The “Business” of Campaigns:
Assembling Your Project Team

By Jennifer Furla, Executive Vice President
Kansas City

While most organizations consider a campaign consultant to perform the important work of conducting a fundraising feasibility study and to help guide campaign strategy, a savvy development professional or chief executive officer will understand that there are numerous other elements of a project plan and an entire project team to assemble before the project is “campaign ready.”  Early thought should be given to the cost, selection and timeline for bringing in your project partners.

Your Architect

Likely the first partner to join your project team will be your architect. A reputable architect that has experience in, and an understanding of non-profit capital projects can be a strong ally during your early planning process. He or she can work with you to understand your current and future space and program needs and then translate them to a space plan through the process of a “charette.” This is a creative process akin to visual brainstorming that is used by design professionals to develop solutions to a design problem within a limited timeframe. From this space and program planning, the architect will develop conceptual plans that can help guide your property search and tell you whether your project is a candidate for renovating an existing property through adaptive reuse. Your architect should provide an attractive, workable and cost-conscious design that volunteers and donors can support and relate to.

Your architect can also offer creative solutions that may enhance your fundraising plan, such as options for historic preservation or designing a “green building” that may offer you the option of tax credits, grants or other public or private giving incentives.  In many cases, the design features that your architect creates for your project may actually become part of your “case for support,” helping you explain to donors how you will do a better job of serving your clients once the project is complete.

Your architect will continue as a project partner throughout your fundraising and construction phases, often reshaping the project as it is priced and laid against your campaign goal, helping you to understand options for modifying the project as other opportunities arise such as the donation of property or an existing building, and managing your project timetable as you move through the permitting and inspection stages. Finally, your architect will add the “sizzle” to your project by creating attractive visuals for you to use in your campaign materials and on solicitation calls.

Your General Contractor

Likewise, early thought should be given to engaging a contractor who understands the dynamics of non-profit projects and how they relate to your fundraising and financing needs. While a contractor can be a valuable partner in the early planning stages to help price – or “value engineer” – your conceptual designs to come up with a realistic project budget, a contractor with non-profit experience will understand that your project may change over time and that the construction process will often be dictated by your fundraising timetable. This is particularly important when your campaign plan includes challenge grants from organizations such as the Kresge Foundation or, in the Midwest, the Mabee Foundation, that call for defined timetables for ground-breaking and project completion.  Like your architect, your contractor will understand that you want the most “bang for your buck,” choosing durable attractive materials and methods with an eye toward cost conservation.

A Project Manager

We all certainly understand that a capital project is more than just the fundraising. Hundreds – if not thousands – of decisions must be made over the course of the 18- to 36-month planning and campaign period. For most development directors and chief executives, this means adding another 20 to 25 percent of responsibility to an already heavily-burdened work week. To help manage the construction process, some organizations may wish to engage a project manager who will serve as their advocate, working with inspectors, the city or county, your architect and your contractor to monitor the construction process and to negotiate change orders and other project contingencies as they arise. Many of these functions are included in the scope of work offered by your architect and general contractor, so you should evaluate carefully your need for a project manager and plan for the additional costs involved as an early consideration in your project planning.

Your Lender

To help maximize giving, nearly all campaigns ask for pledges over a three- to five-year giving period. Unless you have sizeable internal resources to “self-fund” your project over that three- to five-year period, this means you will likely need to obtain “bridge” or construction financing for the period of the loan. This may be through a bank or other lending institution. For organizations that qualify, low interest rate loans through the federal government, such as the USDA loan program, may be an option. Depending on your project, its size, and your financial strength and ability to pay off the loan over time, you may also want to consider a private bond offering as a financing option. With more and more savvy donors wanting evidence of a “business plan” and evidence of how you will support your project and program goals once the project is complete, discussions with potential lending partners are an important element of early campaign planning.

Beyond these central partners, you may also need to consult with a myriad of other specialists in your project planning: an environmental engineer or inspector; an aquatics specialist for YMCAs and others considering a pool or water therapy programming as part of the project; an IT or security specialist; or even outside creative input for the design of your donor recognition area. Your city or local government planning and zoning personnel can be of key assistance in early project planning to determine what “hoops” you must jump through and the timeline for accomplishing them in order to place your project in the desired area.

To learn more about your capital campaign project planning, contact Jeffrey Byrne & Associates, Inc., at 1-800-222-9233, or on the web at www.fundraisingJBA.com. Or, if you are in the Kansas City area, plan to join us on February 7 at 8:30 a.m. for “Supporting the Bricks and Mortar:  The Business of Capital Campaigns,” a program co-sponsored by The Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce and The Council on Philanthropy as part of the Chamber’s regular Business Brain Food Series. Registration is $15 through the Chamber at https://www.kcchamber.com/Calendar/ChamberEvent.asp.