The Fundraising Everywhere Podcast The Year Before the Ask: Capital Campaign Prep with Mark Quigley
In this episode, host Simon Scriver sits down with capital campaign expert Mark Quigley, a Sydney-based fundraising and philanthropy consultant with 30 years of experience. Mark shares the story behind his new book, One Year Before Your Capital Campaign: A 12-Month Guide to Pre-Campaign Success — the only book focused exclusively on the critical year before a feasibility study even begins.
Mark unpacks the most common mistakes organisations make when approaching capital campaigns, from failing to plan to underestimating the time required. He introduces the concept of "Plan A" — finding the single opportunity that could transform your campaign and shares compelling real-world stories, including a $90 million prospect meeting 45 stories above Sydney Harbour and a $20 million campaign achieved in just three gifts.
The conversation also covers practical tools like the "Rich Streets Exercise" for uncovering hidden major donor potential in your database, strategies for getting board and CEO buy-in, managing the tension between annual fundraising and campaign planning, and the realities of fundraiser burnout across organisations of all sizes.
Whether you're planning your first capital campaign or your tenth, this episode is packed with actionable advice for the year that matters most — the one before it all begins.
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