It isn’t always necessary to conduct a feasibility study before you do a campaign. There, I’ve said it. Myth busted
Feasibility studies can be fantastic. In many cases, they are an essential part of pre-campaign planning. But, they aren’t infallible and they are expensive. If you’re going to do one, you need to know it’s worth the investment.
Here’s how a good feasibility study works. A fundraising consulting firm with senior, experienced interviewers will conduct approximately 25 one-on-one, confidential interviews with people who have the potential to make leadership gifts to a campaign.
Remember, campaigns rely totally on success at the top of the pyramid. 85% of the money will come from 15% of the donors. And, you need at least one donor who will give you 10-20% of the total goal.
During the feasibility study process, consultants will gauge how your leadership gift prospects feel about your proposed campaign and determine whether these prospects are likely gifts and at what level. Consultants will also take a look at your internal capacity for managing a campaign, including your staff and volunteer leadership.
The great thing about a feasibility study is not only have you heard directly from prospects about their intent to participate in your campaign, they’ve been engaged early enough in the process to develop a sense of ownership. Larger gifts can and often do result.
All this feasibility study fabulousness depends on your organization’s readiness to really take advantage of a study and on the nature of the campaign you’re considering.
A feasibility study is right for you when:
You have at least 25 prospects at the higher levels of giving potential who will agree to be interviewed. If you don’t have that many prospects, a study is probably premature and you should be bolstering your major gifts program. If you do have that many prospects in mind, but you don’t believe they’re close enough to you to be willing to sit down for an interview, you should spend some time cultivating them before trying to engage them in a study.
You don’t have a lot of flexibility with your campaign goal or timing. It’s imperative that you do copious due diligence before committing to any expenditures that would put your organization at risk if a campaign were to fail. There are many ways to fund a capital project. If your plan is to spend a bunch of money while you’re in the middle of a campaign, you better make sure the campaign will succeed and succeed on time. In this case you need a feasibility study. An endowment campaign might be totally different. Rarely does an organization put itself at financial risk by not meeting an endowment campaign goal. It can be disappointing, but not desperate. In that case, you may not need to spend your resources on a feasibility study.
You don’t feel confident about the idea of a campaign. If your organization has never done a campaign before or if your leadership is feeling extra shaky about the idea of doing one, a feasibility can really help set everyone’s mind at ease. Having a report in hand with direct feedback from the people who can make or break your campaign is a great tool for making a decision about whether or not to proceed.
Do remember that a feasibility study is just a snapshot in time. It is a good indicator of campaign success or failure, but not a guarantee.
A feasibility study may not be right for you when:
You’re going to do the campaign regardless of what study tells you. We’ve dealt with a lot of organizations that are determined to launch a campaign. If the question is not if you’re going to do a campaign, but how, it’s not worth your money to do a full-blown study. In this case, you might retain consultants to go out and test your case statement among a few prospects and create a pre-campaign feedback loop to guide your campaign strategy and cultivate your prospects.
You already know the study’s going to come back with negative results. A lot of times, feasibility studies will tell you that you’re not ready. Perhaps you don’t have the right prospects, or you know you’ve neglected your donors for a long time so they’re not going to be feeling excited about a campaign, or your internal resources are stretched too thin to take on a campaign. In any case, it’s only fair to the people you’d be interviewing and your organization’s pocket book to work on remedying your shortfalls before putting a bunch of effort into a study.
Your board isn’t ready or willing to participate in study activities. Feasibility studies do require the involvement of at least a few board members. Most studies involve a Study Committee that will meet several times during the process to help identify interviewees, provide input on a case statement, review study findings, and ultimately recommend the study to the full board. If you can’t populate that Study Committee, you’re in trouble. The board should be excited about this process and if you can’t rally them at the beginning, you’ll never drag them through an entire campaign.
Good consultants will be happy to meet with you and discuss your study needs in detail and help you make a good decision about whether or not to do one.
Beware the consultant that insists a study is always necessary. It isn’t. Also beware the consultant that lowballs the study price. If a consultant sees the study as a “loss leader” just to get your campaign implementation business, that’s bad news. It means they’re assuming the study result will be positive. You want a consultant that’s willing to say “don’t do your campaign yet,” if that’s what the findings suggest. Otherwise, what’s the point?
You don’t get a second chance with a feasibility study. Once you’ve taken your prospects’ time for interviews, you don’t get to do it again.
Make sure you’re really ready to be in front of these precious people and make sure the message you’re sending is a positive one that positions you as a savvy organization.
On the subject of campaigns, you might want to read this earlier Front Range Source blog that maps out the very first steps you should take if you’re considering taking the leap!
