Capital Campaign Readiness
Before the feasibility study, before the consultant: an honest readiness assessment and the two years of quiet work that make campaigns succeed.
Through the Faith-Based lens
The healthy-annual-program foundation maps onto offertory retention and participation among registered households, a number most parishes have never tracked, let alone scored on this worksheet. The leadership-pyramid foundation is often the real gap: capable families exist, but they have only ever been cultivated as envelope givers, and the honest question becomes which lay leader the pastor and the diocese both trust to ask peers for a gift.
Continuing education
1.50 points
Leadership and Management · Securing the Gift
Learning objectives
- State the four foundations of campaign readiness, a healthy annual program, a credible case and plan, a leadership pyramid, and the capacity to carry it, and explain why readiness is assessed before a feasibility study.
- Score the four-part readiness assessment out of 40 with your ED and development chair, read the parts before the total, and convert every item scored 0 or 1 into a fix with an owner and a date.
- Run a quiet phase that secures 100% board participation, the lead gift in writing, and the leadership tier before announcing, with a commitment threshold in the 50% to 70% range set from the tested gift table.
- Decide whether campaign counsel earns its fee for a given campaign, scope any engagement to a defined function with knowledge transfer written in, and decline percentage-based compensation.
Designed for CFRE continuing education. Not yet accepted; no CFRE points can be claimed.
Lessons
- 24 minStart →
Video lesson
Is your organization campaign-ready?
I Pause · Leadership and Management
- 30 minStart →
Worksheet· XLSX
Campaign readiness assessment
III Discern · Leadership and Management
- 21 minStart →
Field guide· PDF
The quiet-phase playbook
IV Invite · Securing the Gift
- 17 minStart →
Field guide· PDF
Working with (and without) consultants
VII Multiply · Leadership and Management
Each lesson opens on its own page. Complete written lessons are available now. Downloadable editions open as each one clears review, and video editions follow.
More in this stage
Boards, Teams & Leadership
Running the Development Shop
Directing the work is a different craft than doing it. Plans, budgets, staff structure, and the operating rhythm of a healthy shop.
Boards, Teams & Leadership
Hiring, Coaching, and Keeping Fundraisers
The average fundraiser tenure is 16 months. Build a team that stays: hiring for the real job, coaching the craft, and career paths that retain.
Planned Giving
Planned Giving Without a Planned Giving Officer
You do not need a J.D. to start a legacy program. Bequests, beneficiary designations, and the marketing that surfaces them.