Launching a Fundraising Feasibility Study: 7 Essential Steps

Major fundraising campaigns (such as capital campaigns) are significant undertakings that push your organization, its internal team, and its community of supporters to accomplish lofty goals, like building a new facility, purchasing new equipment, or filling an endowment fund your organization can use in the future.

While these campaigns are exciting and can help your organization take big leaps forward toward accomplishing its mission, they require careful preparation. Part of that preparation involves confirming whether the campaign is worthwhile for your organization in its current state.

That’s where a fundraising feasibility study comes into play. A feasibility study gives you the chance to critically examine your organization’s current capacity and fundraising potential to determine whether now is truly the right time to run a major campaign.

To help you prepare for a successful fundraising feasibility study experience, we’ve compiled this guide that will teach you everything you need to know. We’ll cover:

• Fundraising Feasibility Studies: The Fundamentals
• The Role of a Consultant in a Campaign Feasibility Study
• 7 Essential Fundraising Feasibility Steps to Follow
• How Averill Solutions Can Help

If you’re getting ready for your own large-scale campaign, ensure you complete a fundraising feasibility study before you dive in. This guide will show you how. Let’s begin!

Fundraising Feasibility Studies: The Fundamentals

Before you can conduct your own fundraising feasibility study, you should familiarize yourself with the basics of what these studies entail. Let’s go over some common questions.

What is a fundraising feasibility study?

A fundraising feasibility study (also known as a feasibility study, a campaign feasibility study, and a planning and feasibility study) is a tool that organizations like nonprofits use to determine if a large-scale campaign is a viable option given the organization’s current circumstances.

During the fundraising feasibility study, a third-party consultant will conduct interviews with your organization’s stakeholders to gauge their support for the campaign and their feelings about your organization overall.

A thorough feasibility study will set you up to:

• Plan your campaign and begin fundraising
• Source major gifts and begin conversations with major givers
• Fill any gaps in your organization’s operations that will hinder you from completing the campaign successfully

What are the benefits of conducting a feasibility study?

Other than confirming whether the campaign you want to launch is possible for your organization, a feasibility study can provide your organization with several benefits. These include:

• Validation of your campaign goals: Conducting a study gives you the chance to ensure that your fundraising targets are realistic and achievable, or to adjust them to be realistic and achievable based on your stakeholders’ feedback.
• Feedback on your case for support: Your campaign case for support (also known as a case statement) is a document that makes the case for your campaign and why people should support it. During the feasibility study, your consultant will share the draft of your case for support with your stakeholders and get their thoughts on it, giving you the chance to refine it before sharing it with the public.
• An opportunity to assess donor interest and capacity: Conversations with stakeholders and major givers are at the heart of the feasibility study process. By learning about their interest in the campaign and their capacity and desire to support it early on, you can build a successful fundraising strategy that promotes giver retention.
• The discovery of potential obstacles or challenges: You want to go into a major campaign with eyes wide open. A feasibility study allows you to learn about potential roadblocks early on, whether concerns about organizational reputation or insufficient marketing strategies. You can then make positive changes that help you course-correct before jumping into your campaign.
• Enhanced confidence among your organization’s leadership: The findings of your feasibility study can reinforce for your board members, staff, and stakeholders that there is support and enthusiasm for your campaign, which can lead to increased investment in the campaign’s success and confidence that your organization can accomplish its goals.

When should my organization conduct a feasibility study?

Your feasibility study should be completed during the planning phase of your campaign, which takes place 6-12 months before the quiet phase of the campaign.

Before conducting your feasibility study, you’ll review your past fundraising success, assess your organization’s current capacity, set your fundraising goals and campaign objectives, and develop preliminary campaign collateral (like your case for support).

Can someone help my organization with a feasibility study?

Yes! Some organizations may want to conduct their feasibility study themselves, but the best approach is actually to hire an expert fundraising consultant to conduct your feasibility study for you.

