Mini-Campaign Playbook

After reading this study, members will understand:

• How to identify and foster a pipeline of prospective mini-campaign priorities
• Several mini-campaign volunteer structures and how to choose the most appropriate model
• How to cultivate, solicit, and steward a targeted set of donors and new prospects
• The role and expectations of a mini-campaign manager
• How to streamline campaign communications to optimize resources and outreach

Campaign model lacks flexibility, sustainability

For many organizations, the traditional campaign model is simply not sustainable in today’s volatile health care environment. Hospital priorities are shifting away from typical bricks-and-mortar projects and are often being altered mid-course, impacting campaign timelines and goal amount, frustrating donors and volunteers, and exhausting staff. Post-campaign troughs—in terms of revenue, pipeline health, and staff and volunteer engagement—are reportedly deeper and last longer.

Six traditional campaign practices to scale back

Campaign structures need to be more agile to anticipate and absorb changes in funding priorities and become more sustainable for staff, volunteers, and donors.

An emerging approach—the “mini-campaign”—offers a potential solution. This model has materialized in an ad hoc manner during traditional campaign crisis moments. To establish more defined parameters, strategic considerations, and execution steps, we have identified six areas in which the mini-campaign downsizes on traditional campaigns:

• Funding priority and goal
• Timeline
• Volunteer structure
• Donor strategy
• Staffing and external counsel
• Communications

The Mini-Campaign Playbook provides a step-by-step guide to help organizations rescale traditional campaign operations across the six areas outlined above. Designed for the fundraisers charged with managing mini-campaigns, the study offers tactics for identifying potential mini-campaign priorities and executing on the strategy.

Download the Study