Major gifts begin with “Getting to Know You.” If you want to be a successful major gift fundraiser, stop worrying so much about the ask and think about securing the “getting to know you” visit. If you can get a visit with a donor, you have an 85% chance they’ll make the gift. Who…
DetailsIt used to be so simple. You called donors over the phone, sent handwritten thank you notes, sometimes met with them in person. While you can reach people now thanks to a variety of digital channels, building an authentic, lasting relationship feels harder. There are several reasons why. CURRENT RELATIONSHIP-BUILDING CHALLENGES 1. The explosion…
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What must you keep top of mind to have meaningful conversations with donors who (you hope!) may contemplate a gift to your organization?
I’ve given you a hint within my question.
One word: meaningful.
And for a conversation to be meaningful, you have to speak in a language that resonates with the other person.
And what is it that resonates more strongly than just about any other emotion?
LOVE.
To get folks to “YES” you need to learn the meaningful language of love and apply it to gift planning.
The word philanthropy literally means, from the Greek, the feeling of love (philos) towards humankind (anthropos).
It’s not just about HOW people give, but WHY.
What is it about your organization’s values, as enacted, that your donor is most passionate about? How can you, as a philanthropy facilitator, make it easy for the donor to meaningfully express their feelings and passions?
Passionate philanthropy is seldom a spur of the moment action.
No one just gets up one morning and decides to give away $10,000, $100,000 or $1 million.
Or let’s just stipulate it’s relatively rare.
Rather, would-be philanthropists consider how making a particular gift at a particular point in time may match their values and help them accomplish their objectives, personal and philanthropic.
Anyone who contemplates a major, or stretch, gift plans ahead.
For purposes of this gift planning article, let’s consider your audience to be prospective major (outright) and legacy (deferred) gift donors.
There’s a treasure trove of knowledge and research around major gift fundraising. What works well. What doesn’t work at all. What’s, at best, half-baked.
It’s not rocket science. But there’s definitely art, and some science, involved.
The gestalt way of thinking about the three secrets boils down to simply being:
(1) SMART,
(2) SYSTEMATIC and
(3) PASSIONATE.
But, I’m pretty pragmatic. So I’d like to give you something more practical.
If I had to pick the top three practical secrets to success, they would be the following:
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While you no doubt want donors of all sizes, you especially want loyal donors who make above average size gifts. Because that’s where you’ll get the greatest return on your investment. Today, let’s talk about major donors. Why? They account for the lion’s share of all contributed income. Studies show over 88% of all…
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I find a widespread misunderstanding about the notion of what constitutes being donor-centered. It derives from two misconceptions:
Both of these rationales short-change your would-be donors.
Why?
FIRST: Donors want to be asked because they’re starved for the love that comes from voluntary giving and receiving. Donors have love to give, but don’t always have an object towards which to direct their affection.
SECOND: Donors need to be asked because when they’re not, they don’t know how much you need their help. Consequently, giving feels a bit empty. Almost a bit like a crap shoot. Donors want to invest their money where they feel confident it will be most appreciated and will do the most good.
Let’s delve into both of these misconceptions more deeply, putting them into a donor-centered context.
In other words, what are your would-be donors feeling?
What if you had a new strategy for building the types of committed, transformative relationships with donors necessary to build, nurture and sustain a meaningful major gift fundraising program? Most nonprofits know how important a major gifts strategy can be to their overall survival. After all, the 80-20 rule is than alive and well…
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Not as much as you might think.
Yet people tell me all the time how much they’re afraid to ask wealthy people for major gifts. If you share those fears, it’s time for a little “Charity Clairity:”
Contrary to what your gut may be telling you, NOT asking is not making would-be donors feel good. Quite the opposite, in fact.
In this article, I’ll let you in on:
Three major donor truths. And I’ll cover why (1) you must stop short-changing your would-be major donors by not offering them opportunities to be the change they want to see in the world, and (2) you must stop robbing would-be major donors of chances to feel good about themselves.
Six major donor triggers. We’ll explore how you can make donors feel so good they’ll want to say “yes” — and passionately — to your solicitation.
Bottom line: When you don’t make donors feel good, they’ll go elsewhere.
F. Scott Fitzgerald is famously supposed to have told Ernest Hemingway “the rich are different than you and I.” “Yes, Scott,” Hemingway supposedly retorted. “They have more money.”
It’s good to remember major donors are, first and foremost, just people.
They may have more money, yet many of them actually don’t even feel “wealthy” (just as often so-called seniors don’t feel “old.”) In fact, a survey of 4,000 investors by UBS found that 70% of people with investible assets of $1 million or more do NOT consider themselves “wealthy.”
What most donors share (no matter their net worth) is
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Twice at the end of last calendar year I was asked for a major gift.
Pretty much out of the blue.
Without much preparation, relationship-building or making of an inspiring case for support.
It was clear to me what the charity would get out of it: my money. It was not so clear what I would get out of it. Should I not care?
Perhaps not.
Perhaps if I were the ideal, perfect donor I would give with no expectation of receiving anything in return.
Perhaps if I were less ego-centric, I’d just do it because it was the “right thing to do.”
Perhaps if I were not on a quest for personal meaning, I’d give just because the person who asked is someone I know (though, not all that well); it would give them a feeling of success, and that would bring me some happiness.
Perhaps if I were not searching for a community of folks who share my values, I’d give without quite understanding the depth and breadth of values enacted by these charities or without having met more of the people involved.
Perhaps if I were not examining what it is that sparks joy in my life, I’d give whether or not this cause was currently at the top of my list or I’d been given opportunity for reflection and consideration.
But I’m not perfect.
I’m betting most of your donors aren’t either.
Donors have expectations… egos… personal meaning they’re seeking… communities they’d like to form… and cups of joy that need filling. Otherwise they wouldn’t be human.
And even if you could find a perfect donor prospect, in the instances where I was asked the case for why this was the right thing for me to do wasn’t even made all that well. The ask was about money, not impact.
There was simply an assumption that since I’d shown interest in the past, I would welcome this opportunity to demonstrate my interest even more passionately.
Okay. That’s not a bad starting place. But… you should never assume. You know what they say about the word “assume,” right?
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Sometimes major donors give less than the previous year. Sometimes they stop giving to you entirely. What’s the worst sin committed by fundraisers when this happens? Not noticing. What’s the second worst sin? Assuming it has nothing to do with you. Sure, sometimes donors’ priorities change. Or some of their money goes to an emergency…
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