I spent Wednesday morning with the board and leadership from an 11-year old private school. They had asked me to help them facilitate the answer to this question. Some of the board members wanted to start months ago and others wanted to wait – for the economy, for planning, for a variety of reasons.

More than a ‘timing thing’ it was a ‘perspective thing’. Some leadership said, “We need to be having conversations NOW.” Other leaders didn’t want to budge until all the stars were aligned.

The debate is not unique. “When do we pull the trigger?”

I think this is the WRONG question and so it’s going to be hard getting consensus on an answer. So, for you and for this board, I want to RE-FRAME the issue.

Some more about this school:

• K-12 Catholic – on East Coast.
• About 200 students – enrollment steady.
• Tuition @ $12,500 (just raised 10%).
• Gifted 100 acres on which to build a new school. Currently have something of a duct-taped campus that spans the creative use of three church spaces.
• A ‘phased-approach’ to the building would require about $6M to functionally move all students to the new location.

I started out the morning with the board by simply listening. I heard things like:

• “I think this year we should just focus on an annual fund and a campaign at a later time.”
[Doesn’t compute. Not about annual fund v. campaign… about relationships… sharing vision… sharing priorities.]
• “We can’t do a campaign after just raising tuition.”
[Could be a messaging issues and/or a strategy issue.]
• “If we were to start a campaign we can’t talk to anyone until we have all the numbers – people are going to want to know.” [Was some uncertainty as to whether would be $6M or $7M. - You already know I think this is flat wrong - need a different perspective.]
• “But if we don’t start now, we lose momentum. The school is pumped up. We have the property.” [Again, a matter of perspective. Think in terms of vision of the school – it’s all one continuous stream… not a bunch of start/stop functions. I don’t care WHEN you put the shovel in the ground.]

For all intents and purposes the group was debating about whether or not to be doing development. They were mistaking the biggest sized funding priority (new school) for whether or not they should be getting serious about building and maximizing relationships… whether or not they should be fully engaged and committed to the activities that will advance the school!

We needed to make some leaps at a group – at the highest level all these great people, great leaders were on the same page.

Here are my follow-up notes to the board – redacted – I hope they help others RE-FRAME the debate. It’s not about to-be or not-to-be in a campaign… it should be about Advancing the Vision – Always.

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To our friends at this organization (they know who they are): Don’t let ‘a recession’ determine your timeline for saving lives, changing lives and impacting lives…

• A campaign is a time to build and maximize relationships. This begs the question, when would you NOT want to be building and maximizing relationships? We should be funding the vision – always. Note: Get more on Funding The Vision with Tom’s Campaign book.
• You need to be out selling. If I were to put that in a softer way that might be more widely received I would say you need to be out telling the story… or even just making visits.
• 16 months. This is how long it’s taken me to schedule a visit with my best project on one particular project. 16 months of persistence, gate keepers, put-off’s, delays. We persisted because the prospect was our top prospect (we knew/believed this). When we FINALLY got the visit the prospect thanked us for our tenacity… it turned into a $2.1M commitment. If you wait until we’re out of a recession to start ‘working the list’ what happens?
• 4 months. This is about how long it takes from the time you ASK to the time a six-figure gift is closed. Note: This is of course a little arbitrary and a complete generalization. I took a composite of my own experiences plus stories from funding boot camp alums – representing orgs of every shape and size. My point is, if you need the money in April you can’t start visiting in March.
• Fine. Don’t call it a campaign. If you’re that worried about perception just don’t call it a campaign.
• December 6, 1994. This was the day Orange County declared bankruptcy. It was also the same day The Suddes Group started a successful economic development campaign in that same county. I share this and could share dozens of other stories about being out in every economic climate. I’m not just typing a bunch of empty thoughts. We’ve been out there. We are out there – now. I’m damned straight playing the credibility card on this one… now more than ever you need to be out making visits. We’ve put together an entire seminar/publication around these stories.
• If you’re worried, be authentic. Let me assure you. No one is going to throw you out of his or her office or home because you’re there on behalf of a worthy cause during “a recession”. And, I PROMISE no one is going to ask, “How dare you come to me right now?” But, if it helps, work up your response and your security blanket. “We can’t stop telling our story because of the market and quite frankly, it’s not the market that’s driving us. It’s [CANCER] [HOMELESSNESS] [EDUCATION] [HOPE] [BEAUTY (arts)].”
• Finally, remember this is about RELATIONSHIPS, not transactions. The RELATIONSHIP to your CAUSE has nothing to do with the economy.
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