The Arts Center

TAC Fundraising
Campaign Overview

June 2026
Prepared byAnne Murphy and Don Wackerly, Empowered Fundraiser Consulting

Why A Campaign?

“
To give away money is an easy matter, and in any man's power. But to decide to whom to give it, and how large and when, and for what purpose and how, is neither in every man's power, nor an easy matter.
AristotleEthics

What's a Campaign?

A disciplined, time-bound effort to secure extraordinary support for clearly defined organizational priorities.

01
Disciplined
Strategy • Policies • Structure • Roles
02
Time-Bound
Phases • Milestones • Finish line
03
Extraordinary Support
Five- to seven-figure gifts for major goals
04
Defined Priorities
Organizational priorities suited to philanthropic support

What we'll cover

01Why a campaign
02What's a campaign
03Where we are
04What the study showed
05The goal, set by data
06You're in good hands
07The quiet phase
08Your role
Your Giving Compass
A short reflection on what drives your giving.
EmpoweredFundraiser.com

Why a campaign

The Expansion Feasibility Study, completed in December 2024, found that The Arts Center's ability to serve its mission is limited by its space.

The study was a year of community listening — 300 stakeholders identified, 72 participants, and more than 20 hours of conversation about The Arts Center's future.

With 760 SW Madison, we become a two-building arts campus in Corvallis, steps from Central Park.

The Arts Center building

760 SW Madison

The second building of our two-building arts campus — a historic space, steps from Central Park, ready for classrooms and the room to grow.

Carved shell pediment above an arched window inside 760 SW Madison Gilded rosette molding on the interior archway of 760 SW Madison

A two-building campus

The Arts Center, its gallery, and 760 SW Madison
Cover of The Unfolding of an Idea, a history of The Corvallis Arts Center

The Arts Center has been documenting its own story for decades. The Unfolding of an Idea, Marion Gathercoal, 2002.

What's a Feasibility Study?

A feasibility study tests a campaign before it launches, through candid, confidential conversations with the people whose support will decide it.

01
Confidential
One-on-one interviews with potential leaders and donors.
02
Tests Readiness
Gauges support for the goal, the timing, and the plan.
03
Surfaces Leadership
Reveals who is ready to lead and to give.
04
Sets the Goal
Turns what we learn into a goal grounded in evidence.

The Campaign Feasibility Study

With the need established, the Campaign Feasibility Study is underway now. It tests whether our community is ready to fund this specific campaign, at this scale and on this timeline.

Every leadership conversation so far has been positive, with wide support for the project, the scale, and the timing.

The gallery at The Arts Center

The work is already widening the circle

In the research behind the study, we have surfaced at least 15 potential donors we did not know before this work began.

That is what a campaign does. Every conversation opens the next one.

The columned entrance of 760 SW Madison

How the campaign is led

This campaign is fully led and staffed, with clear roles for everyone involved.

Erinn Gavaghan
Executive Director, serving as the campaign's chief fundraiser.
TAC Staff
Keeping the mission moving and the community engaged every day.
Campaign Counsel
Empowered Fundraiser Consulting — Anne Murphy & Don Wackerly, on site weekly.
Campaign Board
Volunteer leaders helping drive the campaign and open doors across the community.
The Board
Champions and ambassadors, carrying the story into the community.

The core team meets weekly at Fundraising Fridays — Anne, Don, Erinn, Jennifer, and Vanessa — bringing in other experts as needed.

Where we are

Feasibility Study
We are here
Campaign Plan & Goal
Quiet Phase
50% of goal
Public Launch
Completion

We are in the current campaign feasibility study now. It tells us the goal, and who is ready to lead.

The goal is set by data.

The current campaign feasibility study shows what our community is ready to give. That sets the goal.

Feasibility Study
→
What the community will give
→
The goal

What the goal supports

The campaign supports three things.

01
The Building
760 SW Madison and the renovations that make us a two-building arts campus.
02
People & Programs
The classes, exhibitions, and people who carry the mission every day.
03
Stewardship
Caring for the buildings and the mission for years to come, not just opening day.

The quiet phase

Lead gifts and major gifts to meet 50% of the goal, before any public announcement.

Lead gifts and major gifts
Public phase

The public launch begins at about the halfway point — roughly 50% of the goal.

In their own words

Inside 760 SW Madison, The Arts Center's expansion building
“
Everyone cares. Everyone knows the Art Center.
E.C.
“
I'm not in the corner. I'm in the center. We are all in the center.
E.C.
“
I see the Art Center as filling the niche that public education can’t anymore and won’t.
N.O.
“
Art is therapeutic, art is expressive.
N.O.
“
Keeping Corvallis rich and vital.
C.S.
“
The Art Center seemed to be a place where there was a lot of community fondness for it.
T.S.
“
I know how art transformed us.
E.C.
“
Art will prevail some way or another way. It will prevail because it's in our souls.
E.C.
“
The expansion and program growth and paying people what they're worth is so exciting.
C.S.
“
It's hard to say why art is important to me, but it absolutely is. It represents things that I care about — politics, spirituality, community. I think it's everything.
C.H.
“
The soul of the Art Center sits in the core of most.
E.C.
“
It's a silver lining of a terrible situation. Artists are being cut. The arts are imperative.
N.O.
Your role is to be a champion.

Understand the campaign, and speak about it with pride.

The asks are handled by a small, prepared team, so you can focus on telling the story.

What we ask of you

On the board

  • Be informed
  • Be a champion
  • Tell the same story
  • Hold the quiet phase

TAC colleagues

  • Be a champion
  • Keep the mission moving
  • Be excellent at what you do
  • Engage the community
Thank you.
Please reach out with questions!
Don@EmpoweredFundraiser.com
Explore Your Giving Compass — a short reflection on what drives your giving.
The Arts Center of Corvallis Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Park, Corvallis Holcomb Center for Military and Veteran Resources, OSU
Fundraising Campaign Counsel for third spaces that foster democracy, belonging, and collective resilience.
don@empoweredfundraiser.com
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