Flagship service
Feasibility Studies
Know what your donors will support before you announce a goal. A study replaces hope with evidence, and it is the single best investment an organization makes in a campaign's success.
Why campaigns fail before they start
Most campaign trouble is baked in at the first decision: a goal set by aspiration instead of evidence, a case that reads well internally but hasn't been tested with the people expected to fund it, or an organization that isn't yet built to run a campaign at all. A feasibility study catches all three while they're still fixable.
Our studies answer five questions with evidence: Is the case compelling to the donors who matter most? Is the goal achievable, and at what level? Who will lead, give, and open doors? Is the timing right? And is your development operation ready to carry the load?
How a study works
Discovery and case design
We work with your leadership to sharpen the preliminary case for support, define the interview pool, and build an interview protocol tailored to your campaign, not a recycled script.
Confidential interviews, minimum of 40
Current donors, prospective donors, board members, foundation contacts, and community leaders. Donors say things to a third party they will never say to your staff, and those candid conversations are where the real findings live. Our most recent study involved 89 interviews across the country.
Campaign readiness review
In parallel, we assess your development operation against 15 benchmarks used in large campaigns: staffing, data systems, donor journey, gift policies, volunteer leadership, stewardship, and more. The interviews tell you what donors will do. The review tells you what your shop can handle.
Findings and goal scenarios
You get what interviewees actually said, organized by theme, with the hard parts left in. We model multiple goal scenarios with a gift range chart and rationale for each, so your board chooses with open eyes instead of ratifying a single number.
Recommendations and roadmap
Numbered, specific, and sequenced: goal, timeline, cabinet recruitment, solicitation strategy, training, policies, and the investments to make before launch. Our most recent study delivered 27 of them.
Board presentation
We present the findings to your board in person or by video, take the hard questions, and stay until the decision is clear.
What makes a Cairn study different
- A 40-interview minimum. Many firms build studies on 25 to 30 conversations. Thin samples produce timid findings. We go deeper because the top of your gift chart depends on it.
- Candor over comfort. If the evidence says wait, we say wait, and we show you exactly what to build in the meantime. A study that always recommends launching is a sales document.
- Readiness built in. Most studies test donor sentiment and stop. Ours also tests whether your operation can execute, because a fundable case with an unready shop still fails.
- Merger and partnership questions welcome. If your campaign decision is tangled with a potential merger or strategic partnership, we can test that terrain in the same interviews.
Testing a campaign idea?
Bring the goal you have in mind. In 30 minutes we'll give you an honest first read on what a study would need to test.