Heller Fundraising Group Consultants Share their Insights for Campaign Success
Fundraising feasibility studies are a crucial first step for any campaign. Through deep-dives into your database, conversations with key staff members and leadership, and early engagement with top donors, you can learn a lot about the challenges and opportunities ahead.
“We don’t know what we don’t know until we do a study,” says Kate Jaeger-Thomas, consulting services director. “We encourage our clients to come with an open mind, to be curious about what we’re going to find, to not make decisions about what is or isn’t possible for their campaign.”
Our consulting team sat down for a roundtable discussion about the benefits of a feasibility study and how you can use this opportunity to lay the foundation for a successful campaign—even before your study begins.
Get our Feasibility Study Readiness Playbook here.
Why should nonprofits consider a feasibility study instead of jumping straight into a campaign?
Kate: Before joining the Heller Group, I actually didn’t believe in feasibility studies. In my early experience, when I was still pretty green, it didn’t matter if a campaign was feasible or not. We still had to do it. As far as I was concerned, I already knew what a study would find: no, we didn’t have the prospect base for it, and no, we didn’t have people with the capacity to give.
At the Heller Group, we often call it a planning study. While it might be true that an organization doesn’t have a prospect base and the campaign doesn’t feel possible, the work we do in our studies helps identify those gaps and the opportunities you can leverage. Through a planning study, we can make a campaign that feels impossible actually possible.
How can a feasibility study set a campaign up for success?
Emmy Torruellas, senior consultant: The feasibility study is an opportunity to kick off cultivation conversations. You’re not sitting idly by, waiting for results. It’s an active process. It gets organizations to delve into their donor base, and they get to talk to their donors.
Megan Hodges, senior consultant: The feasibility study also gives the board confidence in the plan. Most of our clients’ boards don’t have experience with capital campaigns. They don’t really understand the nuts and bolts. Providing confidence in the plan is essential. It creates buy-in and support of the leadership and the development team.
Kate: That confidence in the plan comes from identifying the plan, right? The study identifies the path forward. We don't just say, “You can raise $20 million.” We say, “You can raise $20 million, here's how we think you can get there, and here's the data that backs up those assumptions.” And sometimes, we tell clients that they’re not ready for a campaign, but here’s what they can do to get there. Maybe they need to engage more with their board, or build out their natural networks, or work on their prospect development.
What can organizations learn about their donor base?
Kate: A study is an assessment. We’re trying to understand what we have in front of us so that we can shape the strategy. Looking at the overall trends pulls you out of individual conversations. It allows you to see the big picture: What’s happening in your community, and how can we shift that with a campaign? Ultimately, what we aim to do with the campaigns we run is to create a transformation within the organization towards a stronger culture of philanthropy and a stronger connection to the cause.
Kaylana Sareen, consulting associate: We take a large donor pool and break it down to who has the affinity, the capacity, and the propensity to give. We first look at donors’ affinity to the organization: How recently have they made a gift? How much are they giving? What was their largest gift? Then we look at their capacity ratings through various wealth indicators and their philanthropy elsewhere to determine what donors are giving below their capacity to your organization. That's your top prospect list.
This work really focuses an organization and orients them in their donor base. Their top prospect list will always be fluid, but we give them a strong starting point so they can hit the ground running with their campaign.
Kate: With that information, we also ask how organizations are engaging with these prospects and what conversations they’re having. We find that some clients are asking too soon, or for the wrong amount, or in a way that won’t inspire the greatest gift. This assessment, along with training and a targeted, strategic process, can inspire the largest gifts your top donors have ever given.
What is the role of the case for support in the feasibility study?
Kim Catley, collaborating consultant: By writing and testing your case for support this early in the process, you have a chance to get your whole team on board with a cohesive message that contextualizes this campaign in the bigger narrative arc of your organization. This is your chance to explain your goals and the impact on your community, and make the argument for why your organization, why this campaign, and why now.
There’s also a lot of value in bringing in a fresh perspective here. Sometimes, you’re too deep in the work to know what might be confusing to outsiders who aren’t as intimately familiar. Or maybe your campaign is driven by immediate necessities, and you need that nudge to take a step back and dream a little bigger. An inspiring story that draws people in is going to be much more powerful than one that’s rooted in anxiety and fear.
Is there anything an organization can do in advance to get the most out of their feasibility study?
Kate: It’s rare that you’re going to walk into a study with a clear and comprehensive budget. But before you get started, you can develop a comprehensive wish list. Don’t just think about your must-haves, but what those necessities unlock for other aspects of your operations and programming. If you’re constructing a new building, have you thought about the costs of managing and maintaining it? How are you going to program it? You need to start thinking about those costs and attaching some numbers to them.
We often help clients create more credible budgets that can be believed and understood by donors. Like the case for support, it helps to have a third-party work with you on the budget. You’re often in the operational mindset and know all of the nuances. But those details aren’t always relevant to the donor. You need to be able to validate the inner-workings of a budget but also articulate it in an easy-to-understand manner.
Kaylana: It also helps to understand where your revenue is coming from. How much is from individual donors and at what giving levels? Institutional support like foundations? Other funding sources?
Emmy: You should be able to say, off the top of your head, who your closest supporters are. And clean data is really helpful. You need a de-duped database with a comprehensive giving history.
Kate: And you have to start thinking about who is going to lead the campaign. It can't just be one person. It has to be an organizational-wide effort, and most of the time, you do need support from an outside consultant. Even the most sophisticated development team often needs additional support. From the highest level—your board chair, CEO, executive director, campaign chair—to your staff in all departments. They're all going to be involved in the campaign in some way.
Take the first step with our Feasibility Study Readiness Playbook
We recently launched our Feasibility Study Readiness Playbook for nonprofits considering a fundraising campaign. In it, you’ll find questions and prompts that will help you make sense of your budget, message and timeline, take a more expansive view of your top prospects, identify an effective campaign leadership team, and find gaps in your staffing and systems.