You Never Know: The Importance of a Study Before a Major Campaign

In this business of fundraising, to maximize your success you must always be willing to learn. And be eager to listen.

We were recently working with a client on a feasibility study. The two staff leaders were insistent that they knew everyone who should be interviewed. The staff leaders even pushed back on the effort to get volunteer engagement.

When the key volunteers we pulled together reviewed the list developed by the staff, it began to change. The volunteers provided valuable feedback, and the list of top prospects became quite different.

Likewise, the case development process was too insular. Although we pressed consistently, there was not enough involvement from other staff leaders or volunteers. When we began to test the menu of projects in confidential study interviews, it became clear that some things — major concepts — needed to change. That is why, if you really want to maximize success, you embark on a study before a major campaign.

For example, our staff liaisons had insisted on certain language to describe a building. One of them had been to a seminar, and a fundraising consultant said that no one was giving to capital projects. She couldn't get this out of her mind. We pushed back, but she insisted that a new building was to be called a creative, ambiguous name. With the name, you really didn't know what the purpose of the building was, and it wasn't consistent with the names of other buildings on the campus.

As we interviewed leaders, it became apparent — yes, there was an appetite for capital projects. Being creative with what to call a facility was really confusing and distracting from the fact that the organization was trying to meet what leaders felt was a valid and pressing need.