79. The Real Truth about Campaign Feasibility Studies - Beth Silverstein

Meet Beth. She knows the textbook approach to conducting campaign feasibility studies. But in this conversation she challenges us to throw out the old playbook, because our campaigns deserve our fresh eyes and creative minds to improve this planning process. Beth has reimagined the typical feasibility study by not just trying to predict future investments, she's leveraging storytelling in these meetings too (yippee!) to create a more inclusive and collaborative process that pays dividends. We'll break it down in easy steps, so don't miss this convo.

Episode Highlights

• Beth’s story and journey to the nonprofit world (3:00)
• The importance of inspired thinking in the nonprofit world (6:00)
• Feasibility studies: what are they and how can we disrupt the way they’ve always been done? (8:00)
• We should be having these conversations all the time, not just during large campaigns (11:30)
• Advice for how to conduct interviews during a feasibility study and examples of questions to ask (14:00)
• Using some of these strategies to connect more deeply with donors - especially throughout COVID-19 (20:00)
• Suggested questions to ask to get to the heart of your donor (21:00)
• Get to the WHY behind your donor. Why are they in the room with you? What connects their heart to your mission? (22:00)
• The 4 steps of a feasibility study (25:00)
• How to do this successfully virtually and what Beth has learned while implementing this throughout COVID-19 (28:00)
• The concept of anonymity and the power of sharing about generosity (31:00)
• Transparency is everything. Donors give when they feel as though an organization is worthy (33:00)
• The conversations during feasibility studies become your road map (36:00)
• A powerful moment of philanthropy in Beth’s life (38:00)
• Beth’s One Good Thing: You have to have a big, bold, audacious, unapologetic vision. Tell your story in a way that is inspired and impactful. There isn’t a donor on the planet that wants to give to an “ok” vision. You will never be apologetic in asking for the big gift

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