Annual Fundraising in a Comprehensive Campaign

An Annual Fund Example

In a recent issue of CASE Currents, there is a good example of the role of the annual fund in a comprehensive capital campaign. The case history was from Westlake-Harvard School in the Los Angeles area recognizing their annual fund program as a Gold award winner.

Some simple facts included:

• $25 million of the $125 million campaign came from the annual fund
• Parent participation in the annual fund was boosted from 70% to 89%
• 17% participation rate from alumni
• 96% for faculty and staff

Techniques that helped them achieve the goal included outreach dinners with the president for parents considered prospective major donors and a student thank-athon.

The strong parent participation resonated wiht me. Several years ago a colleague's sone was admitted to Princeton. Jim was amazed at how quickly parents were brought into the giving family.

While universities and private schools frequently include the annual fund in their comprehensive campaigns, many other nonprofits do not -- and should. An aggressive annual fund early in a comprehensive campaign is a great feeder syste to the major gifts effort at the back end of a campaign.

Frequently when a campaign starts you know who your best 50 to 100 major gift prospects are. but, you're not sure the final 50 to 100 will be to help close out your campaign in 3 to 5 years. Get your annual fund going now to feed your major gifts program tomorrow.

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