Capital campaigns are monumental undertakings that can significantly propel a nonprofit organization's mission forward. These campaigns require careful planning, dedicated resources, and meticulous tracking. Fortunately, Raiser's Edge® is a tool for managing capital campaigns and can make this monumental endeavor more manageable. In this post, we'll delve into how Raiser's Edge® can effectively streamline capital campaigns, focusing on managing solicitor and volunteer relationships, coding prospects, building reports, and tracking opportunities.

Managing Solicitor and Volunteer Relationships in Raiser's Edge®

The ability to close major gifts can make or break your campaign. Capital campaigns often rely heavily on solicitors and volunteers.  These passionate individuals can help your campaign reach a wider audience, advocate for your cause, and encourage donations.

In Raiser's Edge®, you will want to create detailed solicitor records for each of your solicitors and volunteers, making it easy to manage and track these crucial relationships. You can track their relationships with potential donors, capture notes from meetings, and even identify their connections with other contacts in your database.

It is this relational web that really makes your database shine!

Tracking Quality Contacts

Another critical area of tracking are significant touchpoints with prospects. All substantive contacts should be recorded in Raiser's Edge® as actions, including the date, action category, type, status, and any relevant notes about the exchange.

By tracking your actions, you'll be able to keep a ledger of all exchanges so that future gift officers understand the nature of the relationship.

Coding Prospects for Capital Campaigns

One of the first steps in a capital campaign is identifying potential donors or prospects. Coding these prospects accurately in your Raiser's Edge® database can help streamline your campaign efforts.

One key element is to use Raiser's Edge® to assign unique codes to your campaign prospects based on their potential for giving, their interests, and their connection to your organization. You can also segment your prospects based on these codes, helping you tailor your outreach strategies effectively.

Building Reports for Capital Campaigns in Raiser's Edge®

Reports play a critical role in managing and evaluating capital campaigns. Below are our favorite Raiser's Edge® reporting options to help track your campaign's progress.

Key reports for a capital campaign might include:

• Gift Analysis Reports: These reports provide a snapshot of the donations your campaign has received. They can be customized to include information such as gift size, donor details, and donation date.

• Pledge Reports: Track outstanding pledges and anticipate future income. You can also create reminders for pledge payment due dates.

• Campaign Progress Reports: These reports can give you an at-a-glance view of your campaign's progress against its goals.

Tracking Opportunities in Raiser's Edge®

Opportunity tracking in Raiser's Edge® is an excellent way to track asks, potential donations, statuses, and who is asking who for a gift. 

Opportunities should be assigned a value, a predicted close date, and a likelihood of success. As discussions with the prospect progress, the opportunity can be updated to reflect these changes.

By tracking opportunities, you can get a realistic projection of your campaign's potential success and make necessary adjustments to your strategy.

Conclusion

Capital campaigns can be a significant catalyst for growth for nonprofit organizations. However, they require a great deal of planning, organization, and careful tracking. Leveraging a robust tool like Raiser's Edge® can make managing these complex campaigns more straightforward, efficient, and effective.

Remember, the true power of Raiser's Edge® lies not only in its features but in how you use it to meet your unique needs. Stay tuned to our blog for more insights and strategies on harnessing Raiser's Edge® to drive your nonprofit's success, particularly for complex projects like capital campaigns.