Feasibility Studies: A Necessity for Capital Campaigns

If you are planning to launch a capital campaign for a new building, you will significantly increase your potential for success by conducting a campaign feasibility study. While you may feel you understand your donor base well and don’t need to take this step, the information you will obtain from a feasibility study will impact every aspect of your campaign. You will find out who, when, if, how much, and why potential donors will participate in your campaign.

Let’s say you don’t know who will provide your lead gifts.  The feasibility study will identify who in your community might have the ability, interest, and willingness to provide your leadership gifts, a crucial step for meeting your campaign goal.

Do you know who would be the most successful campaign chair?  Through the conversations in the feasibility study process, a clear campaign chair or co-chairs will be identified by their peers.

What if there are competing campaigns in your community?  You will learn whether those same donors are able or willing to give to your campaign as well.  If not, you may need to adjust the timing of your campaign.

How much support can you expect from your major donors?  You should be able to identify at least 70% of your campaign goal through the feasibility study process.

Do you know what will inspire your potential major donors to support your campaign to their highest ability?  By listening carefully, it will become clear what themes and outcomes will resonate with your donor base and cause them to both give – and encourage others to give – to your campaign.

The campaign feasibility study should be conducted by an independent consultant who is able to ask critical questions and gain intimate knowledge from potential major donors regarding their opinions and interests, their personal relationships, any concerns or misunderstandings they may have, and their likelihood of providing both support and influence on behalf of your campaign. This in depth information will likely not be shared openly with library staff or volunteers.

Important Note: Not only is important information for your campaign obtained through the feasibility study process, the process actually “pre-sells” the campaign vision to your potential major donors.  We have found this to be very important, as many major donors have a dated perspective of libraries as simply repositories for books. Through the conversations in the feasibility study, we are able to update and expand their understanding of the library’s role in the future development of their community – and thereby inspire their support for the vision and the campaign!