Fundraising consultants have experience working with a variety of organizations to conduct feasibility studies and assist with carrying out successful campaigns, so you can be confident that they will help your organization get thorough and actionable results.

To get started with a fundraising consultant, you’ll need to create an RFP to send out to firms that you’re interested in.

What do I do with less-than-favorable study results?

It is possible for your feasibility study results to show that your organization is not ready to conduct the desired campaign given its current capacity and level of support from its stakeholders.

Though this can be a disappointing finding, this is exactly why feasibility studies are important. Instead of jumping into a campaign you’re unprepared for, you can work with your fundraising consultant to identify areas of improvement and make a plan together to get your organization to a place where it can launch its campaign in the future.

The Role of a Consultant in a Campaign Feasibility Study

As mentioned above, some organizations try to conduct their feasibility studies themselves, usually in an effort to save money. This can actually backfire, as in-house feasibility studies often yield skewed and unreliable results.

Instead, it is recommended that organizations work with impartial consultants who can bring their unique experiences and perspectives to the table.

Throughout your campaign feasibility study, a consultant will lead your team through the following essential tasks:

• Researching your organization’s history, past fundraising achievements, and plans for the campaign in question
• Identifying major giving prospects
• Holding one-on-one interviews with key stakeholders to assess campaign support and perceptions about your organization
• Compiling feasibility study findings into a digestible report
• Prescribing (and often assisting with) next actions to complete before your campaign begins

Fundraising feasibility studies are most helpful when they’re approached as an aspect of strategic planning. Not only can these studies help your nonprofit determine whether or not your desired campaign is viable, but they can also help build relationships and hone your fundraising strategy.

Great nonprofit consultants will have experience conducting feasibility studies, a history working with organizations in your sector, and an appreciation for your regional fundraising culture. They’ll also be prepared to maintain an open dialogue with your executives and board.

And because nonprofit consultants aren’t internal members of your organization, individuals are more likely to provide honest, candid, and truly useful feedback on your campaign during the interview phase of the study.

Similarly, since they have a more diverse background from working with varied nonprofit organizations, consultants will be more equipped to identify potential fundraising roadblocks and can help your team sidestep unforeseen strategic challenges.

7 Essential Fundraising Feasibility Steps to Follow

Now that you’re familiar with the basics of feasibility studies, let’s walk through the steps you can follow to conduct one for your organization.

1. Hire a consultant to lead your feasibility study.

Before you dive into the nitty-gritty of your campaign feasibility study, ensure you’ve partnered with an experienced consultant who can handle the heavy lifting for you.

Here are some steps to follow to ensure you hire the right consultant for your organization:

1. 1. Identify your goals and the services you need. Working with your organization’s board and leadership, determine your goals for working with a fundraising consultant and what you need from them. For example, in addition to getting assistance with your feasibility study, you may want your consultant to help you execute your campaign.
2. 2. Use your network. Next, it’s time to research possible consultants to partner with. Start by asking peers in your organization’s sector for recommendations. You can also turn to a fundraising consultant directory for more options.
3. 3. Meet with your top candidates. Once you have a list of potential consultants to work with, reach out and introduce yourself. This is your chance to gauge how well the consultant would fit into the working culture at your organization and to discuss their approach to feasibility studies.
4. 4. Request proposals and check references. Request proposals from the candidates you’re most interested in by creating a request for proposal (RFP) document that outlines what you’re looking for. Once you have those proposals back, you can assess them and reach out to the consultants’ references to learn more about their track record.
5. 5. Sign a contract. After you’ve found the right consultant for your needs, sign a contract to make the engagement official. The contract should specify the timeframe of the engagement, the agreed-upon costs, responsibilities the consultant is taking on, and the goals and objectives you want them to reach.

Once you’ve partnered with a consultant, give them some time to get acquainted with your organization and your team. Ensure you provide any documentation or background information they need to get to know you and your needs.

