One of the biggest trends making its way across the world of capital campaigns these days involves finding donors to support your cause that may not even be alumni of the educational institution you’re a part of. These can be high net worth individuals from nearly any background or demographic – so long as they’re passionate and looking to help bring about positive, meaningful change, they’re absolutely worthy of your time and attention. Your institution of higher learning is a nexus and driver of that change. You have the braintrust in the form of world class faculty and the brightest students. You have facilities and resources to incubate the innovations these inspired and influential individuals champion. All you have to do is learn how to effectively communicate not only what you’re doing, but the why of your capital campaign.

If you’re able to convey this “why” at the core of your capital campaign, these high impact donors will naturally gravitate to you.

The good news is that accomplishing all this isn’t nearly as difficult as you might be fearing. Over the years, we’ve helped multiple institutions with exactly this type of goal and we’ve picked up a few key tips, tricks and best practices in the process.

Starting With Your “Why”: Breaking Things Down

In our history, we’ve spent a tremendous amount of time working with leaders and high level performers in just about every industry and setting that you can name. One situation obviously varies quite wildly from the next, but the one thing we find that they all have in common is that the best performers usually have a culture that is fully aligned with their general sense of purpose.

In other words, they start with their “why” and work their way out, using it as a foundation upon which to build something meaningful. We see it absolutely no different when it comes to capital campaigns.

Everyone knows that for a capital campaign to be successful, “what,” “why” and “how” are the standard elements that you need to account for. But starting with your “why” gives you an opportunity to immediately match your purpose to your donors sense of conviction. When those two forces combine, that’s when there is a strong emotional connection that literally transcends any individual project, bringing a much-needed sense of unity to your overall objective along the way.

Take Apple, for instance. At this point, they have their hand in just about everything – from computers to smart phones to tablets, “smart” home equipment, speakers and more. But their “why” couldn’t be more straightforward – they want to bring technology to the people that “just works.” Yes, that technology is inherently sophisticated and the iPhone in particular grows more advanced (and more impressive) every single year.

But part of the reason why they’ve been so successful for so long comes down to the fact that they’ve communicated that core “why” of tech that “just works” so beautifully – and their legions of loyal customers want that, too.

Nobody wants to align themselves with a dollar amount or a goal thermometer. People don’t just support your cause out of the kindness of their hearts. They want to throw their support behind something they can believe in and they want to see that you believe in it, too.

To get a really good example of all this in action, look no farther than this campaign for Carnegie Mellon University designed and developed by our team. Not only does CMU do an impressive job at outlining their “why,” they do it as soon as the experience with a prospect begins. As soon as the page loads, you have a crystal clear idea of their sense of purpose:

• They want to Accelerate Technology and Humanity.
• They want to Fuel arts and Creative Inquiry.
• They want to transform foundational science.
• Finally, in what may be the most important point of all, they want to Foster a Stronger CMU Experience for anyone and everyone, no exceptions.

In a matter of seconds, they’ve not only formed a strong emotional connection with their donors; they’ve given them a genuine sense of what it means to use their generosity to leave a tangible societal impact, too.

These donors of means want to leave their mark and they are driven by a real sense of purpose. Show them that you can be the vehicle for that and you will become a true partner for their vision and largesse.

This, in the end, is why communicating your “why” is so essential to what you’re doing. You’re already well aware of what is possible under the circumstances. Beating that drum that is the core of your capital campaign is how you let everyone else see it, too.

If you’d like to find out more information about the importance of communicating the “why” at the core of your capital campaign, or if you’re just eager to talk about your own situation with someone in a bit more detail, please don’t hesitate to reach out – we live for this kind of stuff. If you’re interested, you should also check out this list of the top 10 capital campaign websites that we recently put together to show off exactly what your campaign can do when executed properly. Not only are a lot of these perfect examples that show off the “why” at the center of a cause, but they’re filled with techniques and trends that you can start using for your own campaigns right away.