By Mike Bacon, CFRE
You need to raise money for a new building/program expansion/endowment. Why take the time to ask your circle of donors and prospects for their opinions? Why not just go see them and ask for the gift? Do we have time for all that interviewing? Shouldn’t we just start asking?
If you have ever been pressured by a board member or your Executive Director to “just raise the money”, you realize that there are best practices in fundraising for very good reasons. One of those best practices is the idea that capital campaigns are more likely to succeed when a feasibility study (sometimes called a planning study) is conducted in advance.
What is a feasibility/planning study? It is a three to four month process that interviews your closest donors, your most likely prospects and key civic leaders in your community about their feelings and reactions to your planned project. But you say, “Couldn’t we conduct the interviews ourselves?” Of course you could. But, in many cases, those persons being interviewed may not speak as freely to an employee of the nonprofit as they would to a third party. Confidentiality in their responses is very important to getting honest answers.
Basically, a third party consultant will meet in person with approximately 30 to 40 people and ask them detailed questions including:
• Do you think the nonprofit can raise $”x” amount for this project?
• What do you love about this proposed project?
• What concerns do you have about this project?
• Do you see yourself as a leader helping raise the money for this project?
• Whom do you see as a leader to raise the money for this project?
• Who else should be asked to support this project (corporation, foundation or individuals)?
These interviews can also probe further into how donors and prospects feel about your nonprofit in general. We usually ask questions including:
•How would you describe the nonprofit’s mission, in your own words?
•What about the nonprofit’s programs and services matter to you?
•How did you become involved with the nonprofit? Why do you support the nonprofit with your charitable gifts?
Once the interviews are conducted, the consultant should aggregate the responses in the feasibility study report. The written report not only details the responses to the questions asked, but also shares specific recommendations about the scope of the project, the strongest prospects for asks, and the people identified to be the leaders of the campaign. You should expect a gift rating for each person/funding source interviewed.
In the end, a good feasibility study cultivates those prospects who are the most likely sources for funding the project and it educates prospects who may not have a long history with your nonprofit. It should also give you a road map for how to successfully launch the campaign, from the size of the effort, the critical themes for the case for giving and the overall timeline. A feasibility study provides more than feedback about your proposed project, it gives you a very real picture of how you’re perceived among your donors and friends…and that makes good sense to us.