What Is a Fundraising Feasibility Study, and Does Your Project Need One?
A fundraising feasibility study is an honest look, taken before you launch a major campaign, at whether your target is realistic and what reaching it would take. It tests how much appetite there is among funders and supporters, checks that your case and your organisation are ready, and ends with a clear, evidence-based recommendation on whether to go ahead and how. For any sizeable capital project, it is usually the smartest first move.
What does a feasibility study include?
Most studies cover the same ground: an assessment of how much you could realistically raise and where from, confidential conversations with likely funders and donors, a review of your case for support and how ready the organisation is, a sensible target range, and a recommendation. The point to remember is that the report is there to help you decide, not to raise money. It is a decision-making document, not a fundraising one.
Why not just launch the campaign?
Because a public campaign that stalls does far more damage than a quiet study that tells you to wait. A study brings the weak spots into the open while they are still cheap to fix: a thin case, no lead gift in place, a target set too high. Without one, you risk finding all of that out halfway through, in public, with money already spent.
Does an international project need one too?
Often even more. If you are based outside the UK and hoping to raise from UK funders or donors, a study answers the question that comes before all the others: is this money actually within reach from where you are, and on what terms? It can stop an overseas organisation pouring months into a campaign built on funders who were never able to give to them in the first place.
When is a study not worth it?
For small, single-grant projects, a full study is more than you need. It earns its place when the target is big, the timeline is long, or a failed public launch would really hurt. A short discovery call will tell you which of those you are looking at.
Article FAQ
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Usually a few weeks to a couple of months. It depends on how many funders and supporters you consult and how far along your case already is.
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No. A study tests whether the money is there. A case for support is the document that persuades funders to part with it. A study will often recommend building or sharpening the case as the next step.
Thinking about a major campaign?
We run feasibility studies for environmental and heritage projects in the UK and internationally.
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