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A Campaign Is…

WOW Email | | Nick Fellers

We spend a lot of time aligning teams around the campaign concept. The concept of a ‘campaign’ means different things to different people. So to start, I’ll ask a board or a team, “What is a campaign?”

The word association shows the varied images people have.

  • “Committees!”
  • “Asking our friends for money!”
  • “Kickoff events!”

If the ‘Capital Campaign’ had a brand, it would be a bad one.  So, the first thing I often do is take control of the word.

A Campaign is…

  • When an organization gets very serious about building and maximizing relationships.

    This begs a question – When would we NOT want to be building and maximizing relationships? This is all. it. is. By this definition we should ALWAYS be in a campaign.
  • A defined initiative with a goal and a plan. The first notion of a campaign I can find goes back to the Roman days – targeted initiatives with an objective and a plan (and then a celebration.)
  • A story!

    The campaign is a time for us to tell our story! And, in fact, the campaign itself is a story. What’s the story we want to be telling about the next chapter in our impact?

    The story is not about ‘a capital campaign’ or ‘a building.’ Instead, what if we built a focused story around what we want to accomplish in the next 1000 days? Some examples:
    • “We want to be there when people need us!”
    • “Advancing care for vulnerable populations.”
    • “Scaling our impact on a national level.”Each of these examples were very successful campaign initiatives. They provided the focused narrative for a 1,000 day WHY/WHAT/HOW.
  • A catalyst.

    For telling our story. For engaging others. For change. For results. For Impact.