A feasibility study should offer smart, insightful, and comprehensive advice to the organization. Non-profit organizations should settle for nothing less than a feasibility study that sets them up for success in their fundraising endeavors.

By: Greg Bowden

Feasibility studies are critical components of fundraising success and are often the first step in a successful campaign. My mind is focused on feasibility studies at the moment because we have just completed our latest one. The report fills over 100 pages with text and charts reflecting our findings and conclusions. I am thinking about using my copy to build upper body strength.

As we were completing the report yesterday there was a great feeling of pride among all involved. First and foremost, the results of the study were positive and we had good news to report to our client. Unfortunately, that is not always the case and that is not something we can necessarily control. What we can control, and must maximize, is the quality of service we provide. A feasibility study should offer smart, insightful, and comprehensive advice to the organization.

Through this article I hope to impart some of the lessons learned and, I am proud to state, exemplified through the feasibility studies CDS conducts. Our website has another great article about feasibility studies entitled "Improving Your Study Habits". I have purposely tried to avoid redundantly covering the same ground as Dan.

Perhaps the most common question asked in regards to feasibility studies is, "How many interviews should be conducted"? The short answer to this question is, "As many as possible"! A non-profit organization with a limited budget, however, must reach a decision based on the value of one approach versus another. There may be a "tipping point" at which the cost of a larger study outweighs the benefit of additional interviews. My first response would be to push that fulcrum out as far as possible. More is better, after all, and sound conclusions rely in part on the quantity of data.

Most consultants who conduct feasibility studies do their work on a "fee for time" basis, meaning the organization pays for a certain number of weeks or days during which the consultant hopes to complete X number of interviews. The organization can most easily increase the value of the consulting services they retain by filling that time with the maximum number of meetings. This is a shared responsibility of the consultant and the organization. The study director wants to base his or her conclusions on the largest sample possible, while the organization wants a lot of "bang for their buck".

As an example, the feasibility study we have just finished included 100 interviews. They were conducted across eight weeks, or 40 business days. That equates to 2.5 interviews each and every day. Of course, scheduling never works out that smoothly and there were days that contained seven interviews. One hundred interviews yield a lot of information! The capital campaign to follow is going to succeed based on the results of perhaps 25 leadership-level gifts secured from perhaps 50 prospects. Odds are very good that our study director has met with the vast majority of those prospects. This would not be the case with a study containing 30 or 50 interviews. In some organizations 30 interviews would barely cover the board!

Beyond the issue of the volume of interviews, there is the notion of the amount of information gleaned from each meeting. As Dan discusses in his article, the key to this is a well-constructed questionnaire. An effective director will build outward from the printed questions, though, and engage the interviewee in a personalized conversation. This free-form conversation can often lead to unexpected nuggets of gold. I used to work for a man who was acquainted with then-President George H. W. Bush and his wife Barbara. I was impressed with that alone and I dismissed the fact that the two families had met through their sons, who roomed together in college. Now that the son is President I have learned to never marginalize such details.

The point is: do not be afraid to depart from the questionnaire down conversational side paths, so long as the prescribed questions get asked at some point. Find out where they went to school; ask about their kids; their hobbies; the different places they have lived, etc. I call this the "vacuum cleaner"; approach to gathering information. I pull in as much data as I can, regardless of how trivial it seems, placing no filters on the front end of the process. Then I look at the entire body of information from all the interviews and start connecting dots.

This has the added benefit of building a rapport between the study director and the interviewee (who is also a potential supporter). Assuming the study results are positive and the study director continues on as the campaign director (two very desirable results) the director will have built a connection with the individual that can pay dividends down the road.

All of the above-mentioned points help both the study director and the organization. The study director has a much fuller experience and is able to stand firmly on their conclusions. They can also compose a comprehensive report that will serve the organization well, much like the 100-page tome we have just presented. The organization gets a tremendous value for the cost of the study. They learn reams of information they may have never known and they, too, feel more confident in the study's conclusions. This takes a lot of the guesswork out of the daunting notion of starting a multi-million dollar campaign, and it allows the organization to "begin with the end in mind". Non-profit organizations should settle for nothing less than a feasibility study that sets them up for success in their fundraising endeavors.

Greg Bowden was formerly a campaign director at Custom Development Solutions, Inc. (CDS). CDS is one of North America's most sought after fundraising consulting firms specializing in the strategic planning and tactical execution of capital campaigns for non-profits throughout the United States and Canada. More information on CDS can be found on the web at www.cdsfunds.com. If you have a fundraising question, please call 800-761-3833 or send an email to lcs@cdsfunds.com.