Breathe Life Into Your Next
Major Donor Campaign:
How to Balance Emotion with Facts
for a Successful Capital, Endowment,
or Annual Campaign
You’ve worked with a top-notch fundraising consultant. Your feasibility study showed your
donors open and interested in your capital campaign plans. You’re ready to launch the quiet
phase of your campaign with your most important major donors. But when you do, your case
for support falls flat—and no one is sure why.
A good case balances reason with emotion, with the right amount of energy thrown in for
good measure. In this paper we’ll show you how to create a quiet or public-phase case that
has all the right ingredients. You’ll learn why stating the need alone won’t ensure campaign
support, and how to use emotion to draw your donors into an appeal that’s irresistible.
For a good case you’ll need:
1. A clear and deep understanding of your audiences
2. A case that successfully uses this formula: Urgency + Emotion + Rationale
3. A compelling theme
4. A clearly defined personality for your campaign, that complements your organization
COPYRIGHT ©2014, MISSION MINDED, INC.
1. Meet Your Target Audiences
First, you need to develop a sound communications strategy based
on your target audiences. Who are you going to ask for money, and
what do they care about?
Develop a list of the 3-5 different kinds of people you will be targeting for your campaign.
For example, an independent high school might have 3 targets for its campaign: current
parents of students who attend the school, past parents whose children graduated from the
school, and grandparents of current students. A ballet company might have 4: major donors
who supported the last campaign, major donors who have only given an annual gift, subscribers
who have also made modest donations, and subscribers who have never made a donation.
Remember to consider your donors not as a collective group, but as individual people.
Get to know them. We counsel our clients to create a character representative of one person
in each category. Articulate what you love about them and, as importantly, what they love
about you.
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www.mission-minded.com
It’s a valuable exercise that will make
your case stronger when you write for
these specific individuals and not a
generic group. Ask yourself:
• What is your character’s
name, age, gender, occupation,
family structure?
• What are her interests,
habits, hobbies, and pastimes?
• Who influences her?
• Where does she go
for information?
• What does she care about?
• How does she dress and where
does she shop for clothes?
• What kind of car does she
drive? Or is she loyal to
public transportation?
• What is her relationship
or potential relationship
to your organization?
• How will she feel about herself
after giving to your campaign?
Here’s a character, Adelaide
Baxter, we helped one of our clients,
a performing arts organization, create
for its capital campaign:
Mrs. Baxter is a force around
town. She’s a passionate
patron of the arts and a
consultant to many cultural
organizations. Her hourly rate
is reasonable; she doesn’t
consult for money. Mrs. Baxter is from a well-to-do
family and as her best friend would say, “The first
time around, Addie married well and divorced
better. It was his loss—twenty years later she’s
still a knockout, stepping out of her hybrid Lexus.”
Widowed recently, Mrs. Baxter is a single parent to
two children, both in college. She takes her iPad
everywhere and uses it to keep up with New York
Times and the New Yorker. She is more interested
in impact than she is in recognition. Her relationship
with us to date has been minimal, but she’s always
interested in helping an organization that’s not (yet)
top dog, so we’re one group she’s got her eye on.
Imagine writing your case for Mrs. Baxter instead of
“major donors with capacity.” Can you tell reading her
profile how much better your case will be? Creating a
detailed profile allows you to hone in on exactly what
your most important audience members want to
hear, paving the way for a case that inspires giving.
COPYRIGHT ©2014, MISSION MINDED, INC.
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2. Calculate Your Case Formula
Urgency is required for a successful campaign, but showcasing it is tricky. Urgency
shows the donor why the money is needed now. Donors give to solve problems
or create opportunities. Without an urgent need, the drive to give will be minimal.
However, a sky-is-falling ask could make you appear unsteady.
To ensure your case moves people to donate, it should follow this equation:
Urgency
+
Why now? What’s
the distinct need
that’s rallying
you to conduct
a campaign?
Emotion
Why should I care?
What emotion exists
within your audience
members that you
can tap into?
+
Rationale
=
A Great
Case for
Support
What’s the logic
behind my efforts?
What’s the reason
to believe in
my campaign?
Not sure how to make your case urgent? Try this exercise we share with our clients:
Write down the answer to this question 10 times:
If we don’t reach our campaign goal _____________________ will happen.
Now answer this question 10 times:
When we do reach our campaign goal _____________________ will happen.
If you’re like many of our clients, you found that the first few answers weren’t as illuminating
as the later ones. Take this exercise to your next campaign meeting and ask everyone to try it.
Share your insights and make a note of them. You’ll use these later when you start writing.
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COPYRIGHT ©2014, MISSION MINDED, INC.
www.mission-minded.com
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IT TAKES VISION, courage and leadership to grow an organization as effective
and successful as the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center. And it takes people like you—people
who believe that members of the LGBT community have a fundamental right to be
healthy, equal and complete members of our society—to build our movement. Together,
we dream of a future when all can find a supportive place to call home.
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The Center has never been a place simply to dream. Since 1969, we’ve been at
the vanguard of the LGBT movement, developing innovative and groundbreaking
programs and services. Now we have the once-in-a-lifetime chance to create a
campus-like community with critical services, affordable housing and much more—all
adjacent to The Village at Ed Gould Plaza. We’re building an unrivaled facility and
approach to care for our most vulnerable youth and seniors.
