Preparing Your Capital Campaign

"Marilyn Bancel has written a highly accessible, readable guide to a very complex process, which is no mean feat. Even if you have been through a capital campaign before and think you're ready-and especially if you're new to the capital campaign process-read it! Preparing Your Capital Campaign provides valuable insights and practical planning tools that will bolster your capacity to take on a campaign's challenge." --Clara Miller, president, Nonprofit Finance Fund In this hands-on workbook, fund raising expert Marilyn Bancel shows you how to prepare your organization to embark on a successful capital campaign, detailing each step that must be taken before the launch. Preparing Your Capital Campaign--part of the Excellence in Fund Raising Workbook Series--breaks down the preparation stage into practical, manageable parts, outlining in straightforward language such essentials as creating a campaign timetable, setting up the campaign committee, determining a campaign goal, and getting the whole organization ready for a fund raising drive. Packed with useful resources, this nuts-and-bolts workbook includes a campaign skills checklist, strategies for estimating fund raising costs, a sample campaign budget, and a list of Web sites tailored to the specific needs of fund raisers. If you are brand-new to fund raising, the book offers a concise introductory chapter that lays out the basics and answers the key questions about capital campaigns. More experienced fund raisers will benefit from a wealth of reminders for avoiding common mistakes and a framework for staying focused on the factors that are most important for success. Preparing Your Capital Campaign will show you how to make the most of this critical fund raising strategy.

MARILYN BANCEL, CFRE, is vice president of the Oram Group, Inc., a national fund raising and nonprofit consulting firm serving philanthropic organizations since 1940. In addition to consulting, she is adjunct professor at the University of San Francisco's Institute of Nonprofit Management, where she teaches Capital Campaigns and Major Gifts. She frequently conducts fundraising seminars and conference workshops, and is the recipient of the Hank Rosso Outstanding Fundraising Executive Award, 2002.