Campaign Cabinet & Volunteer Structure Kit — Sample

Staff can run a campaign's logistics, but staff rarely close the biggest gifts. Those come from peer relationships: a business leader asking a fellow business leader, a longtime donor inviting a friend to join them. This is why the campaign cabinet, a team of respected volunteers, is the engine of the quiet phase.

People give to people. A prospect will take a meeting with a peer they respect that they'd decline from a staff member they don't know.

Volunteers lend credibility. When a well-known community figure backs your campaign, others assume it's serious and worthy.

A volunteer who has given generously can ask with authority. "I've made my commitment; I hope you'll join me" is the most powerful sentence in fundraising.

Scale this to your campaign. A $500,000 campaign might have a chair and three or four cabinet members; a multi-million campaign, a larger structure with subcommittees.