especially if they can’t connect the quality of your services to your physical space. On the other hand, a capital campaign can not only secure the funds you need to make facility improvements. A building campaign should also allow you to bundle together other new and/or expanded program needs that will allow your organization to meet multiple unmeet community needs, opportunities and even threats (that you’d tackle, if only you had the funding). Other benefits from running a big, bold campaign include a greater awareness of your organization and its mission, goals and objectives, community pride, as well as strengthening the commitment from staff, volunteers and community leaders, and a renewed energy for serving your constituents.
Starting a capital campaign from scratch is an enormous undertaking that requires careful planning and a commitment of time, effort and resources. To determine whether to take on this challenge, the organization needs to decide whether it needs a campaign, and if so for what exactly (just a building, or a building AND programs bundled together) and how much money it needs to raise for each program element as well as the building itself. This information becomes a document we at STELLAR call a “Strategic Action Plan” and it often takes shape as big-picture, talking-point outline and budget of what you plan to include in your overall campaign effort.
Once an organization has a Strategic Action Plan, the next step is to hire a fund-raising campaign consultant to do a feasibility study.
A feasibility study is an extensive, formal evaluation used to determine whether your group is logistically ready to undertake a capital campaign. It involves 70-100 confidential in-person interviews with potential top investors, community leaders from both the public and private sectors to learn about their possible interest in supporting the project and their overall perception of the organization, and lots of other useful information. Chamber and ED executives who have run capital campaigns say that a feasibility study is well worth the money and find it advantageous to hire a consultant for the objective, third party, outside perspective they bring to the task. Moreover, area leaders will be very candid when assured of confidentiality and speaking to an outsider with no hidden agenda.
An experienced fund-raising consultant should know exactly how to help position the campaign in a way that clearly ties the need for new space to addressing overall community needs. Investors are often adverse to funding bricks and mortar campaigns for chambers and economic development organizations. They may be perfectly content to let you continue operating out of the old hardware store that's now empty downtown unless the plan is accompanied by bold new strategic initiatives, action steps, measurable goals and a clear and compelling ROI that shows them “what’s in it for my business”.
While conducting feasibility interviews for STELLAR clients, potential investors will often ask us things like, "will a brand new expensive chamber building give me any more chamber of commerce?" or as another interviewee once told me “The EDC wants me to pay for a new building; let them rent the old Firestone Tire Store downtown that’s been sitting vacant for years!” That’s why it is important to remember that the focus of the campaign should not be on the building but rather, on the benefits to the community that this facility will provide through expanded, increased or more efficient programming. Bundling the building with program needs is key to success. The program needs should pull support for a building, not vice versa!
Size, amenities and location are key considerations in a building campaign. You may be offered free land out by the interstate, but investors may want you to stay downtown, even if you have to purchase the land or space! You must also be sure the space can be expanded in 5, 10 or 15 years as the organization grows. The feasibility study will help to answer many of these questions and determine which choices provide the highest levels of consensus and support.
When considering a campaign goal, organizations need to remember that a larger facility will almost always involve increased operating expenses. The campaign goal should include all known expenses associated with the facility but not be based solely on your estimates. The potential that can be raised is the most important governing factor in goal setting and will be determined from the feasibility study. A study should also uncover "naming" opportunities for rooms, offices and other space that can provide additional funding avenues by tapping into marketing and advertising budgets as opposed to only charitable ones. This is also true for Workforce development strategies; because there are many organizations and Foundations that only give to educational programs.
A campaign is an exciting and pivotal event in the life of an organization and shows real leadership community-wide. The launch of a comprehensive campaign is evidence that your organization is not just “getting ready to get ready” but rather, acting progressively on its plans to improve and accelerate services for addressing critical community needs. Should you decide to move forward, be sure to consult an objective third party like STELLAR to help you position the need properly and conduct the feasibility study. As long as you are able to demonstrate that the building will allow for new services that will make the community more prosperous and improve the quality of life in some tangible, measurable way, I know a campaign can help you attain your goals while increasing knowledge and enthusiasm for your organization it's mission and vision. So please always remember; MAKE NO SMALL PLANS!
Written by:
Terry Cusack
Founder and CEO
STELLAR Fundraising Executives, Inc.
www.stellarfundraising.com
If you would like additional information, or a free STELLAR info kit email us at info@stellarfundraising.com
