Fundraising for Social Change, 8th Edition

chapter TWENTY‐EIGHTConducting Feasibility Studies

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. A feasibility study invites prospective donors, board members, community leaders, and program officers at foundations and corporations who might be approached to contribute to such a project to state anonymously what they think about a potential campaign 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, some of whom may not be donors per se, but who have gravitas in the community and whose opinion will be sought by prospects.

WHO CONDUCTS THE FEASIBILITY STUDY

For prospects to feel that they can be completely honest and candid, their answers have to be 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 from an email with the consultant's name or the name of the firm conducting the survey. Online surveys aggregate the data right away; by now, people are comfortable ...