A time for renewal
Several friends of the VFW will soon be heading to neighborhoods like yours, hoping to raise $750,000 to pay for construction updates that are badly needed to keep the hall viable for decades to come.
“It’s gotten to the point that we have to ask for help,” said Greg Mikowski, 12-year commander of the Little Finger Post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. “The parents of a lot of our VFW members helped build the hall in the early 1950s and it became the place to be for dances and wedding receptions.”
The VFW Hall still holds much potential, but requires an update that promises to be very expensive to keep up with compared to the meager cash reserves held by the post.
I’m ready to take on that task and ensure that VFW Little Finger Post 7731 is around for decade to come.
Below are as follows: A letter to a potential donor to raise funds for the VFW Hall renovation and fundraising ideas to make the VFW Hall renovation a reality.
Letter to Richard J. Stephenson - Chairman, International Capital Investment Company:
July 29, 2024
To: Richard J. Stephenson
Chairman, International Capital Investment Company, and
Nice Guy With a Weak Spot for Leland
It is generous of you to allot time this afternoon to meet. I know you’re a time-strapped guy with business interests. Toss in chasing Stacie around the house and keeping track of those twins, and your personal time must fill up fast, too.
I would like to talk about our veterans. The Little Finger Post of the VFW is at a crossroads with its hall, which was built by GIs who came home from WW II. It’s got great bones, and aged wood paneling that speaks of the sacrifices those men endured.
There is no other community hall in the county that can host medium-sized weddings, large funeral receptions and inside gatherings such as an arts and craft fair.
The Hall is in need of work to remain pertinent. From the front entrance doors you can walk upstairs to the gathering space or down to the basement. In other words, as our veterans lose their mobility they can no longer climb steps to use their hall. Ditto for county residents who aren’t getting younger.. There are no handicap bathrooms. There is no air conditioning, it’s got all of 60 amps of electrical service and the boiler has seen better days.
I got choked up when I saw Dick Grout, our 103-year-old D-Day veteran, being carried up the stairs in a cradle hold for Memorial Day services. Believe it or not, he walks pretty good with a walker. But not up stairs.
I was asked to meet with VFW members at their monthly meeting in June to address the issue, They responded by getting some preliminary construction prices, and I’m scheduled to meet with them again on Aug. 6. They are an independent lot; they’re not inclined to go around with their hands out.
I remember years ago you asking if there was something in the community in need of help. I’ve never run a capital campaign before, but now I’m asking around, learning how to put one together. Leelanau already has a boatload of nonprofits, but none specifically for vets.
I’d like to hear your thoughts before I meet again with our Veterans. Thank you for your interest.
Your friends
Alan and Debbie Campbell
VFW Hall Fundraising Ideas
1. Assemble a capital campaign committee.
A capital campaign cannot survive with one person calling all of the shots. It is a team initiative that requires the support and commitment of several people. In particular, a capital campaign needs a strong committee made up of specific individuals to ensure successful cohesion. Generally, these people will include:
Members of your board of directors. Your entire board doesn’t need to be on your capital campaign committee, but make sure that you’ve enlisted the help of your key members before you start planning your capital campaign. Board members are often the most invested and well-connected individuals on your capital campaign team. They will be essential during the fundraising process (and may even contribute large gifts of their own).
Staff members. Depending on your type of nonprofit, these team members may be faculty, heads of departments, or senior executives. It’s a good idea to have a selection of people from different departments and areas for a well-rounded capital campaign team.
Community volunteers. Your capital campaign team should not be composed solely of organization members. Regular supporters of and advocates for your nonprofit are perfect candidates for your capital campaign team. These supporters may have benefited from your services and be alumni, previous hospital patients, or recipients of your goodwill.
Valuable prospects. Be sure to include key giving prospects in your capital campaign committee. They can provide a unique perspective as donors that your nonprofit can leverage to better plan your capital campaign from the start.
Depending on the size of your committee and the scope of your capital campaign, you may need to break up your team into various subcommittees to help handle smaller or more detailed projects. Types of subcommittees that you could potentially create include:
Government Relations
Loans and Bridge Funding
Corporate Donations
In-Kind Donations
Marketing
Special Events
As you can see, there are many options for subcommittees. Make sure that your main committee meets regularly to get updates from each subcommittee so that you can ensure every task necessary for campaign success is being taken care of.
Finally, you may need the help of additional people that aren’t included on your committee. These individuals can come from within your organization or be externally contracted (like a nonprofit consultant). In general, you should look to the following individuals or groups for additional help during your capital campaign:
Major gifts officer
Prospect researcher
Planned giving officer
And more!
Capital campaigns are not meant to be tackled alone, so choose your teams wisely. Depending on your goal and your organization’s resources, the composition of these teams may differ.
2. Complete a feasibility study.
A feasibility study involves assessing whether or not your organization has the current capacity and community support to succeed with a capital campaign.
During a feasibility study, your organization will take a look at its resources, donor data, and past fundraising success. Additionally, a member of your organization will conduct a series of interviews with your organization’s stakeholders, like members of the community and potential donors, to help determine whether or not your campaign will be able to raise the funds necessary in the allotted amount of time.
