In theory, people speak of campaigns as having two parts: a quiet, or nucleus, phase and a public phase. In reality, we know “quiet phases” are anything but.

For the year leading up to an anticipated public launch in the fall of 2017, we can all plan to talk a great deal, embracing opportunities to mobilize various insider constituencies. Before the public balloons and fireworks, in what we are calling our activation phase, we will focus on ways to energize and equip our teams and insider audiences: campus colleagues, faculty, and top volunteers, prospects, and donors.

The activation phase will run from fall 2016 to fall 2017. We can use this time to build momentum through

• planned opportunities, in New York and other cities, for in-person events connecting President Bollinger and other academic leaders with high-level fundraising and alumni volunteers and prospects around the ideas driving the campaign and Columbia’s next chapter;
• anchoring gifts toward the biggest priorities by building a strong base for the most ambitious total goal ever announced at Columbia;
• outreach to top-level volunteers across the University, including the Campaign Executive Committee and various high-level boards;
• mobilization of faculty, prospects, and staff capacities in service of University-wide Big Ideas and other campaign priorities;
• concerted efforts to design and build structures and infrastructure, from IT to prospecting, to communications and fundraising, to ensure campaign success.

The term activation phase is a reminder that the campaign is already underway and that leading up to the public launch we can kick into high gear to engage the partners we need going forward. That focus will enable us to publicly launch with inspiring anchor gifts, mobilized volunteers, strengthened storytelling, systems for tracking and using data, and other sources of momentum.

If you have questions or thoughts, please write campaignplanning.columbia.edu.