Focus On: Capital Campaigns: Beyond Bricks and Mortar

Scarano: Since we’re still in the midst of the campaign, we haven’t really crossed that bridge yet. As we move through these next months and definitely when we get closer to the end of the campaign, which will be in 2005, we will ask for donations for more specifics such as furnishings for the bedrooms.

Zumwalt: We were very diligent about segmenting our campaign so as not to have one negatively impact the other. With names from the database, we pulled them out of the solicitation stream once their name rose to the top, where they were ready to be approached for the capital campaign. So they would not be receiving both efforts, they’ll remain off the traditional solicitation file until the year before their pledge matures, at which point they’d be brought back in.

FS: How will you increase annual and ongoing giving for those donors who you can now identify as able and willing to give more?
Clark: We’re being mindful of the payoff times associated with some of the larger gifts, so that if they are paying it in several installments over a couple of years, we would not approach them again until after that commitment has been met.

One possibility moving forward would be forming combined giving clubs, where we could recognize gifts to the college and station together and that would get people up to [a higher giving] level faster. It would allow us more opportunities to recognize these supporters.

Scarano: A component of our fundraising program is varying types of planned giving, so there’s the opportunity of doing more in this area with donors to the capital campaign. We will invite people to make long-term investments, introduce donors to the idea of leaving a gift in their will, transferring some stocks, making us the beneficiary of an insurance policy, making arrangements for matching gifts from their place of business, to being part of a pooled income trust.