In the mad dash to complete the plethora of projects that lead up to the public launch of a campaign, it would be easy to start thinking of the kickoff as a goal in itself, but it's merely a mile marker in the marathon of a fundraising campaign that may last five to 10 years. Given that only a fraction of an institution's constituents may attend a kickoff event or receive a case statement, development communicators must devise methods for keeping campaign messages interesting and effective well beyond the starting line of the public launch. When preparing for a lengthy campaign, professionals say that having good stories to tell is essential.