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15 March 2007
Feasibility Studies: A New Approach
By Jeffrey Byrne, President & CEO
Kansas City
 Heard of those tired – but all-too-familiar – stories about the consultant who talks with 35 of your organization’s closest friends, and then comes back and tells your organization you can’t raise what you want to raise, and doesn’t even give you guidance on how to prepare for a capital campaign? Well, that’s an outdated approach to feasibility studies, and here’s an option for you to consider.
First, at Jeffrey Byrne & Associates, Inc., we don’t use the term “feasibility study.” We call them Community Readiness Assessments SM. Why? Because we believe that we are engaged by your organization to test the community’s readiness for your proposed fundraising campaign. We don’t believe it’s our job to just give you a “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” on whether you can do a campaign. If we conclude that you aren’t ready for a campaign, we give you a plan for what you need to do, how to do it, and how long it will take to get ready for a campaign.
Second, we don’t believe in the “all-powerful fundraising consultant” being the gate-keeper to those whom you want to invest in your organization. What does this mean? We invite you to partner with our organization in the process by joining us on the interviews, hearing and seeing what we hear and see all along the way. We believe the Community Readiness Assessment SM is really your first step in your campaign: It’s your chance to tell your story to potential donors, volunteers and stakeholders and to interest them in investing in your project. We also know that you are much better equipped than we are, as consultants, to answer questions about your project and your organization that may arise during the study. Finally, this process holds us accountable to you as the client, because you are involved in the process with us, and understand the key findings that are being developed.
Recently, a hospital client in Pennsylvania went along with me while we were testing a $10 million capital campaign for an established hospital with a fairly new foundation. The director of the foundation and I interviewed 36 individuals one-on-one, and in every case I was the leader in our discussions. However, the foundation director presented what the hospital’s plans were, and was able to hear the potential donors’ reactions. Many of the individuals we interviewed were unaware of the hospital’s plans and were impressed by how far this community hospital had come in the last five years.
Third, can you keep information confidential? Well, I assume by the nature of our jobs as development professionals, that we keep confidential information from donors, staff and board members on a daily basis. This goes for clients who participate in an interview. Keeping information confidential is a necessity, and during the past seven years of using this partnering approach, I have never felt that a client misused any information obtained by participating in the interview process.
Fourth, will the prospective donor be honest? In my entire work career, I have been fortunate to be surrounded by successful, wealthy, and often powerful individuals. My experience has been that prospective donors, through the interview process during Community Readiness Assessments SM, have been forthright and sometimes brutal about organizations that I represented, even when a staff member was present. Many times, there has been erroneous information or unclear understanding on the part of the prospective donor and, by attending the interview, the client has been able to provide information that cleared up the mis-impression and made our meeting more valuable to the prospective donor.
Our success rate as a fundraising consulting firm is 98% when organizations adopt fundraising goals that are developed through our Community Readiness Assessments SM process. This validates, in my opinion, a new way of thinking about the “old” feasibility study and we encourage you to examine how this fresh approach can serve your organization as you are considering this important “first step” in planning for your campaign.
Embracing Partnerships for Capital Campaign Success
By Connie Clark, Vice President
Canton, OH
and
By Gene Dooley,
President & CEO
YMCA of Greater Kansas City
Editor’s Note: following is an excerpt from “Creating Partnerships for Capital Campaign Success,” which will be presented by Constance Clark (JB&A) and Gene Dooley (Greater Kansas YMCA) at the North American YMCA Development Officers Conference, to be held in San Francisco, March 23, 2007.
Collaborations or partnerships can make the difference between a successful and unsuccessful capital campaign, especially in communities where nonprofits vie for the same pool of foundation and corporate support. Competition for financial resources is greatly reduced by partnering with organizations with compatible missions that are targeting a common goal or community need. The added strength to the case provided by working with multiple partners helps get the project accomplished in the most efficient, effective way for the community.
