HTML Source EditorWord wrap
A: Selecting members of and managing the Campaign Team is crucial to the success of a campaign. The Chair or Co-Chairs of the Campaign Committee should be highly respected and visible alumni. At least half of the 20 to 30 people comprising this committee of volunteers should have the capacity to make a significant campaign gift and the other half should be well connected to individual, corporate and foundation donor prospects. It is important to be able to say that 100% of the Campaign Team has pledged a gift to the campaign. Individuals serving on the Campaign Team should receive a list of what tasks are expected of each member. An example of such a list follows:
RESPONSIBILITIES OF INDIVIDUAL CAMPAIGN TEAM MEMBERS
Each Team member will be asked to:
- Make a personal gift to the Campaign consistent with your financial means -- with no gift too large or too small.
- Review the prospect list of 30 to 50 people, companies or foundations assigned to you. The prospects on your list were selected because of one or more connections. The prospect donor may have had the same academic major, be in the same business, have played the sport in which you participated, is a member of your church, was a member of your fraternity or sorority, is a personal friend or has another affinity.
- Identify, for each prospect, whether you or someone else might be the best “connector” – the person who knows the prospect best. If the latter, consult with the “connector” to plan a joint solicitation.
- Help identify new prospective donors.
- Over the two year period of the Campaign, have at least a telephone conversation with each prospect and if possible, an in-person relationship-building meeting.
- Work with the Advancement Office’s Prospect Manager (assigned to provide administrative support for the Campaign) to arrange for the President, Vice President for Advancement, Athletic Director or Head Coach to accompany you to meet with a prospective donor if you think such a high level meeting is key to successful cultivation.
- Participate in quarterly meetings of the Campaign Team.
- Follow up meetings and telephone calls with prospects with personal thank you notes.
- Inform the Advancement Office Prospect Manager of the results of every meeting or telephone call so he or she can enter this information in the Advancement Database.
Background on how lists were developed and assigned:
- Note that 20,000 alumni have been wealth rated using an outside research company. The top 50 have been assigned to the President, Athletic Director, Vice President for Advancement and Chair of the Campaign Committee. The remainder were split into prospect lists of 30 to 50 names based on academic major, former athlete, profession or other affiliation or a known existing relationship. Each person was assigned to a Campaign Team member based on the closest match to these characteristics. In this way, we can be sure that no two people are trying to contact the same person.
- Every person with a list will have several prospects asterisked as top prospects capable of giving $50,000 or more. These people should be contacted first with the goal being to get a personal meeting. The goal for the remaining people on each list is having a telephone conversation at some point during the current year.
The Advancement Office will provide:
- Appropriate research information and preparation regarding each of the prospective donors on your list.
- Professional quality solicitation materials.
Update Cancel