Nonprofit Fundraising: Capital Campaigns

Capital campaigns are usually fundraisers held by established nonprofit organizations. A capital campaign involves raising large amounts of money (well into the thousands) for a specific cause pertaining to your nonprofit. For example, Habitat for Humanity might run a capital campaign to raise money for a new construction in a major city.

Here are a few different types of capital campaigns:

1. Telethon

This is one of the most popular types of capital campaigns because they reach a large amount of people. Telethons are usually conducted on television or on the radio, and solicit donations from people all across the country. People call in and pledge a certain amount, then give their credit card number. A running tally is kept to motivate both donors and volunteers, and they can sometimes last twenty-four hours. One of the most popular telethons is the annual Jerry Lewis MDA telethon, which is held over Labor Day weekend and has been going strong since 1966.

2. Dinner Benefit

Nonprofits often hold capital campaigns in the form of an expensive and lavish dinner banquet. These tend to raise large amounts of money because, in addition to the usually expensive price per plate, there are raffles, donation boxes and other ways for people to give money.

3. Focused Advertising

A capital campaign does not have to be a one-night or one-day event; it simply has to be time-limited. Focused advertising can be construed as a capital campaign as long as it is geared toward collecting money for a specific purpose. For example, if a medical center wants to raise enough funds to build a brand new wing, they might run a three-month capital campaign with focused advertising to generate donations.

Usually, nonprofit organizations that are interested in running a capital campaign will enlist the expertise of a fundraising professionals to aid in its execution. Since capital campaigns involve a significant amount of money, there has to be someone who is trained in handling that money as well as implementing various fundraising strategies.