Higher Education and Campaign

Capital Campaign in Higher Education A capital campaign is defined as a targeted fundraising effort that normally takes place over a defined or set out period of time (Lysakowski, 2013). This is normally an intense effort on the part of the higher education institution to raise significant money for a given purpose and within the specified timeframe. Before a capital campaign can begin the purpose for the funds should be clearly outlined and the targets of the campaign determined.

This will ensure that everyone is on board and they understand the role they have to play. Capital campaigns are normally initiated to fund extraordinary expenditures that an institution is not able to fund under normal circumstances. These might include the purchase of new equipment, renovating a building, building a new educational block, or expanding an existing facility. There should be an endowment portion added to the capital campaign goal.

Institutions should remember that with an increased facility there is going to be an increase in the operating costs for the institution. Therefore, there should a focus on how the building will run and continue assisting the intended population without any disruptions. Capital campaigns will disrupt the normal running of an institution, during the period of the campaign (List & Lucking-Reiley, 2002). The entire institution might feel the strain of running the campaign.

However, there are great benefits that would be reaped once the campaign is achieved and the laid-out targets reached and surpassed. This would definitely offset the work involved and would offer the participants the opportunity to glow in their success. Some of the benefits that the institution would gain from the capital campaign are strengthening the institution's infrastructure, volunteer involvement, raising funds to fund a one-time institution need, and increased public awareness.

In the course of the campaign, there will be various initiatives undertaken by the institution and most of the initiatives will be aimed at successfully achieving the goals of the campaign. An institution should be well prepared to handle the requirements of a campaign, and there is need to perform an analysis of the institution to determine its preparedness for the campaign. Capital Campaign Plan There are two major phases of any capital campaign namely the quiet and public phase.

Each phase is later subdivided into different steps that need to be carried out if an institution wants to have a successful capital campaign. Each step in the two phases is essential and should not be omitted. With the aim of achieving the institution's desired goal, it is vital that each step is taken at its own pace without rushing, or skipping of steps. The quiet phase has the following steps pre-planning, planning, and lead gifts. The public phase has general gifts, and follow through.

The quiet phase is the most crucial phase of any capital campaign because it is during this phase that the initial planning and feasibility studies are carried out to establish the readiness of the institution. It is also during the quiet phase that most of the capital campaign goals are achieved with almost 50 - 70% of the funds being collected/ raised (Meyers, 2014). The funds are mainly raised through major gifts strategies. The remainder of the funds is normally raised from a larger population of donors through the solicitation of donations.

The capital campaign begins with the institution determining its objective or what purpose will the money raised serve. For the institution to have a successful capital campaign, the institution must have a clear goal that it intends to achieve. There should also be a set team to oversee all the capital campaign strategies to ensure that there are people supporting each other. Secondly, there should be a feasibility study conducted to establish if the capital campaign will manage to raise the proposed funds within the set time period.

The feasibility study also determines if the community is willing to support the institution in the project. Without the buy-in from the community, it would be difficult to raise the required funds, and this would result in a failed campaign. There is need to screen the prospective donors or lead/major donors. Carrying out this screening will assist the institution to determine the giving levels of their respective donors and would be helpful when making major gift appeals.

The more one understands the major donor's giving patterns, the more prepared one will be to make a donation appeal. Every capital campaign must have a deadline, and funds for the campaign must be made in the allotted time. Without a deadline, the campaign could progress for too long, and the team might lose focus. A realistic deadline should be set based on the project and the fundraising stages. Based on the scope of the project, a capital campaign must have a set financial goal.

Once it has been established the number of gifts that the campaign requires from each donor, there is need to plan on how to obtain those gifts. Therefore, a fundraising course is plotted. The capital campaign committee is normally the first to give out their donations after they.