Think of it as a focus group to improve a product before it launches. You wouldn’t try to sell a product that no one wants, and you definitely don’t want to launch a capital campaign that no one cares about. A feasibility study allows you to determine whether or not your organization is ready for a capital campaign, and if the community would be willing to support your project.
During the feasibility study, your committee will need to look at several factors:
The community’s perception of the proposed project and your organization in general
Your organization’s fundraising KPIs
The potential size of your donor base and the ability of those supporters to give large donations
Available internal resources, such as fundraising software, and where resources are lacking
External factors that could come into play during the capital campaign (such as the current economic climate or social movements)
Other relevant information
A feasibility study may be completed by a member of the committee or can be conducted by an outside consultant. Many organizations prefer to rely on an outside expert to conduct the interviews for a feasibility study, as stakeholders may give more honest feedback to a third party rather than someone they know from your organization.
Either way, a feasibility study will usually involve interviewing between 30 and 40 people, including:
Board members
Staff members
Past donors
Other major gift prospects
Volunteers
Other members of the community
Prepare yourself and your team to accept the results of the feasibility study, whatever they may be. If your stakeholders give insights that lead your organization to conclude that a capital campaign isn’t possible right now, keep an open mind and consider the steps you need to take so that your campaign will be feasible in the future!
3. Screen campaign prospects.
Conducting comprehensive prospect research is essential for finding high-impact donors for your nonprofit’s capital campaign. Researching potential donors’ wealth alone isn’t enough—a viable prospect has to be both able and willing to make a significant contribution.
As you conduct wealth and philanthropic screening ahead of your capital campaign, look for the following indicators of a potential major donor:
A Venn diagram of capacity, philanthropic, and affinity indicators for capital campaign prospect research, which are listed below.
Capacity indicators: Real estate ownership, SEC transactions, business affiliations, political giving.
Philanthropic indicators: Previous donations to your nonprofit or other nonprofits.
Affinity indicators: Deep love for your cause, nonprofit involvement history (event attendance, volunteering, board service, etc.), personal information (particularly interests and values).
The more you know about a prospect’s giving patterns and willingness to support your mission, the better prepared you’ll be to cultivate relationships with them and make effective donation requests during your capital campaign.
Before you dive into capital campaign prospect research, make sure your nonprofit is equipped with the right tools. In addition to a comprehensive and accurate database, it’s helpful to leverage a prospect generator platform (like ProspectView Online 2) to develop custom AI-driven reports, as well as a predictive modeling solution (like DonorSearch Ai/DonorSearch Enhanced CORE) to segment prospects and prioritize outreach to those most likely to contribute to your campaign.
Learn more about the importance and impact of prospect research for nonprofits. Read Our Complete Guide.
4. Set a deadline.
One of the components of a capital campaign that distinguishes it from some other fundraising efforts is that it has a deadline. While annual funds and endowments can be replenished at any time, funds for a capital campaign must be made within the allotted time.
Set a realistic deadline for your capital campaign, but account for unexpected events that could stall your fundraising and throw off your plan. A capital campaign can last anywhere from one year to several depending on your fundraising efforts and your system for pledges. Pick a deadline that makes the most sense with regard to your project and how long you think the fundraising stages will be.
The most important thing to remember when picking your capital campaign’s deadline? Always keep it flexible. Don’t let your campaign run on and on if you hit fundraising roadblocks. This can be a sign that it’s time to head back to the drawing board instead of dragging out a campaign that can’t support itself. Conversely, if you hit your fundraising stride near the planned deadline for your capital campaign, don’t be afraid to keep fundraising. Your campaign’s deadline should be a guidepost and not a brick wall.
Explore available resources to help your organizational leaders plan a campaign and stay on track for the duration. One great example of this is Capital Campaign Toolkit, a resource that guides nonprofit leaders through a seven-phase campaign plan. A combination of online resources and expert capital campaign advising, the Toolkit is a step-by-step path to campaign success. When using the Toolkit, your nonprofit gains access to templates, checklists, worksheets, and campaign experts to fully map out your campaign and any appropriate deadlines. With access to the Toolkit’s private Facebook group, weekly advising calls, and expert advisors, the Capital Campaign Toolkit has built-in accountability to keep you on track and help you meet your campaign deadline.
5. Finalize your campaign’s financial goal.
One of the most important planning components of your capital campaign is setting your financial goal. Naturally, this will depend on the scope of your proposed project, but make sure that you are accounting for hidden costs as well as obvious expenses.
Hidden costs that you might not initially account for in your capital campaign goal include:
Fundraising costs. Between marketing materials, the costs of fundraising events, and other related expenses, it’s difficult to raise a large sum of money without spending some money. Make sure that your financial goal takes these costs into account.
Consulting costs. Many nonprofits rely on consulting services for successful capital campaigns. Though consulting services are a wise investment, they will come at a cost, so be prepared to account for the cost of the services in your goal.
