A feasibility study is a survey of people whose agreement and support you would need in order to succeed at a particular project, usually a large capital or endowment campaign of at least $1 million. Usually, prospective donors, board members, community leaders, and program officers at foundations and corporations who might be approached to contribute to such a project are asked to state anonymously what they think about it and what level of support they or their organization might provide. Generally, the survey is done in two or three parts: an online survey sent to all the prospects who will be asked for major gifts, a phone survey to a smaller number of donors who will probably be asked for lead gifts, and optional in-person interviews or a focus group with a handful of key leaders.

WHO CONDUCTS THE FEASIBILITY STUDY

For prospects to feel that they can be completely honest and candid, their answers have to be truly anonymous. For that reason, most organizations hire a consultant to carry out a feasibility study. Maximum anonymity is ensured when people are asked by a consultant whom they don’t know to fill out a form sent by e-mail that does not call for them to include a name and address. Online surveys aggregate the data right away; by now, people are comfortable with them. Although some people might be completely candid without the shield of anonymity, human nature is such that, to spare someone’s feelings or to avoid a confrontation, many people will not be as direct if they know that what they say is going to get back to someone they know.

The e-mail survey consists of structured questions presented in a multiple-choice format. A few open-ended questions can also be included, which ask such things as whether prospects have confidence in the leadership of the organization and what they think about the organization’s program directions. Open-ended questions can also ask prospects’ opinions on anything the organization may have done or said that was at all controversial. Once the results of the survey are in, the consultant looks for any pattern of response and for issues that need to be clarified. The results of the online survey form the basis of the questions in the phone survey with prospective lead donors. On the phone, the surveyor can probe a little more, record anecdotes and examples, and even query respondents about whether they agree or disagree with some of the opinions or findings that came from the written survey. Many studies don’t also include in-person interviews. Such interviews are helpful if there is a need to clarify the case or probe further about any anomalies found in the phone or written surveys, but otherwise you might have enough information to go on without them.

A feasibility study is complicated and time-consuming both to construct and to conduct, which makes it expensive. That’s why it is only done in the case of high-risk or high-cost projects. The least-expensive study conducted by a professional will likely cost $5,000; many studies run as high as $50,000.

WHETHER TO DO A STUDY

There is no need to do a feasibility study in the following situations:

• If you intend to do the campaign no matter what the study shows. I have known half a dozen organizations that spent money on a study only to conclude that the results showing lack of support were wrong. They proceeded with their campaigns—some succeeded, some failed.
• If you are going to use the study simply to find out whether or not you can make your goal. You will discover easily enough whether you can raise the amount of money you need by asking for lead gifts from qualified prospects before the campaign is announced publicly. If they all say no or give much lower gifts than you needed, don’t announce your campaign, and go back to the drawing board.
• For projects of less than $2 million, a modified study could be useful, such as doing only the online survey or a limited phone survey if you have some specific questions. But what you really want is to go to the lead prospects and see what they say. Tell them about the possibility of the campaign and ask what they think about it. Tell them you are “testing the waters” or “getting feedback on this idea.” Make the conversation very casual, but pay close attention to what they say.

You will need to do a study under the following circumstances:

• The key leadership in your organization does not have the full confidence of important donors. I conducted a study for a capital campaign for an organization whose executive director had been there thirteen years. She was well liked, but as one key prospect said, “The organization has gotten too big for her, and neither she nor her board can handle the responsibility of a project this large.” The study showed that unless the organization made significant changes in staffing, including hiring an associate director to fill in administrative and human resource skills the executive director lacked, few were likely to contribute.
• Your building project may be controversial. A proposed homeless shelter discovered that it would face major neighborhood opposition if it expanded in the way it envisioned. The shelter slowed the process down to address neighborhood concerns with public education programs. Once that was done, the campaign proceeded successfully.
• You want to raise more than $2 million and you have never raised that amount of money before.
• You want to know exactly what the capacity of the people closest to the organization is before you ask them. The results of your study will not show you what any individual donor can give, but you will learn whether there are people in your sphere who have the capacity and willingness to give large amounts. You will need to figure out who those people are.

A feasibility study gives you an added measure of assurance and will help you identify and counter potentially big problems. When you are raising large amounts of money, a feasibility study will allow you to discover the capacity of your donors in a way that would otherwise be difficult, given our society’s strong taboo about talking about how much money a person actually has.

In the end, you are looking for assurance that you will be able to raise the first third of your goal from five to ten people. If you can do that, you will most likely be able to raise the rest of the money to reach your goal. That guideline is the most reliable indicator of whether your campaign will succeed.

WHAT FEASIBILITY STUDIES TELL YOU

Feasibility studies often predict that a campaign will bring in a lower amount than it actually raises in the end. Some consultants prefer to err on the side of underestimating the amount that can be raised, but the main reason campaigns exceed their goals is that it is impossible to factor in the effect of the excitement generated by the campaign on the prospects. It is one thing for prospects to talk on the phone about what they might, theoretically, do for a campaign should it be launched, but quite another for them to be asked in person to give to a campaign by someone they admire. On the phone, a person is sober and serious and not wanting to mislead the questioner. He names an amount that is perhaps a stretch for him but that he feels confident he would be able to pay. Later, during the real campaign, when a friend or colleague comes with a staff person to ask for his gift, he is likely to become excited by the enthusiasm of the askers and end up giving more than he told the interviewer he might during the phone survey. Perhaps on the phone a prospect said she would be unlikely to give, but faced with the reality of the campaign she may not want to be left out. Her objections, which seemed so big during the phone call, can fade in the light of the campaign. This does not mean you should add on a few hundred thousand to whatever the study suggests you can raise, but it does mean that you can be confident that a well-done study will present an amount that is at or below what you can actually bring in.

ACHIEVING SUCCESS

Of course, there is no assurance that any plan will succeed, but you have a better chance of succeeding if you have a plan than if you don’t. Moreover, evaluating your success will be easier if you have a plan—in fact, a plan is what makes evaluation possible.

Another requirement for success is to make sure your board of directors is on board. If a board of directors does not want to work on the campaign, the campaign is going to go nowhere. People look to the board for leadership. Your board may well be made up of people who cannot make big gifts to a capital or endowment campaign. That’s fine. But they need to make some gift, and they need to be involved in planning the campaign.

The best way to know whether you are going to succeed is to take the time to plan properly, as discussed in the chapters on capital and endowment campaigns, then implement the quiet phase of your plan. The requests made during the quiet phase give you the most accurate information with the least amount of public risk.