Brazen Solutions · Capital Campaigns

The board asked what the building would cost. Nobody asked what the capital campaign would cost to run.

What a capital campaign actually costs to run in Canada — the dime-on-the-dollar rule of thumb, everything hiding inside it, and the four lines organizations forget until the money is already committed.

August 2026 · 3 min read

The sector's rough rule of thumb has long been about a dime on the dollar. Raise a million, spend somewhere near a hundred thousand doing it.

It's a rule of thumb, not a law. But it's the right starting place, because it forces the honest question early: this money has to come from somewhere, and it will come either from the campaign proceeds, from your operating budget, or from a lead donor who's willing to fund the cost of raising the rest.

Decide which one before you launch. Organizations that don't decide end up quietly funding it out of operations, one unbudgeted invoice at a time, in a year when operations had no room.

What's actually inside the ten percent

Counsel. The consultant or the interim campaign director. Usually the largest single line. I've written separately about what a capital campaign consultant costs in Canada.

The feasibility study. Commonly $30,000 to $60,000, depending on interview volume and whether prospect research is bundled in.

Prospect research and screening. Either a bundled wealth screen or ongoing research capacity.

Case development, materials, and design. The printed case, the naming brochure, renderings, video, a campaign page on your site.

Events. A quiet-phase donor dinner, a groundbreaking, a public launch, a closing celebration. Ambitious ones cost like weddings.

Added staff. Almost every campaign adds capacity — a campaign coordinator, a gift processor, a part-time writer, or a term-position campaign director.

Database and CRM. The upgrade you've been deferring, plus pledge-tracking configuration, plus data cleanup hours.

Donor recognition. Plaques, a donor wall, naming signage, engraving, stewardship reports for three to five years after the last cheque clears.

Travel and hospitality. In Western Canada, where a catchment area can be six hours wide, this is not a rounding error.

Contingency. Ten percent of the campaign budget itself. If it goes unspent, wonderful. It rarely goes unspent.

What pushes the dime up, and what pulls it down

Up: a first-ever campaign, a cold donor base, a rural or spread-out catchment, a goal that's many times your annual operating budget, heavy reliance on outside counsel to do rather than to coach, and a case that has to be rebuilt from scratch mid-campaign.

Down: a mature donor base with real major-gift history, a board that already asks, a clean database, staff who have done this before, and a lead gift secured before the public phase.

The cost that starts after the ribbon

A building costs money to run. Heat, light, insurance, caretaking, maintenance reserve, and usually a person to staff the new space you just doubled.

Ask your finance chair for a five-year operating pro forma on the new thing before you set a goal. If the answer adds $180,000 a year to your operating budget, that belongs in the campaign conversation, either as an endowment component or as a plan with a name on it.

Pledges pay slowly. Contractors do not.

Campaign pledges are typically paid over three to five years. Construction draws are monthly.

You may need bridge financing, a line of credit, or a phased build — and the time to arrange that is before you need it.

While you're there: construction escalation has been running roughly five to eight percent a year. A goal priced eighteen months ago may no longer build the thing it was priced for. Reprice before the board resolution, not after.

If you want to know which of those cost drivers you're currently carrying, the free Campaign Readiness Assessment walks eight pillars in 34 questions, about fifteen minutes, and most of what it surfaces is fixable before you spend a dollar on counsel.

Free guide

Hiring campaign counsel? Run the gut check first.

25 interview questions with scoring, the red flags that mean walk away, and a scorecard your whole board can fill in before anyone signs. Free — and it's in your hands the moment you sign up.

Or see what's inside the guide →

Wondering whether your organization could carry a capital campaign? The free readiness assessment scores you across the eight areas that decide it.

Take the free readiness assessment

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