Attrition costs. Many capital campaigns rely on pledges that are dispersed over the course of a number of years. Some of the value of these pledges will be reduced, often through nonpayment. Keep these attrition costs in mind when you start planning your financial goal and remember that attrition costs should not exceed 10% of your final goal.
Inflation. This hidden cost may be more difficult to calculate than others, but you can still try to prepare for the costs associated with inflation over the course of your capital campaign.
Donor appreciation wall. Especially when a facility is built or renovated, nonprofits like to recognize their top supporters with a donor appreciation wall. Because constructing an appreciation wall can be costly, consider the expense and include it in your financial goal.
Make sure that you take a holistic view of your campaign when finalizing your financial goal. The goal will be integral when making your donation appeal to major donors, corporations, and other individual supporters.
6. Prepare for success by reviewing past wins and challenges.
Before determining who to solicit donations from and how to raise money for your capital campaign, look to the past to guide your efforts. Your feasibility study gives you a natural opportunity to do so, but you can return to your past fundraising data again and again as you begin strategizing for your campaign.
For example, if you implemented a direct mail campaign that worked well in the past, consider using that method to communicate with your supporters. Looking to the past can be a great way to give all of your fundraising methods a boost, but it can be especially helpful when planning a capital campaign. Since you need to raise a significant amount of money by a certain deadline, it’s useful to have all of your best fundraising strategies in the back of your mind.
As you review what has and hasn’t worked in the past, you can also formulate a plan for unforeseen circumstances during your capital campaign. These could range from small hiccups to large roadblocks that stall your project for several months. Your subcommittees and the main committee should keep each other regularly updated on progress to catch problems earlier rather than later so that you can effectively pivot and prevent past mistakes.
7. Set a budget.
As mentioned earlier, capital campaigns are designed to raise money for a particular venture, but they also require the spending of funds. Before you launch your campaign, create a designated budget for fundraising costs and other expenses.
Potential costs could include:
Major gift donor cultivation. Asking major donors for contributions requires more than a simple phone call. It involves meetings, lunches, and other events that are designed to persuade the individual to donate to your capital campaign. Your team will have to spend some money during this cultivation process.
Support documents. Your capital campaign will have to have various materials available for donors to learn more about the campaign. Whether completed in-house or by a marketing agency, these materials should be factored into your budget.
Fundraising events. Depending on the type of event, you might need to pay for certain services, like event planning.
You will likely find that your campaign has many other costs in addition to these. Accounting for all of the expenses that you might incur during the planning and implementation process will help you stay on track to achieving your goals.
Outline your campaign timeline.
Going along with your fundraising course, you’ll need to create a detailed capital campaign timeline. This timeline should focus on the two main phases of your campaign:
Quiet Phase: This is the stage in which you make appeals to major donors, corporations, and government agencies. During the quiet phases, many campaigns aim to pull in 50-70% of their overall goal.
Public Phase: After a kick-off event, the capital campaign is made open to the public. At this point, donors can contribute whatever they want, whenever they want.
You can fill in the details of these two phases with the particulars as they relate to your specific capital campaigns.
11. Prepare supporting documents.
Externally-facing support documents educate donors on your capital campaign and encourage them to contribute. These may include:
Case statement (More on this below!)
Fundraising letters
Email blasts
Slide decks
State: One fun-time person to raise $500,000.
12 simple ways to raise money for a nonprofit
(Donorbox.org.)
1. Create a branded donation page
2. Offer a convenient text-giving option
3. Send out a fundraising letter to supporters
4. Launch a crowdfunding campaign for time-bound projects
5. Host fundraising events and sell tickets
6. Try peer-to-peer fundraising to encourage supporters to fundraise
7. Turn one-time donors into recurring donors
8. Ask for corporate sponsorships
9. Launch a phone-a-thon
10. Start a membership program
11. Apply for a grant
12. Update your in-person donation strategy
Start Raising Money
Form committee called Friends of the VFW Hall. Three or five people.
- Committee does not incorporate; simply works for the benefit of VFW Hall Project. Monies go directly to building fund for VFW.
One VFW member sits on committee.
Promote VFW Hall as only nonprofit Community Center in center and northern Leelanau County.
Invite Leelanau Historical Society to do deep dive on the hall and the families that joined to build it.
VFW members participate and help in fund raising.
Goal: Raise $600,000 money in one year.
Secondary Goal: Have Fun.
Fundraisers:
BBQ for VFW - Show people what needs to be done.
- Invite Cong. Bergman, Bo White
- Burgers, Brats and Beer?
- Honor Dick Grout
- Outline bathroom expansions.
- Chalk outlets and bring in generator lights to explain need for change.
50/50 Drawing or Car raffle drawing or something similar
Work with Leelanau Sands Casino for a veterans weekend?
Booth at Street Fair
Grant sources:
Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation
Suttons Bay Rotary
Rotary Charities
Oleson Foundation
Leelanau Foundation
W.J. Larsen Family Foundation ($60,000 to LCN)
L-L Community Foundation
Government:
Veterans Administration
Grand Traverse Band
Earmarks, Cong. Bergman
State Economic Development grants
Money kept by VFW in separate fund. All goes toward improving the hall.
(Don’t spend on maintenance.)