Capital campaigns can be one of the most impactful activities to help your nonprofit mission.
These targeted fundraising efforts take place over time and take considerable planning and effort to be successful. We’ve found that capital campaigns are often a high priority in strategic plans for organizations.
Capital campaigns are unique projects and can be massive, spanning multiple years. For example, if you’re starting a new program or constructing a new facility, those are projects that take serious planning and execution time.
For those reasons, one of the most valuable assets you can find to help guide your campaign is a Capital Campaign Consultant or consulting firm. These experts in capital campaigns can help provide expert guidance and critical accountability to ensure that your campaign hits its goal.
You could look at the work of a campaign consultant as adjacent to that of a project manager. They will provide direction and planning, manage the timeline, and help with feasibility studies or problem-solving, but they typically don’t do the solicitation of gifts, recruiting volunteers, or any other tasks that form part of the campaign.
Why hire a campaign consultant? Because having that outside expertise can be the key to keeping your goals centered and your project on track. The big question is, what should you look for when hiring one? We’ve included some of our criteria below.
Tips for Hiring a Consultant
A Capital Campaign Consultant plays a pivotal role in how your biggest fundraising campaigns play out. Choosing the right consultant should be a careful process, so we’ve compiled a few criteria that can help:
Define Your Needs First
Why are you hiring a consultant? What do you hope to achieve? By defining your needs early, you can use them to guide your hiring process.
For example, do you need someone who can:
Conduct feasibility studies?
Provide strategy and support?
Identify a strategy for new revenue streams?
Generally, strengthen your fundraising approach and processes?
You may need to engage your board and key stakeholders in this needs assessment to ensure you’ve accounted for all the needs for your capital campaigns. Your strategic plan should be a key part of this, as capital campaigns rely heavily on strategy.
Experience
You’ve identified your needs, so it’s essential to find a consultant with the experience to handle those specific areas. The best consultants have a great deal of capital campaign experience; the best consultant for you will have significant experience in your priority areas.
You need a consultant who can speak with authority backed by experience. They’ve seen all sorts of different campaigns and even experienced some failures. Importantly, they bring multiple valuable learning experiences to the table.
Today, most capital campaigns rely on fundraising/donor prospecting software. Make sure that your consultant is adept at using the software and can provide you and your team with the necessary guidance.
Great consultants are also adept at managing people. They can help herd differing viewpoints so that everyone is heading in the same overall direction. The best consultants have people wanting to listen to what they have to say.
Accessibility
Consider how accessible the consultant is. Are they remote-only? Can they come to your office regularly? Will they work as a mix of remote and in-person consultations? How quickly or easily are they available to you?
You should determine the mode and level of help you expect to find a consultant who is a match for those needs. If you need someone who will come into your office a few days a month, you may need to narrow the geographic region of your search. If remote is acceptable, then you might even look worldwide for the best possible fit.
Discipline
Capable consultants are all about deadlines and accountability, which can be hugely valuable for nonprofits juggling multiple tasks. Suppose your organization frequently struggles with sticking to timelines or getting distracted by ancillary tasks. In that case, you want a highly disciplined consultant and not afraid to hold people accountable.
At the same time, you want a highly-organized consultant, so they’re not scheduling meetings on short notice and giving you no time to prepare. You should know precisely what you need to be working on and what to expect from your meetings.
Flexibility
Planning and campaign roadmaps are valuable tools to keep your capital campaigns on track, but what happens with large projects that span months or years? Over such a long period, you’ll face at least one struggle that doesn’t go according to plan. In that instance, you’ll need to adapt and make adjustments.
Good consultants know this and are flexible in their approach. While they may be disciplined in terms of timelines, they’re not so rigid that they can’t see when a plan needs adjusting to suit the current realities of the campaign.
Cost
When hiring a Capital Campaign Consultant, the cost will always be a factor for prudent nonprofits. Hiring a consultant is an investment, using the limited funds you have for this purpose. You need a realistic budget for finding a consultant.
According to Campaign Counsel, the cost can run from a few hundred dollars a month to around $30,000 per month. This varies greatly across the wide range of nonprofit sizes and campaign goals. At the high end, you get full-service, on-site campaign management. If you hire from outside of your direct area, you can also expect to pay travel costs if you want the consultant on-site.
When we talk about cost, it’s also beneficial to mention the old adage, “You get what you pay for.” Yes, consultants can be expensive. By all means, do your due diligence and look into their past projects and testimonials. On the other hand, cheap or pro bono consultants may not have the experience you require or the time to devote to making your capital campaign a success. After all, they’re probably working additional jobs to pay their bills!
Look at the cost in terms of ROI (return on investment). A consultant is an investment, and if “getting what you pay for” means a wildly successful capital campaign, you will get your money’s worth.
Fit with Your Organization
The right consultant should be a good fit for your organization's overall culture. You’re going to spend a lot of time working together, so your team and the consultant should generally get along well.
At the same time, the consultant should inspire action and help give your team the confidence and courage to make big decisions. You should feel supported, and that you’re getting advice born from experience. The consultant should help you to work through scenarios and feel confident in your course of action.
You’ll work closely with a Capital Campaign Consultant, so you should ensure they’re a good “fit” for your organization
Questions to Ask When Prospecting for a Consultant
Here are some sample questions that you might ask to help narrow down your choice of Capital Campaign Consultant:
Have you worked with organizations previously that were facing similar challenges? You should explain some of the challenges you anticipate and ask if the consultant has dealt with similar issues before.
Can you detail previous campaigns you have conducted? You’re looking for genuinely detailed answers. Sometimes a person giving the presentation for a consulting firm wasn’t deeply involved in previous campaigns.
What sort of fund development / donor prospecting software do you use? Will you be able to guide us in its use?
Have you worked with organizations with similar staffing and boards?
How do you think you’d start the campaign process with us? You want a description of how they’d get started to demonstrate they’ve already done some homework on your organization.
Do they know your local landscape and have experience serving nonprofits in your sector?
How do they provide their service? You’re looking for methods that will be a good fit for your organization.
Conclusion
Capital campaigns are a big investment of time and money for your organization, so finding the right consultant to help guide you through the campaign can make a huge difference in your overall results.
Capital campaign consultants are worth the investment when you find the right one who fits well with your organization. The tips we’ve listed above will help you identify your needs and determine some essential criteria before choosing.
Choosing the right consultant will take careful consideration and due diligence. However, once you find them, you’ll enjoy the confidence and strategic direction that their experience brings.