Campaign Planning
Clarity before commitment. Often referred to as a feasibility study, pre-campaign planning helps your organization determine readiness, estimate what you can realistically raise, and define the strategy for a successful campaign.
You need to know whether a campaign is the right vehicle before committing.
Experienced guidance from the outset helps you avoid costly missteps.
Thorough pre-campaign planning is the most valuable investment before asking anyone for a gift.
What You Get
Pre-campaign planning is the strategic foundation your campaign is built on, not a formality.
Through proper planning, your organization gains an understanding of campaign potential, timing, and readiness. Covenant evaluates leadership alignment, donor capacity, organizational infrastructure, strength of your case elements, and community support to deliver an honest answer you can act on.
We establish a fundraising goal and campaign timeline grounded in real data: constituent interviews, your prospect landscape, and organizational capacity.
We assess your development infrastructure, staffing, board engagement, and donor relationships to identify what's working, what needs strengthening, and what must be in place before you launch.
You'll leave the engagement with a clear set of next steps: campaign budget outline, staffing recommendations, timeline, and a Prospect Matrix of your top-priority donor relationships.
Cumulative years of professional fundraising experience
Organizations served
Raised on campaigns
Process
Covenant works with your leadership team to clarify campaign objectives, define key study questions, and establish the roadmap for the engagement.
We help identify and convene a small group of trusted advisors, donors, and community leaders to guide the study and provide candid input.
Covenant reviews your key materials and data, including fundraising history, donor records, and strategic plans, to ensure interviews are informed and grounded in context.
Our team conducts confidential interviews with board members, major donors, community leaders, and key organizational representatives.
At the midpoint, we present preliminary findings and early recommendations so your leadership can begin preparing for what's ahead.
The engagement concludes with a comprehensive final report: full findings, strategic recommendations, suggested case enhancements, campaign goal, timeline, budget outline, staffing plan, and prospect matrix.
What To Expect
Covenant Philanthropic Solutions serves as a true strategic partner throughout the study, providing consistent communication and a single point of contact from start to finish. Campaign planning engagements typically run 12 to 16 weeks, with weekly or biweekly meetings. Early phases require meaningful involvement from your team, primarily around coordinating interviews and gathering key organizational documents.
Study design, interview facilitation, data synthesis, and Final Report development.
Coordinating interview outreach, gathering internal documents, and preparing leadership for the campaign decisions ahead.
Experienced guidance. Lasting impact.
“Covenant Philanthropic Solutions has been a true partner to the Food Bank, providing invaluable guidance and expertise. Their comprehensive fundraising assessment was instrumental in shaping our strategy, ensuring we had the foundation needed for sustainable growth. Thanks to their insights, we are confidently moving forward with our next transformational campaign to better serve our community.”
“I highly recommend Covenant Philanthropic Solutions as an excellent resource for capital campaign and fundraising support. Claudia and Kyle are laser-focused, experienced leaders in the philanthropy arena, and they keep me and my team on task gently but firmly with our goals. The Covenant team have been a fundamental part of our growth, giving us solid and easy-to-implement ideas for planning and securing several major gifts.”
“Claudia was a great thought partner when it came to all things fundraising—such a knowledgeable resource for others and me. She understands what it takes to run an effective development department, as well as a successful major gift campaign. Her leadership had a positive and lasting impact on our entire organization.”
Success Stories
Every organization Covenant partners with brings a unique set of circumstances, goals, and constituents. Here’s a look at how our counsel has helped nonprofits navigate complex fundraising challenges and reach their fullest philanthropic potential.
To meet growing need, the San Diego Food Bank set out to double its capacity, but its fundraising infrastructure wasn’t yet built to support a campaign of that scale. Covenant conducted a comprehensive pre-campaign planning study analyzing revenue potential, expenses, timeline, and return on investment, giving the organization the roadmap it needed to launch with confidence.
Make-A-Wish Greater Bay Area needed to raise $10M above their annual giving to fulfill a growing queue of wishes — but weren’t sure if the timing or donor base could support it. Covenant conducted a Pre-Campaign Planning Study, including 27 interviews, a refined Case for Support, and a full campaign readiness assessment that gave leadership the clarity to move forward.
We lead the full engagement: designing the study, forming the Advisory Task Force, conducting constituent interviews, analyzing findings, and delivering a comprehensive Final Report with strategic recommendations.
There's no single threshold, but organizations typically need an active board, a defined campaign purpose, and a donor base large enough to support meaningful interviews. Part of our early work is assessing what's in place and identifying anything that needs attention before a campaign can launch.
Most engagements run 12 to 16 weeks from kickoff to Final Report delivery. The timeline can flex depending on the scale of the campaign goal, complexity of your constituent landscape and your leadership's availability during the interview phase.
That happens, and it's one of the most valuable things a study can reveal. If the findings indicate your organization needs more preparation, we'll say so directly and outline exactly what needs to be built before you proceed.
During the study, your team meets regularly with Covenant’s advisors to review progress, discuss emerging insights, and plan next steps. Early in the process, your organization helps coordinate interview outreach and provide key documents that inform the study.
Pre-Campaign Planning is designed to feed directly into Campaign Management and Counsel. If your study results support moving forward, we'll outline what a full campaign partnership looks like, building on everything we've already learned about your organization.
The first step is an honest conversation about where your organization stands and where it can go. Covenant Philanthropic Solutions brings 18+ years of advisory experience and a commitment to telling you what you need to hear.
