The role of the planning or campaign readiness study is to provide a strong, overall strategy for the campaign – the campaign roadmap.
But before we get to the “How” part, let’s discuss the “If” part of the question of whether your community can fundraise a certain goal amount.
If you are fundraising for a municipal entity, you must consider how many people are impacted by this entity over the course of a year or years.
- How many people utilize your recreational center, pool or library?
- How many more people could you serve if your library was more functional and large enough to serve your community needs?
- What if you had a second gymnasium in your recreational center?
- How many more people could you serve if you had a second sheet of ice to meet the needs of those who play hockey and figure skate in your community?
- How does this improve your community as a whole in terms of providing attractiveness to those wishing to move to your city?
- Is your facility up to par mechanically?
- Is your pool leaking and losing money?
- What could be done to upgrade or totally revamp your pool into a functional aquatic center attracting enough interest to provide an attractive amenity for your community and to also provided cost effectiveness from a tax perspective?
On the other hand, an organization has different parameters to assess during a study than a municipality. including the role of the Board of Directors, which is a volunteer-driven group of individuals who support a cause or mission with their time, talent and relationships to help secure a strong fiduciary function for the organization. In regard to a municipal campaign, the city council and Mayor must support the endeavor.
Questions asked during an organizational audit include important aspects of volunteer management, committees and their roles/functions as well as financial security, fundraising elements emanating from planning long term and short-term goals with objectives.
In the next article we will discuss details of a campaign readiness study and how the results of a study are used. Interested in learning how you can partner with Crescendo? Contact [email protected] for more information.