8
THE NEED IS GREAT. THE TIME IS NOW.
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Make our shared dream La.A
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by supporting this campaign.
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Examples here are
opportunities to upgrade
facilities, a challenge grant,
an institutional milestone tied
to the end of an ambitious
strategic plan, etc.
A Great Case for Support: Case Study
Emotion
When the Los Angeles LGBT Center (formerly the LA
Gay & Lesbian Center) had the chance to buy a building
next to its existing campus to enhance services to its
community the urgency was clear: Buy the building now
before someone else does, or we lose it forever. Not all
instances will be so clear, but if you can identify the
urgency and—even better—tie it to the values of your
organization, you’ll be well-positioned to grab the interest
of your community members and stimulate giving.
Examples here are supporting
those who have been
marginalized, or giving donors
peace of mind that the
institution they love will be
there for their grandchildren.
Once you’ve established the urgent need your campaign
seeks to address, beware of crowding your case with
too much technical information. Most cases, especially
capital and endowment, err on the side of being too
rational. Nonprofits reason that their most important
donors to a campaign are likely to be people who are
already close to their work. These donors know the
struggles and they understand the needs and opportunities
a successful campaign will address. So the case gets
right to the point: here’s why we need the money and
here’s what we’ll do with it. But that’s a mistake.
Rationale
Examples here are due
diligence, costs, etc. For the
Los Angeles LGBT Center,
a point of rationale was
that they had successfully
completed capital campaigns
of a similar magnitude in the
past, with great benefits to
those they serve.
COPYRIGHT ©2014, MISSION MINDED, INC.
5
3. Develop a Great Campaign Theme
Why do you need a campaign theme? In a word, focus. Distilling the campaign
into a core idea allows donors to quickly understand its merit. What are the key
traits of a compelling campaign theme? We work with our clients to develop one
that meets as many of these criteria as possible:
Be easy to say
Engage the reader
If the theme sounds like it’s all about you, switch
it up to be all about the donor and/or your
beneficiaries that your donors care about. Involving
the donor right away so he sees himself as part
of the story is a must. There are many ways to do
this. One of them is to use a command (Heart of
The Redwoods Campaign: Save the Forest for the
Trees, Peninsula Open Space). By telling people
what to do, the donor sees right away how she
can be part of it.
You want your campaign
to be talked about. And
with excitement. If it’s too
long, too academic, or too
literal, that won’t happen.
Building Brilliance is the
theme for Crystal Springs
Uplands School’s campaign.
The play on words (Crystal
and Brilliance) plus the
alliteration makes this
not only easy to say, but
memorable, too.
Building Brilliance
C R Y S TA L
Bu
CR
SH
SHINE BRIGHTER
Bu
CR
SH
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COPYRIGHT ©2014, MISSION MINDED, INC.
www.mission-minded.com
4
5
Be easy to understand
WHY
PERFORMING ARTS
WORKSHOP
U HELP
YOA
N
Whether they learn in school or during
out-of-school time, children need to develop
problem-solving skills in order to succeed in
the 21st century. Our programs help students
whom others refer to as at-risk develop
critical thinking, creative expression, and
basic learning skills through the arts. Students
gain problem-solving abilities through
improvisational acting, creative movement,
music, and writing exercises led by Performing
Arts Workshop artists.
COVIDE YOUTNHGE PE
OPLE
PR
?
Challenging performing arts exercises
present valuable opportunities for youth to
rehearse important life skills. For example,
when a young adult who has had trouble with
the law acts out a scene on stage, she may
learn new ways of resolving conflicts, giving
and responding to constructive criticism,
and interacting across gender and racial
differences. Youth who participate in programs
like those run by Performing Arts Workshop
during and after school are less likely to exhibit
delinquent behavior and less likely to have
trouble with the law.
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Study after study shows that the arts:
• IMPROVE academic performance, problem-solving skills, creativity, and self-expression
• BUILD self-confidence and understanding of others
ASSIST
TBOOST
•
•
DE
in rehabilitating at-risk youth and juvenile offenders
AND
school attendance
• ENHANCE overall neurological development
Performing Arts Workshop has an effective and tested program that solves many of society’s
biggest problems in regards to youth. The goals of our programming are to improve a child’s
ability to think creatively and build better citizens for the 21st century. Performing Arts Workshop
also helps youth with physical, mental, emotional, and learning disabilities improve verbal and
non-verbal communication, coordination, and social skills.
Be direct and get to the point. Avoid
jargon and use language that sounds like
people really talk: Give Young People
the Education They Need and Deserve,
Performing Arts Workshop.
ARTS
ARE CRITICAL
“THE
NOT ONLY AS A LINK
TO STUDENT PRODUCTIVITY
BUT ALSO AS A KEY TO A
COMPETITIVE WORKFORCE.”
GOVERNOR MIKE HUCKABEE OF ARKANSAS
Use visual language
When a donor gets a picture in her mind
from your theme she’s more likely to feel
emotionally connected: Inspiring Hearts &
Minds to Lead conjures up the classroom
and campus at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Day
School, and invites the donor to imagine
bringing out the very best in its students.
