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Jay Goulart is the Director of Development at the Proctor Academy in Andover, New Hampshire. Our firm has produced a number of pieces— one of which is called, Our Covenant. In Our Covenant, we say we can commit to predictable results. That's a bold statement—but actually quite easy. Jay asks how we can commit to “Predictable Results”?

That’s a great question. It actually is the basis for how we conduct a feasibility study.

Here’s the Answer: Historically, we used to say that eighty percent of the money will come from twenty percent of the donors in a campaign program. Around ten years or so ago, we began seeing that ninety percent of the money came from about ten percent of the donors.

It’s even more skewed today. We are now finding that about ninety-five percent of the money in a campaign comes from three to four percent of the donors.

That’s why it’s so easy to predict the results of a campaign if a proper feasibility study is conducted.

Here’s the key. We say to a client (and all good firms are just as insistent) that we must see men and women who can make or influence large gifts. If we see precisely “the right” people in the feasibility study, we can predict within ten percent the amount that will be raised in a campaign.

Jay’s other question is right on the mark. He says that philanthropy is the result of future human behavior. Exactly ! That’s why the results of even a very good feasibility study are not valid if too long a period elapses from the time of the interviews. -Jerry Panas