Research and Study Can Often Open One’s Eyes to Reality
Nonprofit organizations regularly hire fundraising consultants to help them determine the feasibility of undertaking a capital campaign. Often times the management and board of the non-profits have notions and beliefs about fundraising that are not consistent with reality. It is the responsibility of the consultant to diplomatically but firmly correct the misperceptions. This can be done best by conducting a Feasibility and Planning Study and then citing the results from the study to support the arguments as to what the reality is. It is critical to a campaign’s success that perceptions be clear and accurate. Three notions or beliefs that seem to be misperceived over and over again are:
- Prospect X could fund this entire program by herself
- This organization is the best-kept secret in the state
- Our volunteer leaders have given us the benefit of their attention and their time, and these are more valuable than money.
Prospect X could fund this entire program by herself.
While it may be true that Ms. X could fund the whole campaign, chances are that she won’t. Erroneously counting on Ms. X’s leadership gift is rooted in the idea that a goal smaller than a philanthropist’s historically largest gift makes it a “shoo-in” for that philanthropist to pay the whole bill for the project. In every community there is an entity—a philanthropic individual, a corporate powerhouse, a top-tier foundation—that is asked first and always by non-profits seeking capital, operational, or programmatic funding. Organizations think of these first and often do not think further.
But it’s very rare that a donor wants to be the sole source of support for a project—any project. Campaigns are valuable opportunities for a community to forge brand new partnerships, build new and beneficial relationships, and bring people together who may never have met before. Single source campaigns, even if they existed, would only do half the job they should do.
A good campaign builds a stronger, refreshed set of community bonds, almost incidentally, on the way to accomplishing the primary campaign goal of raising the money. This comes from shared commitment. Wise, experienced philanthropists know this, and they count on the organization’s Feasibility and Planning Study to discover new sources to replenish the pool of philanthropists in their communities and build those new partnerships, as well as set the campaign goal.
This organization is the best-kept secret in the state.
Every board feels its organization is insufficiently recognized. This stems from the underlying thought that if only people knew what wonderful work the organization does, raising money would be easy. But few non-profits are a complete mystery to their communities; constituents, clients, and staff members talk. Organizations acquire reputations—for good or ill—whether they know it or not. In fact, one of the great benefits of a Feasibility and Planning Study is the revelation, often for the first time, of the community’s perception of the non-profit.
Most campaigns benefit from an early public relations effort that details in an accessible way the provisions of the project under consideration. But the Feasibility and Planning Study exposes the real areas of public misunderstanding and lack of information and provides for systematic public information planning. This allows an integrated but targeted effort when the campaign gets underway. Then the secret’s out.
Our volunteer leaders have given us the benefit of their attention and their time, and these are more valuable than money.
Time and attention may be more gratifying than money, but non-profit organizations live or die on the razor’s edge of fundraising. Not every board member is going to be a fundraiser, and not every board member will be a leadership gift prospect, but all should be aware of the needs of the organization and the often disguised opportunities to engage other donors and prospects at deeper levels of the organizational mission and program.
The Feasibility and Planning Study provides an opportunity to make board members aware of the additional responsibilities they will have to undertake in order to ensure success for the campaign and the organization. It also shows them how discharging their responsibilities will integrate with the other steps of the Campaign Plan to ensure success. For instance, board members without the knack for fundraising still have a cadre of friends with whom to work—and your board members have an obligation to invite them to share in the mission of your organization and support that mission with their wherewithal. Having friends participate in the Feasibility and Planning Study provides a painless, non-threatening way to involve them.
Leaders of nonprofit organizations want to succeed. In many cases, they need to succeed in order for the organization to survive. The fact that they think in terms of these clichés should be an encouragement—they are thinking about the campaign. But the fundraising professional must encourage organizations to keep an open mind, to look deeper, and to wait for the direction the Feasibility and Planning Study will provide.