It’s been a full summer. Travel, plenty of family time, a growing mix of clients, and a lot of campaign-focused work. I love having our three kids around, but I’m also not going to pretend I’m disappointed to see the school calendar return! I'm looking forward to writing a little more often.

One campaign question I’ve been focusing on more lately: What happens after the excitement of a campaign launch fades?

The Most Underused Years of a Campaign

A fundraising campaign can be financially successful—and still leave the institution strategically fragile, with more dollars raised but too few relationships strengthened.

That risk is especially clear during what I think of as the “long middle” of a comprehensive campaign.

Institutions put enormous energy into the public launch. Then they build urgency again as the finish line gets closer. But most campaigns spend a handful of years between those moments, and too often they become a holding pattern: progress updates, donor stories, periodic milestone announcements, events, and another reminder to give.

It could be much more.

The long middle shouldn’t just sustain campaign attention. It should compound campaign participation.

That means more people getting involved, more people coming back, and more people taking a next step. Not just more activity, but more relationships getting deeper over time.

A strong total can hide a weak base

CASE reports that 89% of funds received by U.S. higher education institutions in FY2025 came from just 2% of donors. That's not an argument against major gifts. Far from it. But it does raise a bigger question: What else is the campaign building while it raises the money?

Is it creating more volunteers, repeat donors, and alumni who understand the institution’s priorities? Is it giving more people a reason to mentor, advocate, connect others, or serve in a leadership role? Is it building a broader group of people who feel some ownership in where the institution is going?

CASE’s alumni engagement research found that 31% of alumni volunteers were also philanthropically engaged. That doesn't necessarily mean volunteering directly causes giving. But it does show that participation and philanthropy are not separate worlds—and that should shape how we think about the middle years of a campaign.

Give people a next step

Most campaign plans are very clear about what the institution wants to say. Fewer are as clear about what they want people to do next.

A story can do more than inform someone. It can invite them to attend an event, share an idea, mentor a student, join a volunteer group, make an introduction, advocate for a priority or give. An event can do more than fill a room. It can open the door to a deeper relationship. A first gift can be more than a transaction. It can be the start of a pattern.

And institutions are already collecting signals along the way: who attends, who clicks, who volunteers, who gives, who comes back, and what they seem to care about. The missed opportunity is often not a lack of data, but failing to use that data to shape what comes next.

The goal isn't to push everyone through the same funnel. It’s to make the next step easier to see—and more relevant to the person taking it.

Plan the next action as deliberately as the next message.

Don’t just count attention

Campaign teams are good at tracking financial progress: dollars raised, commitments made, and progress toward goal. They should be.

But the long middle also gives institutions something else to measure: whether relationships are growing along with the total. Ask whether more people are getting involved, whether they're coming back, whether first-time participants are taking a second action, and whether donors and volunteers are moving into deeper roles over time.

Those questions tell you whether the campaign is building stronger relationships—or simply raising more money from the same small group of people.

The middle builds participation

Launch tells people what the institution hopes to do. The conclusion tells them what was achieved. But the middle is where people have the chance to become part of it.

That's the real opportunity: not just to keep the campaign visible or keep asking, but to use those years to give more people a meaningful role and a reason to stay involved.

By the time the campaign ends, the institution should have more than a bigger fundraising total. It should have more people who understand the work, care about it, and want to stay connected to what comes next.

That is what it means to compound campaign participation.

Dan

P.S. This is also the kind of conversation I sometimes help Advancement teams work through during campaign retreats and planning sessions. If you'll be working through it this fall or winter, feel free to reach out.