2. Analyze your nonprofit’s fundraising history.

During this stage, your consultant will attempt to better understand the strengths and weaknesses of your nonprofit and will begin to build a foundation upon which they’ll assess the attainability of your fundraising campaign’s goals.

At this time, your consultant will compile:

• A history of your organization since its inception
• A timeline of your past fundraising campaigns
• An analysis of your past fundraising achievements
• An analysis of fundraising success stories within your organization’s sector
• An initial overview of your proposed fundraising goal, timeline, and other campaign benchmarks

After compiling this information, your nonprofit consultant will develop a document which will be used throughout the rest of your feasibility study as a way to guide the assessment of your campaign.

Over the course of the planning period of your fundraising campaign, you and your consultant may use this document to help produce your campaign’s official case for support and related fundraising collateral.

This case statement will be used to inform the public of your fundraising campaign, outline why your cause is worthy of prospects’ support, and brief individuals on the specific fundraising needs of your organization.

3. Identify interview candidates for your fundraising feasibility study.

Before the interview phase of your fundraising feasibility study can commence, your team will need to identify qualified candidates for this process.

Working with your consultant, develop a list of important internal and external voices whose perspectives will offer valuable insight into the viability of your campaign as it currently stands, as well as into how your fundraising plan can become more effective.

Not only should your team meet during this phase, but you should also select key board members, community leaders, and staff members to be a part of the interview process.

Having an eclectic balance of insider and outsider voices as a part of this phase will provide your nonprofit with a well-rounded picture of how your proposed campaign is supported.

Remember: these interviews won’t simply be for determining whether or not there’s sufficient enthusiasm for your campaign from giving prospects. At the end of the fundraising feasibility study, your team will also want to know if staff, board, volunteers, etc., are willing and ready to play the roles necessary to make the campaign a success.

4. Form a committee of fundraising feasibility study insiders.

Parallel to your fundraising feasibility study’s stakeholder interviews, you’ll also want to prepare for the assessment by gathering together a panel of important voices as an aspect of the planning process.

Build a committee of community insiders out of many of the same individuals that will be singled out for your campaign’s interview phase.

In addition to requesting their personal assessment of your nonprofit and your fundraising campaign plan, call on these individuals to get involved with your campaign from the ground up.

The earlier you bring these individuals on, the more invested they’ll be in your campaign and the long-term success of your organization.

These insiders can assist your nonprofit over the course of your feasibility study by providing insight and assistance beyond the scope of the interview phase, such as:

• Offering campaign collateral feedback
• Identifying and networking with giving prospects
• Sharing fundraising recommendations and strategies

Prioritize including giving prospects in your insider committee. Since your team is engaging with important prospects as you fine-tune your campaign, you’ll rest easy knowing that the campaign itself is tailored to what excites these important givers.

While this working group shouldn’t solely be comprised of potential campaign contributors, it’s especially important to connect with these valuable individuals during the planning phase.

The fact of the matter is that high-capacity givers typically network with other high-capacity givers. If they are enthusiastic about your campaign from the get-go, or if they feel invested in your fundraising plan, they’ll be more likely to serve as “ambassadors” after the campaign kicks off.

5. Have your consultant interview stakeholders.

After carefully preparing with your nonprofit consultant, your fundraising feasibility study can officially commence by conducting your stakeholder interviews.

These interviews can be in person or on the phone but should always be comprehensive in nature. While you don’t want to overwhelm your interviewees, it’s important that your consultant is able to glean as much insight as possible during this process.

At this time, your consultant will ask interviewees exploratory questions related to their perception of the attainability of your nonprofit’s fundraising campaign plan, as well as what kind of role they anticipate they’ll play during your campaign.

