A capital campaign is an organized fundraising effort to secure a large amount of money over a period of several years. A capital campaign is typically used for new building construction, building renovations purchase of new equipment and or endowment gifts.
Capital campaigns are different than annual fundraising campaigns in a few ways:
- The goals are much larger (five, ten, even twenty times larger than an annual operating budget)
- The campaign length is for an extended period of time (most capital campaigns run between three to five years)
- Annual fundraising campaigns exist in perpetuity, whereas a capital campaign has a beginning and end and occur once every 25 years or so
- The number of people required to kick-off and sustain a capital campaign is quite extensive, unlike an annual fundraising campaign which can be done with, in some cases, one person. Capital campaigns require plenty of staff, volunteers and committees to be successful.
- Unlike an annual fundraising campaign that are performed by staff members, capital campaigns are heavily reliant upon the organization’s board of directors and key community leaders in order to be successful.
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