Campaign Overview

The campaign features in ExceedFurther allow you to define a campaign goal, create a gift range chart, identify volunteer solicitors, and manage the progress of campaign prospects through each step of the cultivate/solicit/steward cycle to a successful conclusion.

You can create an unlimited number of campaigns and manage each one separately. When you define a new campaign, such as the current annual campaign, you can save time by copying the setup and prospect list from a prior campaign.

When you define a campaign, you set an overall goal and build a gift range chart to help define the gifts that you will need to meet the goal. You can create teams of volunteer solicitors and assign each a piece of the campaign goal and then track progress toward these team goals.

The Gift Range Chart is a tool to help determine how many gifts at what size you need to raise to meet the campaign goal. You can build your chart yourself and enter it into ExceedFurther, or ExceedFurther can build the chart for you. If ExceedFurther builds the chart, two things are required: the campaign goal and a Gift Size Table to define the ranges. The Gift Size Table is also used in statistical reports not necessarily related to a campaign. You create the Gift Size Table in Admin.

The major effort in a campaign involves identifying and managing the list of prospects. You can find prospects from among the names already in ExceedFurther and easily add them to the campaign. As you add them, you can specify the size range that their gift is likely to fall into, assign them to a staff member and a volunteer solicitor team, and determine where they are in the campaign cycle. For example, are they ready to solicit, need more cultivation, or should the staff do more research first?

If you have new names to add as prospects, you first add them to ExceedFurther and then add them to the campaign.

Getting Started with a Campaign

To use the Campaign Manager and other campaign features in ExceedFurther, follow these steps. Click on the links to see more detailed information.

  1. Using the Campaign Manager, create a new campaign, giving it a name, a date range, and a goal.
  2. Determine the stages that a prospect for this campaign would go through and enter those in the Campaign Manager.
  3. Decide what gift size ranges you want to use to categorize your prospects and donors. These ranges should correspond to the rows in your Gift Range Chart.
  4. Add a Gift Size Table using the ranges you selected for this campaign. You can use the default ranges, copy ranges from another campaign, or add your own ranges.
  5. Create a Gift Range Chart using the Gift Size Table or add one of your own. You can also copy a Gift Range Chart from a past campaign.
  6. Select the volunteer solicitors and create teams of solicitors who will work on this campaign. You can assign goals to the solicitors and teams.
  7. Use the Campaign Manager to add prospects to the campaign from existing lists of names in ExceedFurther.
    1. As you add prospects, add them in groups so that you can assign a stage, a gift range amount, a staff person and perhaps some notes to the entire group as you add them. This will save time since you don't have to go back to update each name. For example, for your top prospects, find everyone who has given more than a certain amount in the past. Add these names as a group and assign them all to the top gift range level.
    2. If there are groups who will be assigned to a particular solicitor or solicitor team, identify each group and add them at the same time, assigning the solicitor.
  8. If there are prospect names who are not in ExceedFurther, add them as new Households or new Organizations and then add them to the campaign.
  9. For a single name, you can use the Campaign sub tab of the Bio tab to add prospect details about that name for this campaign. Anything about a prospect that you add through the Campaign Manager also appears on the Campaign sub tab of the Bio tab and vice versa.
  10. As the campaign progresses, use the Prospect List in the Campaign Manager to track the stages that each prospect is moving through. Use the features of the list to narrow down just the names that you are assigned. You can select names by clicking on the check boxes and update them as a group. You can add an activity as a reminder to the names so that it appears in your reminder list. You can use the Icon bar at the top to send a group a letter or an email, perhaps inviting them to an event.
  11. As gifts are received, add them to the donor records, making sure the campaign name and solicitors are selected for that gift. The Gift Range Chart, the solicitor results, and the progress thermometer are all updated automatically when gifts are entered.