The Importance of a Groundbreaking Event
You have worked for months, maybe years, to raise funds for your capital project. The day has come or quickly approaches when shovels will go into the ground and the project will actually begin. Hurray!
Should you mark the occasion with a formal groundbreaking event?
While it may feel like just another task for your capital campaign committee, when done right, groundbreaking events serve some important purposes that can help spur this campaign to the finish line or begin to cultivate donors for your next project.
1. Groundbreaking events provide another opportunity to thank your major donors. Invite them to share in your success and verbally and visually thank them for their part. You might include your lead donors as part of the physical groundbreaking itself. This stewardship also serves to cultivate their dedication to your project and to your organization for future gifts.
2. Groundbreaking events provide a great opportunity to thank and celebrate your campaign leadership. Again, invite them to share in your success and verbally and visually thank them for their part, including as part of the group with shovels in hand moving dirt.
3. Groundbreakings communicate your organization’s project and its likely success to the broader community. This becomes especially important and impactful if you have not yet completed fundraising for the project; it also relies on getting good press for the event. If you still need to raise more money, send a personalized solicitation to your constituents immediately after the event – with pictures and video – to share your good news and ask them to join your success.
4. Groundbreakings communicate your organization’s mission and purpose more broadly. Even if you have the funds raised for this project, you will likely need donors, volunteers, and clients in the future. Again, with good media attention, your groundbreaking can inform the broader community of your good work.
5. Groundbreakings provide a celebration point for staff and volunteers. Your staff and campaign volunteers have worked very hard for the last few months or years to raise the money to get to this point. While they may have more work ahead of them, taking the time to let them see the fruits of their labor – or at least the promise of fruit – can make their previous work feel more real and worthwhile and motivate them to the finish line.
You can best realize these benefits by planning the event around them to assure that you (1) invite the right people to attend (e.g., major and leadership donors and campaign volunteers), (2) message correctly (e.g., THANK YOU!), (3) work hard to get media attention around the event, and (4) talk both about your project and your broader mission and impact for the community.
With these ingredients, you can bask in the glory of a job well done and make the next campaign just a little bit easier with well-cultivated and engaged prospective donors.