Before you embark on the intensive and time-consuming process of a capital campaign, it is critical to know whether your organization has the potential to raise the money you need.
Assessing your fundraising potential is the purpose of a feasibility study or planning study – a market survey conducted through informal and confidential visits with potential donors.
In those visits, in which you make it clear that you are not asking for a gift, you present potential donors with your case for support – the story that explains why you need the money you are seeking.
Feedback you get in those meetings helps you validate or revise assumptions you have about your organization and how it is perceived. It shows you potential hurdles you may have to clear before launching a campaign. It helps you strengthen your case for support and confirm or adjust your campaign goals. And it helps you identify and even enlist key campaign leaders.
A major benefit of a feasibility study is to help you begin the process of building a relationship with prospective donors and strengthening relationships with current and past donors. Indeed, if well-designed and executed, a feasibility study can be an indispensable tool for the critical job of donor stewardship – cultivating lasting relationships with donors.
Some organizations opt not to conduct a feasibility study. The goal of your campaign project may be too small to justify the resources and effort a feasibility study requires. Or you may want to skip this process because you have successfully identified some early lead-gift resources, or you already may have a strong team of volunteers ready to lead your campaign, or you may be confident that donors will readily embrace the projects and programs your campaign will fund.
We ask the right questions to help you decide whether you are prepared for a campaign. We help you test your story with prospective donors. And we help you develop a strategy to raise the funds you need to advance your mission. Our commitment to you is to position your organization for fundraising success.