An OpXGroup fundraising feasibility study is a tool used by organizations to determine if their proposed capital fund‐raising campaign has those ingredients and a good chance of success. The feasibility study should identify how much money an organization can reasonably raise, how long it should take to do it, and what costs would be involved in managing the campaign. A good study will also identify potential leaders and donors, strengths and weaknesses of the campaign, and include recommendations on how the campaign should be conducted. OpXGroup recommends that organizations think of and title their feasibility study as a capital campaign planning study since it will ultimately contribute to the strategy for marshalling the funding and volunteer resources needed to complete the capital campaign.

Then, through a competent, objective feasibility planning study, an organization can learn what it needs to know before embarking upon a capital campaign and whether all the critical ingredients for success are there or not. Because of the need for objectivity and confidentiality, the feasibility study is best conducted by a consultant or consulting team, who will prepare in sequence the internal analysis, external analysis and the final report. It's crucial that those being interviewed trust and believe in the integrity and confidentiality of the interviewer(s).

The best time to conduct a study is after the appropriate goal has been framed in the Strategic Planning process and is supported by the Board. Final approval of the entire Capital Campaign process should be requested after the Strategic Planning process is completed so that goals, objectives and timetables can be adjusted if needed.

To accomplish this, Board members (often a campaign committee of the Board), staff and volunteers form a feasibility task force, which meets two or three times and works closely with the consulting team to refine the study's design, selects the study participants, reviews findings, conclusions and recommendations, and helps determine how the study results will be communicated to the Board and executives.

The best time to conduct a study is after the preliminary campaign and appropriate goal has been framed but before your organization asks the Board for final approval. This way, goals, objectives and the timetable can be adjusted if needed.

OpXGroup fundraising executives have raised over $700 million in capital since 1988.