Reaching the decision to undertake a campaign and setting a working goal is arguably the hardest and most fraught time in the campaign process.
I want to help you keep the decision-making process simple and grounded in empirical evidence. By using two tools I have developed through my experience of over 40 years in the advancement business, you can move forward with confidence, whatever the decision.
Campaign Planning Score Card
Campaign Planning Score Card: Answer 24 questions about your organization with Yes/Maybe/No, and you will get a score you can work with.
Donor Abacus
Donor AbacusTM: A bias-free, behavior-data-driven fundraising SaaS tool that subscribers use to prepare for gift conversations with high-net-worth donors, accurately value their major donor pipeline, plan capital campaign feasibility studies and campaigns, manage and value donor portfolios and fundraising staff, and provide a fundraiser’s readiness score.
Just create Abacus profiles on your top 40 likely campaign donors. Export the profiles from the Profile Library and add up the Goal column. That will give you a highly predictive gift total you can expect from these donors. (Current predictive accuracy is with 5% of actual pledges.)
Combine and Conquer
Using these two tools together will provide you with all of the information you need to decide whether or not to move forward with a campaign. Or to wait and work on flagged issues to launch a campaign in the future with confidence.
