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Public Phase Marketing of Your Capital Campaign
Jessica Harrington, Vice President, S&W Direct

November 2007

Whether your capital campaign goal is to increase your endowment, build an exhibit or building, fund a new program or finance a 10-year master plan, the public phase should serve several purposes beyond selling naming opportunities on pavers or tiles and recognition in your organization’s annual report.

First, it should raise significant money—most often the purpose of a public phase is to complete the campaign goal. If your goal has been met, the public phase can help you exceed that goal. A public phase should also engage your organization’s constituency—donors, volunteers, employees, program participants, etc.—increasing their commitment and dedication to your cause. And, unlike the quiet phase of a campaign, the public phase can also serve to increase community awareness of your organization, its mission and its goals.

Because the public phase campaign is so important—both in terms of its fundraising potential and mounting public awareness—you must create a comprehensive plan that evaluates all of your possible touch points, cultivation strategies and outreach opportunities. This includes offering recognition and benefits at a range of public phase levels, considering back-end premiums as a way to increase response, engaging the public, promoting the campaign and looking for community partnerships to help build public exposure of the campaign.

In addition, a robust launch requires a plan of multiple contacts and communications, which are integrated into a marketing campaign that encompasses direct mail, e-mail, the web and other print materials.

In creating your public phase plan, you should first evaluate and prioritize all of your outreach methods, assess the impact of each and calculate the return on investment. The elements of your campaign might include:

Direct Mail. Direct mail continues to be the most cost-effective way to reach your donors and prospects. To build momentum, you can plan your direct mail campaign as a series of mailings—each mailing becoming more urgent in its messaging. Also, including a response deadline (such as the final day for an engraved paver or last chance to attend an exclusive pre-opening party) is one way to communicate urgency.

Because you are asking donors for a significant gift, you should create a package that reflects this increased opportunity using larger envelopes, personalization and first-class postage, as your budget permits.

Remember, this appeal is to support an extraordinary effort, something different from what your donors, or the general public, typically support. It is not an annual fund request, membership renewal or subscription package. Therefore, it may take a longer letter and/or additional package inserts for you to sufficiently and convincingly communicate your case for support.

Telemarketing. Telemarketing is one of the best ways to reach your donors with a request for a significant contribution. While direct mail is a great tool for requesting modest gifts, when your public phase is looking to secure larger gifts—especially ones that are pledged over time—telemarketing is often the best solution.

Telemarketing allows your organization (or the highly trained and informed callers on behalf of your organization) to have an extended conversation with your donors. It allows for two-way communication; this is especially important if your case is multi-faceted or you are looking to increase a donor’s commitment by asking him/her to pledge over time.

Telemarketing isn’t, however, for everyone or every organization. It should be set-up so that if it is not working—or a segment of your donor pool is not responding—it can be "disconnected" immediately to save money.

In addition, a telemarketing campaign should not be executed on its own. Telemarketing must be combined with other mediums, such as a mailing to introduce the call or to collect donations from donors who wanted to use cash or a check, but could not do so over the phone.

E-mail. Today, supplementing the direct mail proposition with two e-mail campaigns surrounding the mailing (an e-mail "sandwich") is one of the most cost-effective ways to raise response rates from a mail piece.

To make the e-blast most effective, it should mirror the message, design and feel of the direct mail package. You should work with your direct mail team to create the e-mail, which will ensure a seamless look and message. As you rollout with mail or telemarketing, you can continue to e-mail your constituents.

This e-mail outreach to in-house lists has proven to increase response. The goal is to send a pre- and post- e-mail message (where addresses are available) alerting prospects to the mailing and then reminding them to donate.

Website presence. To the extent that it is possible, your website should be branded for the campaign, including a unique banner, homepage promotion and appropriate sub pages to generate additional income and reinforce the other direct marketing touches and overall campaign.

If possible, you should create a separate donation page that, again, is branded to the campaign and uses the same design and messaging. Even more important, however, you need to create a donation page that has "ask" amounts customized to the campaign and that collects the necessary information (e.g., information for naming opportunities).

If you are using tangible recognition, such as pavers, tiles and plaques, you should not miss the opportunity to allow donors to contribute on behalf of someone else—in honor of, in memory of, as a gift, etc. Your donation page (or pages) should allow for this—and even encourage it as a way to secure multiple gifts.

Viral campaign. One of the wonderful opportunities that a public phase gives you is the ability to involve the wider community. The web is a great way to have current supporters and donors serve as "friendraisers" for you, by creating a campaign that motivates donors and supporters to pass on the message to friends and family to collect additional donations.

Supplemental marketing. Don’t miss other opportunities to promote the public phase in your magazine and/or newsletter, as additional "asks" on your acknowledgement packages, on buckslips in volunteer communications or on employee paycheck stuffers.

If your budget allows, supplementing the "direct" portion of the campaign with general advertising and awareness building is a great way to build impressions throughout your community.

To make your case for support as strong as possible, you should also address what recognition benefits you are offering during this phase and at these lower levels. Some recognition opportunities to consider include traditional recognition pavers, donor tiles, naming plaques, or in your website, newsletter or annual report. Some organizations are now using computer screens in their public venues. You should also consider what exclusive events donors can attend—whether it’s a pre-opening party, holiday event, etc.

As part of the plan, you may also want to consider back-end premiums—especially if you do not have a lot of recognition opportunities or events planned for this donor level. Some back-end premium ideas include limited edition T-shirts, tote bags, caps, campaign related books and catalogs, posters, pictures and limited-edition artwork (prints, sculptures, etc.)

Finally, you will need to consider: who is your audience? Whom should you contact for the campaign? Examples include current and past donors, current and past members or subscribers, event attendees, volunteers, employees, e-newsletter constituents, petition signers, single ticket-buyers, or donors to other local institutions. The best strategy is to list all of your potential donors, rank them by priority and assign a broad solicitation approach to them.

As your campaign gains momentum and reaches more and more people (through your direct mail, e-mails, viral campaign and general marketing and publicity), you should continue to evolve your approach as you convert the public at large to donors and supporters of your organization.

Schultz & Williams is a national consulting firm based in Philadelphia; providing management, fundraising and marketing consulting for nonprofit organizations, along with full-service direct marketing, database and creative/production services.