Confident Leaders Start Here
O
•
•
Imagine…your fourth grader is having
first basketball game in the new gym in
Charles House connect our
her best year ever. Being a fourth grader
St. Matthew’s Hall.
Another excitement in fourth grade
youngest children with nature
at St. Matthew’s means taking on a bigger
and with one another
leadership role—especially with the younger
is that rehearsals are beginning for the
students. She loves to spend time with her
fourth grade play. The improvements to
Modest enrollment growth
pre-kindergarten buddy. At Christmas the
our theater in Julia Beylard Hall make
means more “potential
fourth graders helped with the pageant.
your child feel like a real star—it’s better
Today there is a special opportunity; her
than having to share space with the P.E.
best friends”
•
ur campus enhancements will make a significant change in the life of each
and every St. Matthew’s student. Just imagine a day like this for your child:
New outdoor play spaces at
On-campus athletics mean a
richer program that is more
convenient for players,
parents and fans
class will join the preschoolers at the new
classes on rainy days. You are amazed at
Early Childhood Center at Charles House
her growth. In addition, enrolling more
and help the teachers with an outdoor
students has added some new friends to her
science lesson. They will be planting
class. Your child has blossomed in her time
vegetables with the pre-kindergarteners in
at St. Matthew’s and she looks forward to
the beautiful new gardens. This afternoon,
Middle School, excited about the challenge
her Pre-K friends are coming to cheer at her
and learning to come.
“The caring environment makes it easy to take risks and grow from my mistakes.
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I have learned how to think critically and to be a strong leader and role model.”
–RILEY, GRADE 8
2
3
Where do you go when you are sick
and your owner dies?
Invoke emotion
A sweet and shy cat, Indigo had a hard start in life. Her first
owner abused her. Her second owner was much kinder, but
sadly, she passed away, and Indigo found herself in a shelter
once again. There it was discovered that cancer had spread to
her ears and nose.
At almost any other shelter, an illness like this in a cat means
she will be euthanized. Instead, Pets Unlimited rescued
her and gave her new hope. As with many pets rescued
by Pets Unlimited, other shelters were unable to help Indigo.
Pets Unlimited was her place of last resort.
lp
ur he
o
y
d
ee
We n
Pets in need depend on you.
“Indigo is doing very well, she
loves her massages and chin
rubs. Over the last year she has
become quite frisky, which to
me says she’s comfortable and
happy being here with me.”
— Russell Rover, Indigo’s guardian
Through the support of generous donors like you, Pets
Unlimited removed the cancer on her nose and amputated
her ears, saving her life. We nursed her back to health, and
after months in our caring shelter we helped Indigo find a
new and loving home.
Through Pets Unlimited,
you can give them the help they need.
W
hen you give to Pets Unlimited, you support one
of the most highly acclaimed veterinary centers in
the country. You provide charitable care for pets of owners
Pets Unlimited, We Need Your Help. The
more your donor feels when reading your
theme the more likely she is to dig into
the content.
who have limited means to pay for the care of their pets.
And you sustain a no-kill shelter that saves dogs and cats
in need — pets that other shelters would euthanize.
COPYRIGHT ©2014, MISSION MINDED, INC.
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4. Define Your Personality
You sit down to draft the case. You’ve got your characters top of mind.
You’re clear on the emotional, rational, and urgent nature of your appeal.
You’ve got your theme. Now, what’s the personality of your narrative?
The answer to this question can be found by looking closely at the personality of your organization.
Make sure your case complements it. How are you trying to be perceived by those who matter most
to your success? Are you serious and forthright? Warm and friendly? Whatever the answer is, be sure
to create a case that reinforces the personality you want your organization to have. Your case shouldn’t
feel like it doesn’t fit with other communications you publish. Make the voice consistent with who you
really are. It’s ok to stretch here—you do want your donors to feel some sense of excitement with this
initiative. But don’t stretch so far that your case doesn’t feel like part of the larger institution.
If you’ve done your homework, thought deeply about your audiences, and crafted a case that
balances reason, emotion, and urgency your donors will want to support you in achieving your goals.
Following these steps will ensure that they can contribute to your success with both their head and
their heart. And that’s a sustainable gift in every way.
Need help with your case? Know a group of fundraisers
who would like to take a workshop on this subject?
Please contact Mission Minded to see how we can help.
Write to us at info@mission-minded.com, or give us a call at 415.552.9360.
Please check out our blog for more on this topic: mission-minded.com/blog.
Mission Minded is a branding firm that works exclusively with nonprofits. We believe that nonprofits, foundations, and other do-gooders can only
have an impact if people understand the importance of their work—not just what they do, but why it matters. Every day we partner with clients
like San Francisco Opera, Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, and the Denver Art Museum to help them determine the brand—or reputation—
for which they want to be known. Then we help them bring that brand to life through key messages, logo design, web design, and more. As a
result, our clients successfully raise more money and attract the support they need to achieve their goals.
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COPYRIGHT ©2014, MISSION MINDED, INC.