Campaign Communications Phase 6: Post-Close Planning

PHASE 6: POST-CLOSE PLANNING

Whether we like it or not, campaign close tends to usher in a time of transition for your advancement staff. With key accomplishments under their belts, many—quite often key leaders—seek new opportunities.

For donors who supported the campaign, this might mean that they have a new relationship manager, encounter confusing gaps in messaging or tone, or experience lapses in stewardship. The result is that this transitional period may leave principal gift prospects for your next campaign feeling less valued or even neglected at the very moment that they should be brought closer.

For these reasons, we always focus on ways to create stability through communications in the critical post-close phase. Some general words of advice:

• Transition campaign communications like special newsletters to comms that reflect on ways that the rewards of the campaign continue to drive impact.

• Celebrate long-term impact when you reach specific milestones made possible by the campaign. This could mean taking a retrospective look at everything a specific priority achieved after a set number of years, reflecting on broad impact and sharing exceptional stories about people served once you hit a certain number of beneficiaries, etc.

• Create structures to keep principal gift prospects for your next campaign updated about high-level decisions and engage them as key institutional partners.

• Hold onto campaign volunteers and give them updated messaging toolkits to keep campaign achievements present in their post-campaign outreach.