Why Your Organization Needs a Feasibility Study
Your organization has identified a need to raise significant funds for a new program, project, building or endowment. How do you start to plan your fundraising efforts? A feasibility study is a crucial first step in planning a large fundraising campaign.
A feasibility study will help your organization determine:
- Its readiness to proceed with a campaign
- How much money can be raised for your project
- Potential barriers to launching a campaign
- The availability of volunteer campaign leaders
There are many elements involved in achieving a successful campaign. A feasibility study will help you determine if your organization is ready to take on such an endeavor. In an AMPERAGE feasibility study, our fundraising advisers will assess your organization’s operations to determine if you have the infrastructure, administrative support, and policies and procedures in place to successfully implement a campaign. We will also provide you with the tools and strategies you need to prepare for a campaign.
Reaching Your Goal
A feasibility study tests your project and goal with community members and assesses their willingness to support your initiatives. You may believe that you have a donor base and prospective lead gift donors that will support your campaign, but you cannot rely, particularly now, on donors’ past giving to estimate their willingness to give to your organization. The economy and rising inflation have impacted people’s giving. Although reports show charitable giving early in the pandemic increased slightly, the contributions were made by fewer donors. A feasibility study allows conversations to occur with potential campaign donors prior to making a gift ask that evaluates their capacity to support your campaign.
Uncover Barriers
Organizations may get excited and want to jump into raising money for the campaign. It is good to be excited, but a feasibility study will uncover any barriers you may face and provide you with an outline for a campaign strategy to move forward. Some organizations may feel they can conduct their own feasibility study, but volunteers and supporters may not be as candid with their responses as they would if approached by a neutral party. A trained fundraising consultant can dig deeper and provide unbiased recommendations. If raising money to have a consultant conduct a feasibility study is of concern, then raising money for a capital campaign will prove to be more difficult.
Volunteer Assessment
A feasibility study will help you identify potential lead gifts and campaign volunteer leaders. Recruiting volunteers has been more difficult during the pandemic. In fact, VolunteerMatch asked volunteers what barriers have gotten in the way of volunteer commitments during the pandemic. The highest barrier was fear of being exposed to illness — which increased from 46% in March 2020 to 62% in October of the same year. As a campaign volunteer, individuals will need to be comfortable meeting with prospective donors and meeting with key members of your organization. The ability to recruit dedicated volunteers to your campaign is essential to your campaign’s success.
Want to learn more about an AMPERAGE feasibility study? Check out our fact sheet here. Our AMPERAGE fundraising team is also available to answer questions, or contact Jennifer Rubel, Director of Fundraising, at jrubel@AMPERAGEfundraising.com.