Why You Should Start with a Fundraising Feasibility Study

One of the most valuable—but often overlooked—steps in launching a fundraising campaign is the feasibility study.

It’s not flashy. It does not usually raise funds directly. But a feasibility study can lay the groundwork for a campaign’s most significant gifts. It gives you the chance to connect with your most important philanthropic partners. It plants the seed for lead gifts. It grounds your planning in evidence. And it gives you the chance to think through your strategy and timeline in a systematic way.

In this brief blog series, we will offer reflections on what a feasibility study is, how it works, what benefit it can serve your organization, and how we structure feasibility studies in a way that helps drive revenue for your organization.

In this initial blog post, we focus on defining a feasibility study.

What is a Campaign Feasibility Study?

At Major Gift Solutions, we’ve run two types of feasibility studies – a campaign feasibility study and a mission feasibility study. Both types of studies serve your fundraising goals. The first is more directly tied to a fundraising campaign. The second is typically tied to strategic planning and mission evaluation. For this blog post, I will focus on the first of those two.

Stated maybe too formally – a campaign feasibility study is a structured period of discernment. It is a time when you assess whether your organization is ready to launch a successful fundraising campaign. You are measuring the feasibility of launching into a campaign for your organization.

Every organization wants to raise millions of dollars. Not every organization can raise millions of dollars – at least not right now.

The feasibility study allows you to engage critically in this question and complete the process with a clear understanding of what is realistic for your organization at this time.

How does a Campaign Feasibility Study Work?

A campaign feasibility study can be a great way to enhance the overall health of your organization, because it uses both qualitative and quantitative data – both of which are essential in fundraising.

The qualitative data is typically gathered through structured interviews with your most valued donors – the ones you feel will lead the way in achieving your fundraising goals. You can also interview board members, staff, consultants, and volunteers.

At Major Gift Solutions, our first strategy is to hold interviews via Zoom, which allows us to cast a wide net – not bound by location – and fit into the busy schedules of those we are interviewing. Phone calls and in-person meetings are also possible.

The interviews we hold cover topics like the donor’s perception of the organization, alignment with proposed campaign priorities, giving capacity, potential willingness to support a campaign, suggestions regarding future direction of the organization, volunteer opportunities, and relationship mapping (who do you know, and can you help us get in touch with them).

On the quantitative side, a feasibility study will analyze your donor database and put numbers on your predictions. You will review questions such as: how many donors do you have? What size gifts have you received? How many repeat donors, lapsed donors, new donors do you have? What does your major gift pipeline look like? What is the average size gift? How long have your donors supported you? Etc.

And you will also evaluate your communication strategy: how well have you communicated with donors? Do they understand your mission? Do they know what you are doing? Have they been thanked and stewarded? How often do you communicate with your constituents? What is your open rate? Bounce rate? How up-to-date is the contact information in your database? Etc.

How long does a feasibility study take?

A well-run feasibility study will take no less than four months and preferably no less than six months. We have found this time period to be necessary for ensuring you have the right donors in your study. It also gives you sufficient time to ensure you have appropriate contact information for those donors and can work the process of landing a visit. We set aside the first few weeks to ensure we have a solid communication strategy, reliable donor contact information, and a solid list of those donors. Interviews and group meetings will then take place over the next 8 to 12 weeks, as it will often take several weeks to fit into the schedules of the donors you will interview. Additional time should be set aside for gathering quantitative information. This will include an in-depth analysis of the donor database and giving patterns and a critical evaluation of the organization’s communication strategy. It is then time for the report.

The Campaign Feasibility Study Report

At the conclusion of a feasibility study, your organization will receive a full summary and final analysis of the findings gathered during the quantitative and qualitative portions of the project. At Major Gift Solutions, we typically include things like an executive summary, campaign readiness assessment, synthesized themes from stakeholder feedback, strategic recommendations, and a proposed campaign timeline.

A good feasibility study is both a prediction and a map. It predicts with as much accuracy as possible the amount of money you could feasibly raise in a focused capital campaign. It will also chart out exactly how you can get there, including volunteer recruitment, major gift qualification and cultivation, communication strategy, campaign steering committee, etc. etc. In my experience, clients are often surprised at just how much time is required to raise substantial funds. Fundraising does not happen in a vacuum. The best fundraising takes place as part of a movement. And starting a movement is what your ultimate aim should be. This is how your organization will make the most sustainable and rewarding impact.

Be sure to stay tuned for future blog posts with further reflection on feasibility studies. We’ll cover topics like:
– Why perform a feasibility study?
– What is a “Mission Feasibility Study”?
– How does a feasibility study serve your fundraising needs?
– What is a typical feasibility study timeline?