Just the other day a colleague of mine sent me an article that was written by another fundraising consultant advocating that the Campaign Feasibility Study is a thing of the past and just a way for consulting firms to charge large fees for something that gives the client little value or direction. He also advocated that the organization could do their own study since they know their community and donors. I found his logic un-supportable and I cannot disagree more!
A Feasibility Study is designed to produce a comprehensive understanding of the opinions and attitudes of the non-profit organization’s representatives who will be called on to provide leadership and other resources for its vision to become a reality, typically in preparation for a campaign (e.g. endowment building or a capital project). The study enables the organization to set an achievable monetary goal for the campaign, leverage internal support for fundraising, and cultivate a prospective donor base in the surrounding community.
Feasibility and planning studies are defined by strategic interviews, volunteer engagement, and momentum-driving implementation, and done properly, be very significant and important for organizations considering a major campaign. In my opinion, launching a campaign without a feasibility study is like launching a sailboat without a course, any wind is the right wind. To quote the renowned philosopher Yogi Berra, “If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else”.
In his article, he suggested since your nonprofit knows their donors and community best, it might make sense to conduct a feasibility study on their own and save the costs.
However, this is quite uncommon and generally, not a best practice. In my experience, most nonprofits look to a fundraising consultant to conduct the study — and for good reason.
A fundraising consultant is an objective third party who’s likely to collect opinions that are more honest from interviewees than an in-house staff member is.
For a minute put yourself in your donors’ shoes!
Imagine that you’re being interviewed for a feasibility study. The interviewer is someone you’ve known for years, and they are so excited about the project that it’s impossible for them to hide. However, as much as you want to get on board, the project just doesn’t seem feasible. You don’t see a vision that you can get behind, but you don’t want to disappoint someone who’s so clearly invested in the project.
When it comes down to it, you won’t donate. But in the interest of politeness, you beat around the bush or give diplomatic responses. In this scenario, neither you (the donor) nor the interviewer is the wrong, but your existing relationship creates a conflict of interest and a bit of awkwardness, too.
It’s easy for interviewees to misrepresent their actual commitment, or for interviewers to draft misleading results when nonprofits conduct in-house studies. In both cases, the deception isn’t intentional, but it ultimately harms the project, the nonprofit, and even the donor relationship.
A seasoned campaign consultant is a trained expert who can ensure accurate, honest results. Which is the purpose of the feasibility study in the first place, is it not?
At one time, a feasibility study for a capital or endowment campaign was little more than a process of identifying where the money was — who had it and how much they might be willing to give. No longer. In today’s donor-centric world, an organization needs to:
- Assess the affinity of donors and prospective donors with the purposes of the campaign and the financial goals of the campaign
- Determine the likely potential for donor investment from individuals, foundations, and corporations
- Identify potential new donor prospects and potential volunteer leadership for the campaign
- Offer an analysis of donor interest in and understanding of giving for capital purposes compared to other potential campaign goals if any, such as programs or endowment
- Determine any issues or concerns relative to the feasibility of the proposed campaign case, goal, and timing, including elements that would strengthen the case or inform goal-setting
- Measure the perceived viability, credibility, and image in the community of the organization
- Provide initial communication about and promote the proposed project among the donor audience
- Determine the organization’s perceived ability to raise funds when compared to other fundraising entities in the community
These valuable conversations make up the core of the study. They provide the necessary data to inform our campaign recommendations. There are four parts of a study conversation: perceptions and attitudes of the organization; reactions to the preliminary case statement; willingness to get involved; and willingness to make a campaign gift. The responses are reported in aggregate, from which we generate our highly personalized campaign recommendations. These interviews lay the groundwork for your campaign – in fact; they are the first step in cultivating donors.
The Campaign Feasibility Study report should provide an in-depth analysis on key study findings, as well as a set of strategic recommendations for an organization to move ahead with a campaign. Based on the firm’s interviews, they should make deliberate recommendations on the case for support, campaign messaging, prospective donor pool, campaign staffing, volunteer leadership roles and structure, financial goal, organization and timeline, and next steps. Those of our clients who have followed our strategic guidance, is more likely to implement a robust campaign, ultimately reaching – or in most of our cases exceed – their campaign goal.
To quote another famous philosopher, Tom Landry, “Setting a goal is not the main thing. It is deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with that plan.”
And a properly designed Campaign Feasibility Study conducted by an experienced objective third party consultant is where you need to start!
The Huddleston Group is a full-service management, consulting and training firm specializing in philanthropy (i.e., campaign counsel, audits, feasibility studies, and creating a culture of philanthropy), opinion research (i.e., donor satisfaction surveys, focus groups, and marketing research), and organizational management (i.e., board transformation, strategic planning, and capacity building).
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Good Luck
Best of luck,
Ron J. Huddleston
