NATIONAL
ESTUARY
PROGRAM
CAPITAL CAMPAIGN FUNDS ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTER
When the Center for Inland Bays (CIB) in Delaware needed an office and a space for environmental education events, everything seemed to be pointed in
their favor. Early on, a capital campaign and grant funding from local corporations, government agencies, and foundations generated about $175,000.
A building was donated by the state, an architect was hired, and a development specialist was retained. When a fundraising luncheon failed to generate
financial support, the CIB team stepped back, studied hard, and changed course.
THE NATIONAL ESTUARY PROGRAM IN ACTION
Center for Inland Bays
Their experience offers practical
guidance for other community-
based programs that may be
readying a capital campaign:
• Conduct a pre-campaign as-
sessment. CIB examined how it
was perceived in its community.
It researched the potential for
major support and sought to
identify a realistic fundraising
goal. It also looked inside the
organization: Were leadership
and staff ready to do what would
be necessary for success?
• Write a case statement. CIB
developed its position by gaining
an understanding of the benefits
and importance of the project
from the donors' point of view. It
identified why people should
fund the project and what infor-
mation they needed to make a
decision to donate.
• Create a campaign manage-
ment plan. CIB detailed the tasks,
outputs, and milestones of the
campaign, and structured a
timeline for achieving the cam-
paign goal.
• Prospect potential donors. By
identifying potential donors—
and their potential donations—
CIB defined the opportunity and
the target market, including past
and present donors, volunteers,
foundations, corporations, and
agencies.
EFFECTIVE
EFFICIENT
ADAPTIVE
COLLABORATIVE
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CIB took additional steps to fa-
cilitate their progress. They re-
duced the cost of the building
from $1.24 million to $850,000
through "value engineering" op-
tions, hired a new consultant to
develop the campaign, organized
a capital campaign committee,
recruited former governor Russ
Peterson as their honorary cam-
paign chair, and announced their
campaign goal of one million
dollars in the media.
The new capital campaign com-
mittee targeted key individual
donors and, because the facility
was state-owned, also request-
ed $600,000 before the legisla-
tive bond bill committee.
The results of the new campaign
were impressive:
• Private donations doubled the
existing money to $350,000.
• The general assembly ap-
proved a $750,000 bond in
2006, $150,000 more than CIB
had requested! In fact, CIB was
the only nonprofit in the state to
obtain bond bill funding that
year.
The funding made it possible for
the Center to redesign the facility
to integrate a variety of environ-
mentally friendly features, in-
cluding a solar energy system,
rainwater collection and reuse,
as well as numerous products
made from recycled and renew-
able materials. In addition, the
CIB was able to extend their li-
cense for the property from 10
years to "30 years or practical
life." Construction was complet-
ed and a donor reception was
the perfect ending to a success-
ful campaign. Today, the build-
ing continues to serve as a land-
mark facility that hosts seminars,
training workshops, and other
technical transfer meetings that
focus on sustainable and low-
impact design in the Inland Bays
watershed.
Visit www.inlandbays.org to
learn more about this and other
CIB efforts.
EPA's National Estuary Program
(NEP) is a unique and successful
coastal watershed-based program
established in 1987 under the
Clean Water Act Amendments.
The NEP involves the public and
collaborates with partners to pro-
tect, restore, and maintain the wa-
ter quality and ecological integrity
of 28 estuaries of national signifi-
cance located in 18 coastal states
and Puerto Rico.
For more information about the
NEP go to www.epa.gov/owow/
estuaries.
The NEP: Implementing the Clean Water Act in ways that are Effective, Efficient, Adaptive, and Collaborative.
EPA-842F09001
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