Fundraising campaigns serve as the lifeblood of independent schools. Comprehensive campaigns enable schools to maintain their unique programs, advance their missions, and offer unparalleled educational experiences. 

Executing strong comprehensive campaigns, however, is no small feat. From developing a strategic plan to managing leadership and staff transitions, independent schools face many challenges as they execute these multiyear fundraising efforts. Read on to learn more about what a comprehensive campaign looks like and strategies you can deploy to achieve your goals.

 

What is a comprehensive campaign?

Comprehensive campaigns raise money over several years for a school’s annual, capital, and/or endowment needs. Unlike a capital or project-specific school fundraising campaign, comprehensive campaigns are longer in nature, typically anywhere from five to eight years in length. These campaigns usually have high targets for the amount of funds a school intends to raise. A good rule of thumb is that schools should be engaged in a comprehensive fundraising campaign every 10 years.

 

What are the foundational elements for a successful comprehensive fundraising campaign?

Successful comprehensive fundraising campaigns require several foundational elements to get from A to Z. Assembling a cohesive strategy that harmonizes a long-term vision with practical objectives is paramount. 

1. A strong strategic plan. Years in advance of the desired start date of your comprehensive campaign, independent schools should deploy staff and/or an outside consultant to develop a strong strategic plan. This plan should identify not only the institution’s long-term priorities, but also a realistic, yet aggressive fundraising goal.
   
   
   
   What kinds of priorities should you identify? Those that address campus and annual needs, endowment growth, the financial strength of your school, the best ways to support faculty, and student programming.
   
   
   
   All strategic plans should have some flexibility in their timelines to account for unexpected hurdles. Examples include events like a global pandemic or an economic downturn. Big, unforeseen circumstances sometimes require shortening or lengthening the duration of the campaign. Be nimble.
2. Assemble the right team. Identify staff members who can execute the details of your comprehensive campaign. Ideally, they will be available for the campaign duration. To mitigate the possibility of staff leaving during the campaign, consider a retention bonus for those who stay to the end.
3. Align your campaign goals with your leadership. Think about the internal and external leadership of your organization. If your head of school is leaving soon, you may want to wait to develop a strategic plan and comprehensive campaign until the next leader is on board and can oversee its execution. The same idea goes for your board of trustees, alumni boards, and parent participation boards — if their tenure is ending soon, be sure to time your campaign and align your goals with those who will be present for the big push.
4. Consider the size of your campaign. Comprehensive campaigns are large in nature, and fundraising targets are typically much higher than project-specific campaigns. Do your homework, either with internal staff or a consultant, to understand your prospect base. If your goal is $100 million over seven years, do you have potential donors who could realistically get you there? Also, consider how planned gifts work into your campaign. 
   
    

What are some other things to consider when developing a comprehensive fundraising campaign?

Beyond the foundational elements of a successful campaign, there are other strategies you should  weigh carefully when considering the next five to eight years. 

1. Do we need a feasibility study? The short answer: It depends. Once you complete a strategic plan, you could undertake a feasibility study either internally or by hiring an outside consultant. But these studies can take a lot of time and money, and if you already know your prospect base quite well, they may not be necessary. Talk with other peer organizations to identify an outside firm that worked well for them, then consider if you already have enough information to press ahead without spending money on outside expertise.
2. How do we bridge the gap between the strategic plan and comprehensive campaign execution? Following the development of the strategic plan, it’s imperative to produce and disseminate a formal report to stakeholders. The report should outline the strategic plan and how to fund the identified needs, noting that the school is in the early stages of a comprehensive campaign. Use the report to align your leadership and other stakeholders with the goals set forth for the campaign.
3. How do we define our prospect pool? A continuously updated prospect database should be audited every two to three years to identify new sources of wealth. In addition, look at new alumni, previous donors to your campaigns, and new families for their potential.
4. How do we identify campaign leadership? One way to determine who can best steer the ship for your comprehensive campaign is to take a critical look at the actors involved in the strategic planning process. If you had 60 people involved in developing your strategic plan, can you identify 5-10 people who have the skills and capacity to help during the campaign phase? Also, organizing campaign leadership today is different than in years past. It is more strategic, and leaders typically don’t sign on to be the face of a campaign for the full seven years. Instead, choose a few people to lead different shifts or phases of the campaign. 
5. What should the roles of the Board of Trustees and Governance Committee be? The Board of Trustees should all be engaged in the comprehensive campaign. Each of them should be expected to make a pledge to the campaign and serve as an advocate, helping with regional prospects in their area. Members can host an event for the school or engage in other activities to promote the comprehensive campaign. Because the governance committee selects and identifies new trustees, it should be strategic in selecting and identifying those who can help move the campaign forward.
   
    

What is the risk of not running a comprehensive campaign? 

Rather than multiyear comprehensive campaigns, schools can opt for sticking with shorter project-specific or capital-focused efforts. But the risk of not running a comprehensive campaign means your school will not experience growth. If you don’t engage in strategic planning and work toward ambitious goals, you miss out on gaining unrestricted funds that can expand programs and produce other enrichment opportunities that your students and faculty deserve.

 

Want more resources to help you develop a strong comprehensive campaign?

Consider the CASE-NAIS annual conference. The CASE-NAIS Independent Schools Conference is the flagship advancement and development conference for schools globally. This is a great networking event to hear how other schools leveraged comprehensive campaigns.

Check out how this independent school relied on CASE resources to change its strategy. Armed with the right tools and resources, the Academy of St. Elizabeth’s development director was able to establish a new strategy that aligned the whole community toward a better goal: front-loading the annual fund.