3 Ways Your Church Can Establish Early Buy-in Before Launching a Major Capital Campaign, Fundraising Ask, or Rollout of a New Vision

Alright folks, we’re going to shift gears a bit now. You’ve stayed with us through our church series, and this post will serve as the conclusion. The last few posts have centered on church communications and psychological safety, and now we’re going to talk a bit about launching capital campaigns at church from the perspective of your communications leader. When your communications or marketing director has a seat at the table and when you’ve created a psychologically safe environment for ideas and innovation, your path to success will be much clearer.

The time is coming for your church to gear up for some sort of major financial ask and I’m a firm believer that preparation is everything. Read that again: preparation is ev-er-y-thing. You could have all the right timing in the world, but if you don’t do the proper leg work, your campaign is at risk of falling  flat. It’s important to remember that your audience (a.k.a your members!) needs to be primed to hear your message. There is nothing worse than surprising your audience with a major donation ask out of the blue. By exposing them early to your campaign, you can establish early buy-in you may not have had otherwise. Then, when it comes time to actually launch, those who have gained an “inside” peek at your campaign will be excited to spread the word even more! (More on this in a bit!)

There are plenty of unique ways you can establish early buy-in other than popping a note from the pastor  in the bulletin the week before launch. (In fact, we absolutely suggest that you take a BIG pause if that’s your current plan) Before you do anything in written or digital form, ask if your people are in a place to really hear your message. A.K.A. have you “read the room” yet? The last thing you want is to launch a major campaign, only to have it land on deaf ears. Whomp whomp. While the other members of the campaign steering committee are thinking through key givers and the sequence of campaign events, you must not ignore the question, “how is this going to be heard?”

So, in preparation for your big campaign launch, I’d like for you to consider filling three buckets first as you work to establish early buy-in, or “VIP access.” Each of these buckets will spill over into the next, so fill them in order if you can.

1. Your staff and their roles in the campaign.

2. Your campaign’s branding, design, marketing collateral. AKA the creative goods.

3. Your most committed volunteers, known big givers, and ride-or-die members.

Staff.

Before you do ANYTHING with your campaign, please, please launch the campaign with your staff first. By now, your leadership team should have all the behind-scenes-work on the campaign just about wrapped up, so launching to your staff should be a no brainer. (And, they’ve probably heard rumblings of it anyways, so fill them in!) Host a special all-hands meeting, all-staff, whatever your organization calls it, and practice launching the campaign to your staff first. Give your staff time to ask questions and process your campaign goals. Give them the what, when, where, and why. How are staff members going to be involved? How can each person on staff be part of the success of the campaign? By looping your staff in at the forefront, you’re creating internal buy-in and building trust. You want the people who are going to be leading out the campaign to trust that this is the right move, at the right time and they need to hear this first, from you. 

I say all of this with a caveat: this mostly applies to large churches with multiple departments of staff members. In many cases, your church may only have a handful of employees total and you’re all hands on deck! And that’s ok! Everything can be scaled down, but the principle still applies: loop in your staff early.

THOUGHT STARTERS:

• Make it a big deal! If the budget allows for it, order t-shirts or a swag item for everyone on staff with a teaser of the campaign’s branding! (I’ve got branding as technically bucket #2 so this one only applies if you are really ahead of the game!)

• Cater lunch! Everything always goes over better with food. #amiright

• Create a unique video to unveil your campaign branding or maybe the campaign name or slogan. Show off your creative team’s hard work and dreams for the campaign!

Branding + Social Media.

Second, your campaign’s branding. Most likely, you already have branding in place for your church. We’ll refer to this as your “primary brand.” For your campaign, you’ll want to create some sort of “secondary branding” to support your initiative. Think of it like a sub-brand of your church’s primary and known brand. A good designer will tie it into your church’s primary branding to show that the campaign is still a part of your church’s DNA and not something totally far fetched. You want these to be complimentary, and we can advise on this part specifically. DM us for a discovery call!

Once you’ve established the look and feel of the campaign’s branding, (and you’ve launched to your staff!), start to subtly use it within social media posts or new signage to tease to your people that something new, big, and exciting is coming. Use it as a way to communicate that “the thing” you’re about to launch is something special. Begin teasing it on your social media channels, in your newsletters, slides during weekend services, and maybe even new signage around your building. (Don’t worry about going crazy with new signage yet, but you’ll want to think through what new signage pieces might look like for launch day and have a plan in place for installation!) Teasing it this way is an easy way to “soft launch” your campaign before announcing it verbally for that first big time on launch day! The goal is to create buzz, that’s all! You don’t need to include the official campaign name or any dollar goals - include just enough to pique interest and communicate to your people that you’re taking this seriously and that you’re prepared. (Nobody wants to even think about giving money to something that seems thrown together or low quality!) 

Remember, if you’re a small church with only a handful of teammates, the principle still applies: think about your campaign’s branding and prioritize it being done well. A few simple ‘staple’ pieces can go a long way while still communicating the same preparedness as I mentioned earlier. And if this is an area where your team just doesn’t have bandwidth, reach out and we can help!

THOUGHT STARTERS:

• If you have digital signage in your lobby, like a TV or LED screen, create a teaser piece to add into your usual rotation about a month ahead of launch. “Something big is coming…{launch date}...will you pray with us?”; “Coming soon…to learn more XYZ, go here {website with teaser content}”; “Scripture that ties into our campaign…don’t miss {launch date} as we prepare for a new season at {church name}.” — These are all ways to TEASE your campaign and introduce the campaign to your people in a non-invasive way. Remember, the AVERAGE church-goer attends 1.5 Sundays a month so most people will only see it once if you put it up a month before! Plan accordingly!

• Create social media graphics with the new branding, similar to above. Drip them on your socials for a few weeks to help build some brand awareness. In the captions, ask people to share them, “save the date”, invite a friend on the launch date, or visit a campaign landing page.

• Print something to display in your bathroom stalls if you have these sign holders already.

Volunteers.

Once you’ve launched to your staff, finalized your branding and began teasing it on social media or other mediums, it’s time to bring in your inner circle. Think of your ride-or-die members - the members who would support the campaign no matter what and are already loyal to your church’s initiatives. These are the people you want to become influencers in their own circles! In other words, this group is the “20% who do 80% of the work.” ;) 

So what’s the best way to bring them in early? Host a campaign preview night! Similar to launching to your staff, make this is a big deal. Have your leadership  create an invite list and send invites accordingly. Create campaign branded swag, have food, and make them feel special. After all, you trusted them enough to invite them into the campaign before anyone else! Equip them with messaging to tell their friends why the campaign is important and why they are involved/going to donate. Use your own people as a grassroots marketing team. Come launch day, you’ll have a whole army of people already pumped up about the campaign! BONUS: ask them to wear their campaign t-shirts on launch day!

THOUGHT STARTERS:

• Create campaign swag bags! Include a t-shirt, something for kids, and a QR code that goes to the campaign landing page or a digital commitment/pledge card.

• Make it a family cookout to capitalize on fellowship time! Unveil the campaign then head outside for a family meal and popsicles for the kids. Rent a bounce house. People will remember the experience more than your slide deck anyways. ;)

Hopefully by now the wheels are turning and you’re starting to get excited about planning your campaign. Don’t be mistaken, there is A LOT that goes into campaign launches but keep it fun and stay true to your church’s culture and values. Your people will see right through anything other than that. You’ve got this!

And as you gear up to launch, you can always fall back on this old marketing motto, “Tell them what you’re going to tell them, and then tell them what you told them.”