EP 63: What It Really Takes to Run a Multi-Year Fundraising Campaign with Will Smallwood

Launching a capital campaign is one thing. Raising over $200 million and outgrowing your original goals is another. In this episode of The Responsive Lab, hosts Carly Berna and Scott Holthaus sit down with Dr. Will Smallwood, Vice President for Advancement at Cedarville University, to unpack the story behind the wildly successful “One Thousand Days Transformed” campaign.

 

Dr. Smallwood shares the campaign’s roots in mission-first storytelling, how strategic planning turned into campus-wide buy-in, and what it really takes to build momentum, from data-informed planning to real-time transparency with donors. You’ll hear the lessons Cedarville learned while expanding a campaign goal from $125M to $175M, and ultimately raising over $205M. Plus, Will reflects on what he’d do differently, including that time they switched CRMs mid-campaign.

 

Links from the episode:

• Connect with Will
• Learn more about Cedarville University and the “One Thousand Days Transformed” campaign

 

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