Nonprofit Strategy & Fundraising

How do you know if your nonprofit is ready for a capital campaign?

Readiness is not a question of enthusiasm. It is whether a small number of lead donors will actually give at the level your goal requires. A feasibility study answers that before you announce anything, by asking those donors directly. Most campaigns that stall never tested the assumption first.

What is a capital campaign feasibility study?

A feasibility study is a structured set of confidential interviews with your closest donors, board members, and stakeholders, testing whether your case, your goal, and your timing hold up. It typically runs twenty to forty interviews across eight to sixteen weeks, and ends with a recommendation you can take to your board.

The value is not the report. It is that you learn what your most important donors think before the goal becomes a public commitment, at a point where the number and the timing can still change.

How much should a capital campaign consultant cost?

Feasibility studies are commonly quoted between twenty and fifty thousand dollars, driven mostly by how many interviews are conducted and whether the consultant works on site. Ongoing campaign counsel is usually a monthly retainer. One thing matters more than any of those numbers.

Reputable counsel never charges a percentage of what you raise. The Association of Fundraising Professionals sets this out plainly: its Code of Ethical Standards says compensation “may never be based on a percentage of funds raised,” and requires members to decline finder’s fees and commissions. The Giving Institute and the National Council of Nonprofits hold the same line. A percentage-based proposal is a reason to walk away, not a bargain.

On the campaign as a whole, published guidance from campaign counsel firms puts total cost under fifteen percent of goal in the range most donors accept, and under ten percent as efficient. Larger campaigns run leaner. A ten million dollar campaign often lands between six and eight percent.

Figures above are ranges commonly quoted in the sector, not a published standard.

What is campaign counsel, and how is it different from a fundraiser?

Campaign counsel is outside strategic advice for the duration of a campaign: setting the goal and the sequence, preparing the case, coaching the people who will actually ask, and keeping the timeline honest. Counsel does not solicit gifts on your behalf. Your leadership and volunteers do the asking.

A related term worth defining: fractional advancement leadership is an experienced development leader working part time, in the seat, while an organization is between hires or not yet ready for a full-time one. It is line responsibility rather than advice, which is what separates it from counsel.

Whose job is fundraising, the board’s or the staff’s?

Both, and the board cannot opt out of its half. The National Council of Nonprofits puts it plainly: boards carry a fiduciary duty to ensure a nonprofit’s assets support its charitable mission. That does not oblige every board member to solicit gifts. It does make resource adequacy a board responsibility.

A give or get policy is one way boards choose to express that, and it is a governance choice rather than a legal requirement. BoardSource is explicit that each board sets its own personal giving policy. What is not optional is the board owning whether the organization has the resources to do what it promised.

The wording is the National Council of Nonprofits’: boards carry a fiduciary duty to ensure a nonprofit’s assets are used in support of its charitable mission, and in accordance with donors’ intent.