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Opera
America
Is Your Opera Company
Ready for a Capital Campaign?
Linda Lysakowski, ACFRE
President/CEO
CAPITAL
VENTURE
SM
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The lights are dimmed, the curtain
rises and the performance begins. Or does it?
Perhaps your opera company needs a new performance
hall, renovations to current facilities, or an endowment
to assure future programming. If you are contemplating
a campaign to fund these needs, you may need to
set the stage first.
The key ingredients of any successful campaign are:
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- A compelling case for support;
- A Board of Directors fully committed
to the campaign;
- Excellent volunteer leadership;
- A strong infrastructure;
- A pool of qualified donors;
- A realistic goal.
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The
case for support is like the score of the opera; it is
your story! The case tells people who your company is,
what you do and why they should support this project.
A compelling case must be made for the role of your opera
company in the community, the fact that your performances
are a valued part of the culture in your city, and how
supporting the arts in your community makes it a better
place for everyone to live and work. The case includes
the project budget, a scale of giving needed to insure
success, and opportunities for donors to participate at
various levels. The need for leadership gifts must be
spelled out in the case. If you have never written a case
for support, it is wise to seek counsel from a fundraising
consultant or experienced professional who can help you
draft your case. The case is first presented in a preliminary
form during the planning study (more about this later)
and then refined into a final case for support from which
all your campaign material including grant proposals,
brochures, video or power point presentation, and other
materials will be prepared.
The Board is the Composer of the Opera! They give birth
to the organization and guide its movement throughout
the campaign. The role of the Board of Directors or Trustees
cannot be stressed enough during the campaign. They will
be the first ones asked to make a financial commitment
to the campaign. Without 100% commitment of the Board,
it will be nearly impossible to gain support from the
community. The amount of the gift from each Board member
is not as important as the fact that all have supported
this campaign, and at a meaningful level for each Board
member. Board members will also be involved in serving
on the campaign cabinet and soliciting donations from
others, especially leadership level gifts whenever possible.
Campaign Volunteers are the cast of the Opera; each has
a role to play and must be the best caliber person to
play that role! You should never have just your Board
be the Campaign Cabinet. You will want to recruit about
five or six Board members to serve on the Cabinet, but
it is important to recruit other community leaders to
serve as well. The larger your Cabinet, the wider you
can spread your net in the community. A typical Campaign
Cabinet will have about twenty to twenty five people.
Like casting a production, the roles are in place and
the auditions will help select the right person for each
role. It is important to determine the divisions of your
campaign first, prepare a position description for each
chairperson, and then “audition” in order
to recruit the best person for the job. For example, you
will have a Leadership Gifts Division, a Major Gifts Division,
an Organization Division (to contact clubs and groups
like Rotary Club, Arts Council, etc.), a Foundation Division,
a Small Business Division, a Members Division, etc. It
will be crucial to get volunteers in place that can give
at the level at which they will be asking others to give,
and to find the right people who will have the connections
needed to reach the people in the division they are chairing.
A strong infrastructure is the stage on which your campaign
will perform. Included in the infrastructure are staffing,
technology, a strong annual giving program and a history
in the community. While the Board and Campaign Cabinet
will be guiding the campaign, a staff person will be needed
to support these volunteers. And a donor software system
must be in place that can handle pledge payments, personalized
letters and campaign reports. If you already have a strong
annual giving history, it will be much easier to develop
prospects for the campaign as well as recruit volunteers
who have already shown their interest by supporting your
opera company. And of course, if you are well known and
respected in the community, it will be much easier to
generate interest in and excitement about your campaign.
A pool of qualified donors is the audience, without whom
none of the other prerequisites really matter, do they?
The first place to look for major donors for your campaign
is the list of your annual appeal donors, members, and
subscribers. Those who already support your company will
be the most likely to support this project. If you have
a good donor software system in place, you can easily
pull a list of the top 10% of your donors to start with.
Also look at loyal donors and patrons, people who attend
your events and contribute on a regular basis, even if
not at a leadership level. Often these people have never
given large donations simply because they have not been
asked to do so! Screening sessions (brainstorming for
prospective donors) can also help uncover a list of potential
major donors.
A realistic goal is the final curtain, the last in our
list of essential ingredients for a successful campaign.
In most cases, a preliminary goal is established in the
case for support and then tested through a planning (or
feasibility) study. In a study, an outside firm will come
in and first guide your company through an internal assessment
to determine if all the essential ingredients are in place,
and then do an external assessment of the community's
willingness to support this project and this goal. A planning
study is almost always recommended before launching major
campaign. No one wants to be a part of a “flop,”
so you want to take the time to test your case for support,
determine if there are sufficient qualified prospective
donors, get community reactions to the campaign and the
preliminary goal, as well as find out if there are community
leaders willing to serve on the Campaign Cabinet.
The Planning Study is the dress rehearsal. If the results
of the study indicate that you are ready to do campaign,
great! Let’s do it! If the study indicates that
you are not ready for a campaign, the consultant will
provide recommendations on what to do before opening night!
Recommendations might include strengthening your Board,
increasing public relations efforts, initiating a strong
annual appeal, purchasing a donor software system, or
hiring staff. But once all the pieces are in place, the
curtain can rise on a successful campaign. |
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