What Counts Toward Your Capital Campaign Goal? Policies, Pitfalls and Practical Advice

In this episode of All About Capital Campaigns, Amy Eisenstein and Andrea Kihlstedt unpack a deceptively simple question: what counts toward your campaign goal?

Getting this wrong can damage your credibility, confuse your board and donors, and throw off your reports. The good news? A clear set of campaign policies established early on can prevent most of the trouble. But clarity is not always easy.

Amy and Andrea walk through some of the most common questions organizations face when deciding what to count:

• Should annual fund dollars be included in the campaign total?
• What about planned gifts that might not mature for decades?
• How should you treat in-kind donations like construction materials, technology, or donated property?
• What happens when the development office and the finance department count gifts differently?

Using real-world stories and candid advice, they explore the consequences of unclear counting rules and the benefits of getting your team on the same page before the campaign is underway. You'll hear how one organization solved a million-dollar deficit thanks to a bequest made 70 years earlier, and how another spent more time than they’d like to admit trying to offload a donor’s beloved collection of heavy metal figurines.

The episode also covers how to handle situations where accounting and fundraising standards don’t align. You might need two sets of reports: one for your auditors and one for your campaign committee. That tension is normal, but it needs to be addressed openly with your team—especially your finance colleagues.

If you're planning a campaign or even thinking about one, this conversation will help you ask smarter questions now so you can avoid bigger problems later. And if you're not sure where to start, the Capital Campaign Pro Toolkit includes sample policies and discussion guides to help you think through these decisions.

To ensure your campaign ends in a celebration, download our free Capital Campaign Step-by-Step Guide & Checklist. This intuitive guide breaks down each step of your campaign, and the timeline allows you to visualize your whole campaign, from start to finish!