Building a Case for Support

"You've got to involve your board, your donors, your members," Matthews says.

Matthews recommends a feasibility study, or a philanthropic market study, to gauge how constituents feel about an organization, how they feel about the campaign, whether they'd give to it and at what level they'd give. The feasibility study gives institutions "some sense as to whether their constituency is ready for this campaign, and the target goal that should be tested should be a product of not only what they think they need but what they think they can realistically raise, given their prospect pool and their staff and systems," Matthews says.