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Once A Year Every Year  An annual campaign is best described as a campaign conducted each
and every year for the purpose of raising money to assist in paying a
non-profit organization's regular, ongoing expenses. The money it raises is
most commonly used to offset an operational deficit, but it can be applied to
any purpose. The annual campaign is usually an organization's primary source of
unrestricted contributed income and should be a mainstay of its fund-raising
efforts.The goals of any annual campaign ought to include:
Every non-profit organization with a need to raise contributed
income should have an annual campaign which it conducts every year.Use the chart below to help estimate an obtainable goal. For each
source of annual fund income, list the previous year's achievement, identify
what portion of that income will not be repeatable, and estimate expected new
gifts and increases. From this information you should be able to project the
total amount of contributions that can be realistically achieved.Annual Fund Campaign Evaluation And Goal
Executing a well-conceived annual campaign allows an
organization to build a predictable base of support and provides a pool of
proven donors for other fund-raising efforts. The vast majority of individual
donors give their first contribution to an organization through its annual
campaign. Repeat contributors to annual campaigns become an identified group of
loyal and established givers --- a constituency. Their record of contribution
shows a care and concern for the organization that makes them prime prospects
for capital and endowment campaigns.No matter what
other fund-raising efforts are being planned for a given year, the annual
campaign must go on. I have often had to convince people that an annual
campaign can be successfully run in tandem with a campaign for a special
purpose, such as endowment or capital. Their rationale for wanting to abandon
the annual campaign is that the organization does not have the resources to
conduct simultaneous campaigns. They also believe that supporters will not give
to more than one fund-raising effort in the same year.If an
organization truly does not have the resources to conduct both an annual and a
special-purpose campaign within the same 12-month period, it should not cancel
the annual campaign. Rather, the fund-raising resources --- for the most part,
the base of volunteers --- should be enlarged so that both campaigns can be
conducted. In fact, the need to run two campaigns can be the impetus for making
a much-needed expansion in an organization's base of volunteers. In my 20 years
with the Cleveland Orchestra, we ran endowment or capital campaigns a number of
times, without ever shutting down the annual campaign, and the collective
amount given to the annual campaign by those who also contributed to an
endowment or capital campaign always increased.An annual campaign is a
broad-based fund-raising effort directed at a large number of prospective
donors. Both the overall goal and the average gift are usually far smaller than
those in an endowment or capital campaign. Similarly, an annual campaign should
be considerably shorter in duration than either capital or endowment efforts.
The usual length is from several weeks to several months, but be prepared for
the fact that annual campaigns almost always take longer than planned. An
annual campaign relies upon a great many solicitors, and those solicitors will
not all operate at optimum efficiency. They have other commitments, and the
people they are trying to reach are not always available on the first try.
Realistically, from the time solicitors start contacting prospects to close of
effort, I like to see an annual campaign last no more than about six weeks.Because of its broad-based nature, an annual campaign cannot rely
upon individually rating prospects as strongly as do capital and endowment
campaigns. Annual campaigns can have hundreds, thousands, even tens of
thousands of potential donors. You rate and evaluate as many of those prospects
as you can. At the Cleveland Orchestra, volunteer groups, such as our Women's
Committee, were asked to go over the list of subscribers who were non-donors.
Those subscribers whom someone could recommend as being able to contribute a
specific amount were solicited for that amount. Subscribers for whom we had no
information other than where they lived or the cost of their seats in our
concert hall would be put down for an arbitrary, but we hoped realistic,
suggested giving level.Failing to suggest a specific gift
size is the most common mistake made in annual campaigns. I know of
organizations that have sent letters to former donors asking them to "
........... renew your gift at last year's level," without even telling the
donors what they gave last year. How will those donors know what to do? The one
thing they can surmise from such a request is that the organization must have
raised plenty of money last year since it isn't asking for more this year.
Always ask for more each year. Your expenses are going up; you need to raise
more money. Failing to target an amount --- an increased amount --- is the
single most devastating mistake made in an annual campaign.To
increase a donor's contribution to an annual campaign, one of the most useful
tools is the creation of a membership program. Donors giving at a certain level
to the annual fund receive the appellation of Friend of (organization name).
The title can be inflated at specified giving levels by having categories of
friends such as Contributing Friend, Supporting Friend, and Sustaining Friend.
For very large gifts you can create distinct categories such as Benefactors
League, Founders Society, and President's Circle. The idea here is to
appropriately recognize donors for their generosity. You should always print
their names under the appropriate membership category in your annual report and
other media. Perhaps you even place the names of those in the highest
categories on a wall in your building. This much-appreciated public thank-you
exerts a little subtle peer group pressure on donors to give at a level that
meets their capability, and attracts and compels others to want their names
listed as well. Depending on the type of organization, it is even
possible to offer "benefits" of membership, which increase at each level.
Performing arts and other cultural organizations have obvious benefits they can
offer, such as tickets to performances and events, but it may require some
creative thinking on the part of social service organizations to come up with
"perks." One way might be to have a corporation sponsor your membership program
and provide benefits. However, remember that membership benefits should not be
the primary reason someone gives to your annual fund. If they are, then your
membership program is actually a marketing program through which you are
selling something for the money you receive.Membership programs
that sell are appropriate for some organizations: for instance, museums which
charge admission, but waive that charge for members. However, to my way of
thinking, such membership fees are really earned income, and as such should be
the province of an organization's marketing department. People who join these
kinds of membership programs have more in common with season ticket holders of
a performing arts organization than with donors to that performing arts
organization's annual campaigns. Such members would, of course, be fine
prospective donors for the annual campaign.There are two good
reasons for establishing a non-marketing membership program. Having memberships
at different giving levels provides an organization with a status to associate
with a suggested donation to the annual fund, and this is sometimes persuasive
to prospects. However, the greatest value is that they bolster the solicitor.
Memberships are a sales tool that the volunteer solicitor can use for support
when making a presentation to a prospect. They help the solicitor feel good
about asking at a suggested level, and that means an organization is more
likely to achieve its goal for the annual fund.The goal --- the money
that needs to be raised --- is always the primary reason for an annual
campaign. However, there are secondary positive results. An annual campaign
raises the public profile of an organization. It offers a number of
opportunities to issue press releases with a real news hook --- goal
announcement, campaign kickoff, steps in reaching goal, entering the
homestretch, goal reached, volunteers and donors thanked. Annual campaigns give
an organization an ongoing way to "exercise" its fund-raising muscles. If there
is a strong base of volunteer fund-raisers in place, then capital or endowment
campaigns have a foundation upon which to build.Those are my views on the subject. What are yours? I welcome your comments and suggestions: tony@raise-funds.com Note: Additional resources to help you develop a successful annual fund campaign for your organization are available through my "Fund-Raising Forum" articles on my website which you can access from the Fund-Raising Forum Library page: http://www.raise-funds.com/library.html
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