Campaign Institute 2025 Information and Requirements
Below, read more about the Campaign Institute, including benefits for participating organizations, eligibility requirements, participant expectations, and more.
We’re sorry, but the application period for this cohort closed on April 4, 2025
This information is also available as a PDF.
About the RaiseMN Campaign Institute
Now in its 10th year, the RaiseMN Campaign Institute is a seven-month-long program for 20 small-to medium- sized nonprofits (budgets under $2 million) in Greater Minnesota and the Twin Cities East Metro.
As a cohort, participating organizations will engage in expert fundraising coaching and peer learning to build their fundraising knowledge, confidence, and outcomes. This will include monthly sessions with your coach and four full-cohort gatherings.
New this year: all participating organizations will prepare and launch a campaign for Give to the Max 2025. Our coaching team is committed to your success and is excited to help you get there!
Thanks to our generous partners at the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation, coaching will be provided at no cost to participants. Participants will need to provide their own technology to attend trainings and coaching sessions via Zoom.
We recognize and value the effort needed to participate in the Campaign Institute and each organization will be awarded a grant of $2,500 upon completion to honor participants’ time and energy.
Why Campaign Institute?
Experience
Participating organizations will receive expert fundraising coaching and an opportunity to build relationships with organizations all across the state. In coaching, our goal is to build your organization’s internal fundraising expertise, so you can replicate your success long after our partnership is over. This looks different from traditional fundraising consulting – rather than doing the work for you, we take a deeply collaborative approach that co-creates solutions based on your work, your capacity, and your audience. Together, we’ll work to identify solutions and strategies that align with your organization’s goals.
Value
Thanks to our generous partners at the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation, this program is provided at no cost to participants – a $7,000 value per organization! On top of that, all participating organizations will be awarded a grant of $2,500 upon completion to honor participants’ time and energy.
Results
Participating organizations will graduate from the program with more knowledge, added skills, stronger fundraising infrastructure, increased confidence, and more money raised. Last year’s cohort raised a total of 127% more during Give to the Max than they did the previous year – that’s an average of $1,354 more per organization!
What Your Organization Will Learn in the RaiseMN Campaign Institute
We coach and teach fundraising that centers the well-being of your staff, board, and volunteers: We focus on fundraising that is deeply honest, authentic, transparent, and relational; fundraising that builds a donor base to which you want to be accountable; and fundraising that mobilizes the resources you need for your work without compromising your values. In monthly coaching sessions and four full-cohort gatherings, participating organizations will have the opportunity to explore topics such as:
The donor cycle
Building an ask
Creating a sustainable fundraising calendar
Building a culture of philanthropy
Program Eligibility
Organizations eligible for Campaign Institute must be:
Located in or primarily serving the Twin Cities East Metro (Dakota, Ramsey, and/or Washington Counties) or Greater Minnesota (all other Minnesota counties except Anoka, Carver, Hennepin or Scott) or the Native nations that share Minnesota’s geography
An incorporated, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (If you are fiscally sponsored, please submit combined documents reflecting both your organization and your fiscal sponsor.)
Have an annual expense budget of $2 million or less in your current fiscal year
What We’re Looking For
The Campaign Institute is best for organizations that are:
Ready to learn about individual fundraising with commitment across board and staff
Eager to build relationships with donors of all contribution levels
Excited to grow and build capacity for fundraising within their staff, volunteers, and/or board members
Committed to attending monthly coaching sessions, able to engage in a virtual coaching capacity, and ideally will commit to meeting with their internal team between sessions
Committed to participating in Give to the Max 2025
Program Priorities
We know that nonprofits led by Black people, Indigenous people, and people of color (BIPOC) often face greater inequities due to societal and structural discrimination, making it more difficult to access fundraising opportunities and reproducing cycles of financial inequality. Evidence also shows that organizations primarily serving BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and rural communities receive less philanthropic support than their peer organizations at large.
Therefore, while all organizations that meet eligibility criteria will be considered for admission to Campaign Institute, priority will be given to applying organizations that:
Are led by BIPOC people
Are primarily serving BIPOC communities and/or LGBTQ+ communities
Additionally, we are committed to ensuring that 40% of the selected Campaign Institute organizations are located in and/or primarily serving Greater Minnesota.
How to Apply
The application period for this cohort closed April 4, 2025
Key Dates
Application launch: Wednesday, March 12th
Application deadline: Friday, April 4th
Notification of participant organizations: Wednesday, May 7th
Kickoff cohort gathering: Wednesday, May 28th
Cohort gatherings: July 16th, September 24th, December 3rd
1:1 coaching sessions: June through mid-November
Participant Commitment & Expectations
Because RaiseMN seeks to transform each organization's overall fundraising culture, knowledge, outcomes, and confidence, we require three people, representing both board and staff, to be involved in all coaching sessions.
Staff participants should be in leadership and fundraising roles in the organization, whether that is as paid staff or volunteers in volunteer-staffed organizations. One participant must be a board member, not staff. If your organization only has one paid staff member, two of the participants may be board members.
We will ask your three-person team to meet with your coach for one hour each month for 5 coaching sessions throughout the duration of the program. If selected, you will receive additional information about scheduling logistics.
Contact Us
Please submit the application via the online form by the end of April 4th, 2025. If you have questions or need accommodations as you complete your application, please reach out to our team at raisemn@givemn.org!