Capital Campaigns from the Ground Up: How Nonprofits Can Have the Buildings of Their Dreams

Stanley Weinstein

Welcome to the Capital Campaigns from the Ground Up: How Nonprofits Can Have the Buildings of Their Dreams companion Web site.

With donated services available to well-respected nonprofit institutions, the organization can sketch in its space requirements. Experienced advisors can help the nonprofit develop its first rough estimates of the total project costs. This Web site shows a number of building types and the related construction costs. Please note that these construction costs do not include site acquisition, soft costs (design fees, soil testing, environmental inspections, fees to specialty firms), financing costs, fundraising costs, and furnishings.

A collection of building types has been provided and put into an archive for you to look over. If you do not have an archiving utility to open this, please visit RarLabs.com, WinZip.com, or WinAce.com to download a trial version of anyone of these great utilities.

images.zip (5.84 mb.)

To help estimate total capital expenses, consider the following:

• Talk to several architects and construction company representatives. Local conditions vary greatly. These professionals and community leaders can help your organization develop good preliminary estimates.
• Fundraising expenses can range from 5% to 15% of the campaign total.
• Furnishings can account for 5% to 10% of the total project.
• Financing costs can vary greatly.In a campaign with a three- to five-year pledge period, financial institutions may provide favorable rates for the pledge period. Projects that are planned to raise less than the entire amount needed require longer term notes to finance the unfunded balance. The organization's lending institution can help project these costs.
• Every organization should add a 5% contingency fund to its total project cost estimates.
  Your cost estimates should continue to be refined throughout the entire process.

However, careful early work will produce good estimates that will hold up well.