Capital Campaigns and Major Gifts
Big gifts come from relationships someone tended for years.
You have a roof that needs replacing, a program with a waiting list, or an endowment that exists mostly as a line in the strategic plan. The board has agreed on a number. Nobody is quite sure where the number came from.
We have run campaigns from the development chair, and the ones that exceeded their goals were decided long before the public launch. The lead gifts were in hand, the volunteers knew their prospects, and the case had been tested on the people who would fund it. So we start with names, not a total: who can give at the top, and who should ask them. The goal follows from that list.
What We Do
Readiness and feasibility
We interview your top prospects, board members, and senior staff, test a draft case for support against what they tell us, and take an honest look at your donor file. You get a goal grounded in real conversations and a frank read on timing. Sometimes the right answer is another year of cultivation first.
Gift range chart and rated prospects
We build the chart that shows how many gifts at each level your goal requires, then rate your prospects against it by capacity and connection. We also look past the usual circle. A prospect list that only finds the families who have always given will build a campaign that looks like your past.
Case for support
We draft the case statement with you: why this project, why now, and what changes for the people you serve. Then we boil it down to the two minutes a board member can say over coffee.
Major gift plans
For each top prospect we write a cultivation plan with a relationship owner, next steps, a proposed ask amount, and a target date. Moves management, specific enough to put on a calendar.
Board and campaign cabinet preparation
We coach your volunteers to make their own gifts first, open doors, and join solicitation visits. We rehearse the ask until the pause after the number stops feeling like an emergency. We do not make the ask for you; we make sure the person who does is ready.
Counsel through the public phase
Regular check-ins against the chart, planning for the public launch, and guidance on recognition and naming policies and on stewardship that keeps campaign donors close after the last pledge payment.
What You Walk Away With
- A feasibility report with a recommended goal and timing
- A gift range chart and a rated prospect list
- A case for support in long and short form
- Written cultivation plans for your top prospects, with owners and dates
- A board and campaign cabinet that know their roles and have practiced the ask
- Guidance on recognition, naming, and stewardship for campaign donors
What Clients Say
TRANSCEND Advancement guided us through our first major capital campaign with incredible expertise. We not only met our goal but finished ahead of schedule, all while building stronger relationships with our key supporters.
The major gift strategy they developed completely shifted how our board views fundraising. It went from a dreaded task to an exciting opportunity to share our mission.
Let’s talk.
A campaign shapes how your community sees itself long after the building opens. If one is on your horizon, even a distant one, talk with us early, while every option is still open.
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