Successful partnerships multiply each organization’s strengths, pool resources, and provide innovative solutions to shared challenges. Together, the partner organizations can accomplish what they could never begin to do alone. All the partners benefit by greatly expanding their reach into the community. New donors come to your door because of their prior association with your new partnering organization. Collaborating on a capital campaign provides the opportunity for your organization to become part of the inner circle, or family, of another organization.
Collaborations, especially those with nontraditional partners, can attract additional funding opportunities that would not be available to your organization as a sole agency. For example, the Kresge Foundation, non-local foundations, major corporations, and federal, state, and local government municipalities all strongly encourage, and at times require, partnerships to apply for grant funding.
Partnerships developed now will help in future capital, annual and endowment campaigns, gaining a much broader base of new friends for annual and endowment support. Shared community publicity leads to increased interest and awareness for all the agencies. Also, all partners involved in a joint capital campaign will be much more interested in repeating the process when the need for expansion or another project arises in the future. In my personal experience involving a former YMCA collaboration with a library, a hospital, a school system, and municipality, all key partners approached the Y about a new project in another part of the county. The tremendous positive experience of the partners caused them to approach the Y seeking partnership, not the other way around.
Partnerships in capital campaigns increases financial and campaign leadership support in future campaigns. Volunteers and foundations love to be associated with a successful track record. The trust built by developing healthy relationships with partners leads to a successful campaign, creating a much stronger case for the next capital campaign project, then the next, and on and on...
So, where do you look for traditional and non-traditional partners? Start by becoming familiar with current program collaborations, organizations with similar missions, non-traditional organizations who share a common goal, municipalities, government, other branches of your own agency, and relationships suggested by your own communities’ needs assessments. Get out and talk to your community leaders and foundations. Many times they are aware of a potential partner, and if it is suggested by them, you are assured of their support in the future.
The important thing is to start developing relationships now. They take time, and when the opportunity affords itself to enter into the excitement and challenge of a joint campaign, that relationship needs to be established so it carries you through to a successful, and rewarding capital campaign experience, and ultimately, to fulfillment of not only your mission, but the mission of your partners and your community.
Who is Your 'Director of First Impressions'?
By Jennifer Furla, Executive Vice President
Kansas City
 Walking out of a client’s offices today, I caught the sign from the corner of my eye. It was a simple
8 ½" x 11" computer-made creation, clearly placed as a morale-booster to the woman who staffs the desk nearby. I smiled as I looked closer: “Director of First Impressions,” the sign said.
The woman gave a wide grin and a wave as I bid my goodbyes and left the client’s offices for the day. I pointed to the sign and she nodded. She knew the importance of her job as the first face – and voice – that clients, volunteers, AND DONORS are greeted by when they come to or call the agency.
When you call the offices of another group with whom we have the privilege to work, you are greeted with a distinctive voice that states “American Academy of Family Physicians” in a pleasant, lilting tone. While this is a voice mail greeting, it’s so warm and welcoming that I have had to stop more than once to realize that it’s not a live voice on the other end of the phone.
This warm greeting, designed to smoothly usher in calls from the Academy’s more than 90,000 members – all busy physicians – has become part of the “brand” of the Academy. If you call there more than once, the signature voice becomes imbedded in your thoughts and that IS what you think of when you think of the American Academy of Family Physicians.
In my years in fundraising, I’ve made impassioned pleas and written more than one article about the importance of involving your entire organization in the work of fundraising. It’s a critical part of cultivation and stewardship and can, frankly, make or break a donor relationship for you. If you have a Mission that says you help the poor and needy and that “Director of First Impressions” doesn’t answer the phone or treat visitors with the care and compassion that should come from a group with that Mission, I can promise that this will create a disconnect in the eyes of your donors and volunteers.
The same goes for how donors are treated when they call. Does your front office understand the importance of recognizing and greeting some of your most important supporters? Do the development staff always remember that it’s the ORGANIZATION’S responsibility to do the work to help donors with their substantiation and paperwork requests?
Every organization has a “Director of First Impressions.” Some may have one in each department.
Who is YOUR Director of First Impressions and how are you doing as an organization to make a “first impression” that is donor-friendly and consistent with your Mission?
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