How much should your board give to a capital campaign? The answer is not a universal percentage, but there is a practical way to arrive at a goal your board understands and supports.
In this episode of All About Capital Campaigns, Amy Eisenstein and Andrea Kihlstedt explain how nonprofit leaders can establish a realistic collective board giving goal, prepare board members for the conversation, and build early financial commitment from the people closest to the organization.
Capital campaigns are built from the top down and the inside out. That makes the board of directors one of the first groups an organization should engage and solicit.
Amy and Andrea explain why there is no standard answer. A board made up largely of people with significant giving capacity may account for a substantial portion of the campaign goal. A board that reflects the community an organization serves may contribute a smaller percentage while still demonstrating meaningful commitment. The right target depends on the composition, capacity, and culture of the board.
Every board member should make a gift that is meaningful and significant for them, but those gifts will not be equal. A few may make very large commitments, several may give in the middle, and others may make gifts that represent a real stretch.
Andrea introduces a helpful way to picture this distribution. While a campaign gift chart typically resembles a pyramid, board gifts often form a diamond: a few large gifts at the top, a few smaller gifts at the bottom, and most commitments clustered in the middle. By estimating a reasonable high and low range for each board member, a small group can calculate a defensible range for the board’s collective goal before bringing the question to the full board.
Amy and Andrea also recommend speaking privately with influential board members and informally confirming likely leadership gifts before the full discussion. This gives the board evidence that the proposed goal is achievable and helps prevent one vocal skeptic from derailing the process.
You will also learn a confidential index-card exercise that invites every board member to estimate their giving range without making a pledge. The cards are totaled and compared with the committee’s advance estimate. This turns an abstract number into something tangible and creates room to discuss pledges, gifts from assets, and stretching over time.
These conversations can feel uncomfortable. Thoughtful preparation, confidentiality, and experienced guidance can make the process productive.
The episode closes with a firm warning: entering a capital campaign with financial commitments from only a small fraction of the board is a serious problem. Full board participation, at personally meaningful levels, signals belief in the project and strengthens the case presented to other major donors.
For more board engagement tips, be sure to download our free Board Member’s Guide to Capital Campaign Fundraising - https://capitalcampaignpro.com/board-members-guide. It answers the questions board members most frequently ask, or wish they could ask.
