2003 CASE CAMPAIGN COMMUNICATIONS CONFERENCE MAY 21-22 / NEW ORLEANS

Thursday, May 22

Idea Exchange-Key campaign communications
9:45 - 10:30
Kristin V. Rehder's comments on:

• The vision statement-a new way to think about case statements
• Giving opportunity guides as a handy reference tool
• The campaign newsletter-a good idea or not?

The vision statement

Here is a straightforward litmus test for the issues to consider when putting together any communication, whether a publication, website, or event:

• Who is this audience for this communication?
• What action do we want those people to take on our behalf as a result of this communication?
• What elements must be included? (Be sure to know and satisfy--or argue against--the "political" agendas connected to your piece early on!)
• Why would anyone read/attend it? (Note: not why should they)

I am addressing the first three key communications for a campaign, and here are my votes:

• Case statement: Do it, but it is not a usable tool for actual solicitation, so combine it with the next piece...
• Giving guide to the campaign: Do it!
• Newsletter: Don't do it! (Note: general wisdom is to do it.)

Why do I refer to your published case as a vision statement rather than a case statement?

• Remember, you are not making the case for a campaign (the campaign is not the news or the motivation for giving).
• You are not even making a case for the institution and its plans.
• You are making a case for education, and you are asking people to partner with you as, together, you make education—the way you deliver it—a shared high priority.

Though it takes some work, the best way to talk about how you deliver education is to make a case that your values match those of your donors. Some shared values might include:

• Superb and effective education
• Entrepreneurship
• Community development and improvement
• Commitment to a better society
• Access to education for people who otherwise could not gain it
• A well-run organization
• A place that creates knowledge

In your vision statement, you will show your donors how to channel a gift through the campaign to education at your institution and to the commitments that you share.

Three examples of how a vision statement is done are:

• The University of Chicago (which stresses the ultimate goals of philanthropy and shows how the University is an excellent place through which to exercise that philanthropy)
• Wesleyan University (which shows eight reasons for investing in the institution that interpret institutional and donor values)
• College of the Holy Cross (which explores the basic beliefs of the Jesuit faith as manifested through the College and connects those tenets to donors' current lives)

What basic elements should be part of a vision statement once you have covered vision?

• A quick campaign overview and the impact the campaign will have. Don't forget to reference the last campaign and what it accomplished for perspective.
• A financial case for increased revenues for the institution
• The major campaign priorities and some possibilities for giving within each heading
• The annual fund as the foundation of all giving to the institution
• A gift pyramid because it lets people imagine where they fit in
• Listing of key leaders and volunteers to give them attention and thanks
• A gutsy section in which you address why someone would want to make a gift to your institution, and why now
• Contact information

Giving opportunity guides

An excellent resource to have in a campaign is a guide to giving. Here are the elements to include in such a piece that can either be a two-page spread (University of Iowa) or a small booklet with tabs (Mount Holyoke, Holy Cross, Wesleyan University):

• Briefest of intros explaining what the campaign is about and how the book can be useful
• A short financial case with charts showing why the institution needs increased resources and its revenue and expenses streams
• A lively, well written section that details the campaign priorities
• A section that displays gifts by amounts from the millions down to $10,000 and cross references those to the previous section on campaign priorities. (I am a $100,000 prospective donor and you reference me to a scholarship endowment, laboratories in the science facility, classrooms, a faculty research fund, or the naming of an athletic field.)
• A section on different ways of giving
• Contact information

Campaign newsletters

Campaign newsletters can be traps for staff time and precious resources. Be careful about creating them. In opinion surveys and focus group research, we have learned that the constituency rarely reads a campaign newsletter and that only a small percentage even scan them for highlights. Alumni and others say that even when campaign newsletters are actively written and well designed, they cannot readily find information in it for them. Why would I read this? they ask, usually justifiably.

Constituencies have said that they want to read about some of following topics:

• Information from the leader of the institution that is direct and truthful
• What's happening at the institution that is new and different, or relates to difficult challenges and tough issues
• People with a connection to the institution who are in the national or local news, or important news coverage related to the institution itself
• What faculty members are up to
• How they can use their time and money to help the institution solve a problem

When considering the above list, note that all of the topics of interest can be and usually are taken care of in existing institutional communications. The campaign newsletter is often in danger of being considered a "puff piece," and generally contains safe profiles, guarded language, and a positive spin on institutional matters. Donors can sniff the propaganda of such pieces and will toss your masterpiece quickly.

Consider some alternatives to that traditional campaign newsletter:

• A one-page, front and back, update on the campaign (University of Iowa)
• A post card series of updates on the campaign
• A series of "think" papers from faculty on current issues of teaching, research, and engagement sponsored by the campaign (in this mode the campaign gets credit for supporting education rather than trying to be the topic of interest itself!)
• An energetic mid-campaign report on impact of gifts to date and possibilities for giving that whet the appetite of your donors

The information contained here may not be reproduced without credit to Kristin V. Rehder and/or permission to copy.
Kristin V. Rehder June 3, 2003.