Consider some of these example questions a consultant might ask during stakeholder interviews to get an idea of how this process can play out for nonprofits like yours:

• What is your history with this nonprofit organization? What relationships do you have with comparable organizations?
• How does the work of this nonprofit influence your day-to-day life?
• On a scale of 1 to 10, how confident are you in the leadership of this nonprofit?
• Based on the campaign’s tentative fundraising goal and the organization’s proposed campaign timeline, do you anticipate that the goal will be met?
• How do you perceive the fundraising goal? Is it too ambitious, too conservative, or does it otherwise miss the mark?
• Is the proposed project that this campaign is designed to finance worthwhile, in your opinion? Do you feel the fundraising goal is attainable, but that the money should be spent on different projects?
• Are you inspired to get involved with this campaign in an official volunteer capacity? Would you be willing to network to connect the organization with giving prospects?

This is just the beginning of the list of questions that should be asked during your feasibility study process. You should also be asking questions aimed at aligning your internal time and preparing for the campaign itself.

6. Go over the findings of your feasibility study with your consultant.

While most nonprofit organizations are quite familiar with the role of fundraising feasibility studies in the campaign planning process, organizations sometimes fail to leverage their results into actual strategy improvements.

With the guidance of your nonprofit consultant, review feedback you’ve received from stakeholders, the insight offered from individuals on your insider committee, and the recommendations of your fundraising consultant.

At this time, your consultant will either recommend that you go forward with the campaign in line with your proposed timeline and goals, or send your team back to the drawing board.

No matter what conclusions your consultant reaches, it’s important that your nonprofit actually heeds their advice. Half-baked fundraising plans are a recipe for failure, and when a nonprofit invests money in a campaign that isn’t set up for success, the repercussions can be detrimental to your organization in the long-term.

7. Launch your campaign or take the necessary next steps.

It’s possible that at the end of a nonprofit feasibility study, consultants will recommend that the organization immediately move forward with their fundraising plan.

Sometimes, however, consultants will have some recommendations for improvements and will suggest that the organization take some time to get better prepared for the campaign. In the best-case scenarios, these suggestions might include simply identifying more prospects, adjusting the fundraising goal, or modifying the campaign timeline.

Based on the feedback received, consultants may prescribe next steps that could take your team months or even years to accomplish. More substantial strategic recommendations may include:

• Taking time to build stronger relationships with prospects or to identify additional contributors for major gifts.
• Refocusing the project the proposed campaign is intended to fund.
• Conducting a smaller-scale fundraising campaign to build fundraising experience.
• Realigning staff internally to become better equipped to take on the campaign.
• Bringing on new board members to boost the networking possibilities of your nonprofit.

What’s one common suggestion nonprofit consultants make for less experienced organizations?

By gradually growing the fundraising goal of their annual fund campaign, many nonprofits are able to steadily broaden their network of prospects and improve public perception of their organization.

Since gifts to an annual fund campaign are considered “unrestricted funds” your team will have more freedom to invest that revenue back into the growth of your nonprofit.

How Averill Solutions Can Help

Averill Fundraising Solutions is a full-service fundraising consulting firm whose consultants have over 120 years of combined experience getting great results for nonprofits focused on education, healthcare, faith, human services, professional membership, and civic issues.

Our team can help your organization conduct a comprehensive planning and feasibility study for its major campaigns. We also offer the following services to help take your campaigns and operations to the next level:

• Campaign Direction
• Campaign Planning
• Annual Fund Direction
• Embedded Staffing
• Leadership Learning
• Executive Search

We’ve helped our clients raise over $3.5 billion dollars collectively. Partner with us and see what we can accomplish together!

A fundraising feasibility study is a must-have item on your major campaign planning checklist in order for your team, your stakeholders, and your community to feel confident about your campaign moving forward.

Use the guidance above to get started with your own feasibility study, and remember to lean on the expertise of a fundraising consultant in order to get the best and most actionable results possible.

Want to learn more about the world of major campaigns and feasibility studies? Check out these recommended resources:

• 15 Fundraising Feasibility Study Questions For Campaign Prep
• Conducting A Planning and Feasibility Study: A Guide
• Your Capital Campaign Case Statement: How to Write It