Client Success:
Solid "Inner Family" Campaign
Lays Foundation for Future Success

By Jan Murfield, Vice President
Kansas City

One of the basics for success with any campaign, whether it is the annual campaign, an endowment campaign or a capital campaign is the support of the board of directors and staff, what we call the “inner family.” Some organizations include honorary board members and in a capital campaign the steering committee is usually a part of this group.

One client recently did an outstanding job of securing 100% participation from their board of directors, honorary members and staff before embarking on their campaign.

First, the campaign chairmen understood the importance of full internal support. These chairmen have been involved in leadership of other campaigns and knew that this was critical to the success of the campaign. They led the charge by making their own gift first to demonstrate their commitment to the organization.

The campaign chairmen then made an initial plea to the board of directors at a meeting. They relayed to the members how important the mission of the organization is and how honored they were to chair the campaign. The chairmen then informed the board that they had made their pledge commitment which was a stretch, but was responsible. During the meeting, the chairmen asked each board member to be thinking about what amount they would give to support the campaign. They also stressed the importance of 100% participation for solicitation from the funding community. They ended their presentation by telling the board members that the office staff would be calling them in the next week to set a time that they would meet personally with each member.

The chairmen then met with the Executive Director, Development Director and campaign counsel to assign amounts to be asked of each member. Personalized letters for each member were then prepared. The letters were taken on each visit and left with the board member. This critical step always ensures that the campaign asks for the amount that was determined as appropriate.

Personal meetings were set with each of the 22 board members over the next few weeks. The campaign chairmen scheduled these meetings around breakfast, lunch, and dinner, in addition to meetings throughout the day.

Throughout the next month, the staff sent a weekly update to keep the members informed. This organization decided not to share the amount that each member had given, although I always strongly encourage organizations to do so. At the end of six weeks, all but three members had given their pledge for the campaign. At that time, the executive director and chairman of the board made follow-up calls to each member to get the remaining pledges. When the final commitment was secured, the members were informed.

The process took time, commitment, and effort, but it started the campaign with full commitment by the board of directors. The campaign is proceeding very well and the top-level solicitations are resulting in commitments, in part, because the organization is able to demonstrate its own strong leadership support for the project.