Soapbox Engage Blog

Your nonprofit board of directors’ typical responsibilities include overseeing organizational governance, providing financial oversight, assisting with strategic planning and growth, and supporting fundraising work. All of this requires regular, consistent engagement on the part of each board member.

But what happens when your organization embarks on a capital campaign? These large-scale fundraising efforts will ask more of your board members than simply approving plans or okaying a budget. Instead, they’ll need to provide active buy-in, leadership, influence, and commitment to help your nonprofit push the campaign over the finish line.

In this short guide, we’ll explore four ways that board members should take an active role in your capital campaign and tried-and-true strategies you can apply to encourage their investment and engagement. Let’s begin.

The Role of Board Members in Capital Campaign Success

1. Being Invested in the Project
2. Being Involved in the Feasibility Study
3. Giving Personally Significant Gifts to the Campaign
4. Assisting with High-Level Fundraising

1. Being Invested in the Project

Not having your board members back you up on the need for your capital campaign project and your initial campaign plans can bring your progress to a grinding halt. This is why the first way that a board member can support your campaign’s success is to get invested in the project.

To ensure you have every board member’s buy-in for what you want to accomplish, do the following:

• Involve your board in the campaign planning process. Your nonprofit’s staff members shouldn’t be the only ones putting together your campaign plan. After all, this campaign has the power to transform your organization’s future. Involve your board members in creating the vision for that future. According to Capital Campaign Pro’s annual benchmark study, a vast majority of capital campaigns are born out of strategic planning. If your board members are involved in strategic planning, it’s likely that they’ll have built-in support for a campaign.


• Allow for candid discussion, and be open to what board members have to say. Be sure to make some time for discussion so you know what your board members think of the plan. Don’t be discouraged if someone voices constructive feedback or concerns. Address them as a group or get back to the individual who is raising any concerns quickly with the answers they need to move forward.


• Call for votes of approval in a bite-sized way. Greenlighting your entire project from the get-go may feel overwhelming to some (or all!) of your board members. Try breaking up the approval process. For instance, you might start with getting approval to conduct a feasibility study or hire a capital campaign consultant. Next, you might have your board approve your initial case for support, and so on.


• Alleviate common concerns. By anticipating common concerns board members may have, you can swiftly alleviate them. For example, many boards worry that capital campaigns will end up negatively impacting nonprofits’ annual fundraising efforts. However, 78% of nonprofits see their annual fund stay the same or increase during a capital campaign.

Once everyone has had their say about your campaign and you’ve worked through concerns, questions, and other roadblocks, your entire team — staff and board members — will feel more united in moving forward with your project. This may take some time, so be patient and open-minded.

2. Being Involved in the Feasibility Study

A feasibility study is an essential part of preparing for a capital campaign. A study gives your team the chance to test its plans and get feedback from key stakeholders, including major donors, community leaders, and your board members.

Here’s how the process works:

• Your team prepares its initial campaign plans (including the working campaign goal and drafts of key materials like the case for support and gift range chart) to present to stakeholders.
• You invite lead donors, key community members, and organizational leaders like your board members to participate in the feasibility study.
• Members of your team (or your fundraising consultant, depending on the feasibility study approach you choose to take) interview your stakeholders to get their thoughts and feedback on your campaign plans and start a conversation about giving a gift to the campaign.
• You review the findings of your feasibility study and make improvements to your plans (e.g., adjusting your campaign goal or timeline) based on the feedback you’ve collected.

While you’ll likely talk to several of your board members as part of the feasibility study interview process, you can also involve them in the study in other ways. For example, have them participate in interviews with people they have a strong connection with—this can help those individuals feel more comfortable answering your team’s questions and establish your board member as their point of contact for further involvement in the campaign.

Additionally, you’ll want to review your feasibility study’s results with your board. This will allow everyone to align on stakeholders’ perceptions of the campaign and work together to decide on next steps.

3. Giving Personally Significant Gifts to the Campaign

Board members have an obligation to give to your organization. Giving an annual gift is likely something you chatted about with each board member during their orientation experience, but when it comes to your capital campaign, giving a gift should be a priority for each member.

Gifts should be personally significant, meaning that they should represent a meaningful contribution from each board member. This will look different for everyone. Some board members may be able to give gifts in the thousands, while others may only be able to contribute $100. No matter the number, their donation should reflect their commitment to the organization and the project.

Board members’ gifts can provide a strong foundation for the campaign, but these gifts don’t necessarily have to represent a major percentage of the total campaign goal. The most important thing about these gifts is that they inspire other donors to give and send a message to the broader community that your organization's leaders are committed to your campaign.

While 100% giving from the board is the ideal to strive for, only 63% of organizations achieve that milestone. Don’t let this discourage you; reaching 100% board giving is still possible and will send positive signals to the rest of your community, so it’s still important to try!

4. Assisting with High-Level Fundraising

After they lead by example and give their own gifts, board members should also take an active role in helping you solicit large gifts for the campaign in its early stages. Here are a few key ways they can help:

• Act as ambassadors for the campaign by leveraging their networks. Several of your board members likely have personal and professional connections to high-net-worth individuals, corporations, and foundations who may be interested in giving gifts to your campaign. Ask your board members to reach out to their connections and help your team get its foot in the door by introducing you.


• Host major donor events. Events can be great touchpoints for getting face time with major donors and speaking with them about your campaign. Plus, if the invitation comes from a prominent community member who is also on your board, it can be an exciting event for your donors to attend. Ask board members to host intimate gatherings like fundraising dinners or cocktail parties to engage these donors.


• Participate in solicitations. Though your development team may take the lead on shaping the asks for your capital campaign, having board members involved in solicitations can be valuable. This may be new territory for your board members, so ensure you offer them the training and guidance they need to be truly helpful in this process. (You may want to consider working with a fundraising consultant who can provide this training to your entire board!)


• Personally thank major donors. Having a strong donor recognition strategy is essential to maintaining relationships with major donors beyond your campaign. Ask your board members to lead the way in thanking your donors both publicly and privately, especially the donors that they have personal connections with.

Board members can still help out with fundraising later on in the public phase. For instance, they might help lead large-scale fundraising events, serve on your community gifts campaign committee, or use their own financial resources to match gifts and encourage amplified donor participation.

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Capital campaigns are all-hands-on-deck endeavors, and that means your board will need to be heavily involved in the process, just like the rest of your team and community. Use this guide and the strategies explored above to engage your board members in your campaign so that you can reach your campaign goal and complete your project.