BOOSTING YOUR MAJOR GIFTS FUNDRAISING

Professional

Advancement

Quiz

Just started

a new major gifts job or wanting to switch roles?

Needing a circuit breaker?

Wondering where to begin with major gifts?

Are you a board member or CEO?

Wondering if there’s something

Are you a board member or CEO?

simple but important

which isn’t happening the right way?

Try This 4 Question Quiz

There are no trickquestions or trick

answers.

If the answers seem

obvious, that’s

because they are.

QUESTION 1

WHAT’S THE MOST EFFECTIVE FIRST STEP WHERE MAJOR GIFTS PROSPECTS ARE LACKING?

Find out which of your board members knows

people on a published “Rich List” A.Check your organisation’s contact and dealings

with major donors from the past seven years

Pay to get a “data matched profile” of your donors compared to known major donors and high income people.

B.

C.

OUR ANSWER:

CHECK YOUR ORGANISATION’S CONTACT AND DEALINGS WITH MAJOR DONORS FROM THE PAST SEVEN YEARS

The most cost effective results come from

re-activating lapsed donor relationships first (and upgrading the gifts of current

donors).

Option B

There are some excellent prospects for renewal of large gifts from your past

donors.

Inadequate stewardship can

sometimes be fixed.

If that person, foundation or company haven’t given a donation in past 5 years, do you

know why?

Look back

at the 30 largest gifts your organisation received in the past 5 years.

If there’s no apparent personalconnection, can that be remedied or

an unknown connection re-found?

Detective work will be involved:

Talking with your CEO,

past board members,

even past staff.

Sometimes the reasons will be embarrassingly simple:

database coding meant that they didn’t even receive your newsletter.

Sometimes the reasons will be plain embarrassing:

your organisation in the past performed poorly.

Swallow our personal and organisational pride;

we just need a small number to be positive.

You will work out when it’s a waste of effort to keep

trying or searching.

You will find some happy people as well.

The data matched list is an excellent step once you have started a thorough program to look for prospective major

supporters from the direct knowledge of your organisation’s leadership.

List matching is never a substitute for information from people who know a donor as a friend or business associate.

PAY TO GET A “DATA MATCHED PROFILE” OF YOUR DONORS COMPARED TO K NOWN MAJOR DONORS AND HIGH INCOME PEOPLE.

Option C?

FIND OUT WHICH OF YOUR BOARD MEMBERS KNOWS PEOPLE ON A PUBLISHE D “RICH LIST”

The “Rich List” is the third priority step. To begin with it is the

wrong priority –

the prospective donor’s financial capacity.

Much more important is finding people with linkage to your

organisation’s people, and interest in your organisation’s mission.

Option A?

WHAT CASE MATERIAL IS MOST USEFUL FOR STAFF TO ENGAGE WITH DONORS TO ENCOURAGE MAJOR GIFTS?

QUESTION 2

A high quality video with personal

testimonials from people who have benefited

An impact report about the

organisation’s work

Stories about recent projects including

donor contributions and what they achieved

A.

B.

C.

Stories of organisational achievementswhich also show that donors’ contributions were

important are the most effective.

We don’t usually have to artificially choose one only of options like A, B and C.

OUR ANSWER:

STORIES ABOUT RECENT PROJECTS INCLUDING DONOR CONTRIBUTIONS AND WHAT THEY ACHIEVED

Option C

The same collection which contains emotional stories from

beneficiaries can also contain both the results of evaluation and illustrations of donors’ contribution.

“Story telling” reminds us how important emotional engagement is in fundraising.

Long after they have forgotten the details of organisational

strategy or statistics, donors will remember a story about a person.

WHAT IS USEFUL FOR STAFF TO PREPARE BEFORE A CULTIVATION MEETING WITH PROSPECTIVE DONORS?

QUESTION 3

An “elevator pitch” which summarises the organisation’s mission and key strengths.

Key statistics about the outcomes and impact of the organisation’s work.

Questions to ask the donor.

A.

B.

C.

OUR ANSWER:

QUESTIONS TO ASK THE DONOR.

The most important process within a meeting is to enable the donor to:

occupy the social space, talk about his or her motivations,

feelings about the cause and the organisation, and

ask questions.

Option C

Even in meetings which are intended to solicit a gift, the same process applies, with the proviso that there must also be a

point where someone asks for the gift.

Preparing questions partly directs our attention to thinking about the particular

donor as an individual.

It helps us avoid the trap of feeling nervous and talking too much about the organisation.

It courteously reminds others in the meeting about the same need.

Many donors want to ask questions too. That’s a good sign.

Regularly pause the flow of information, and check with the donor (verbally or non-verbally) if she has something to say or ask.

Thanks to Gail Perry, Xponential’s international associate, for this elegantly simple and open-ended formula:

just pause, and ask the question:

“What are your impressions?”

An “elevator pitch” and key statistics about outcomes?

These are both valuable, and warrant careful development and rehearsal.

Options A & B

THE “ELEVATOR PITCH” ?

Certainly, many donors are busy people, and it helps to prepare words which are brief and attention-grabbing.

Focus on what donors might be likely to engage with.

Think of an “elevator opening” rather than the “elevator pitch”.

Donors don’t want to be greeted with or “subjected to” a pitch, particularly if it feels formulaic.

Option A

MISSION AND VALUES

“is that something I’d like to be part of?” we hope the donor will think

IMPACT

“that sounds like something where a donation would actually achieve

something” we hope the donor will think

KEY STATISTICS?

Some donors do want to hear facts and figures

which show outcomes.

Option B

Don’t lose the emotive energy of what the outcome is

and why it’s important.

QUESTION 4

WHAT’S THE ONE IRREPLACEABLE STAFF ROLE IN MAJOR GIFTS PLANNING AND EXECUTION?

A.The major gifts executive

A.The chief executive officer

A.The donor relations team member

B.

C.

A.

OUR ANSWER

THE MAJOR GIFTS EXECUTIVE

Option B

The major gifts executive is essential to actually planning, monitoring and executing the identification,

cultivation, solicitation and stewardship of major donors.

The CEO is critical to the organisation’s credibility.

A good CEO who understands relationship building and does it with

donors is gold – provided she isn’t locked into the idea that “it’s all about us”.

Even great CEO’s sometimes need a tactful

reminder about doing plenty of listening.

Option C?

The CEO is usually the most influential in the major gifts process, but in a different sense, the role is “replaceable”.

Another leader can give credibility to the

organisation and bring her own reputational weight.

Ideally - a board member. Or a leading professional, a scientist, or the creative genius who drives a cultural organisation.

The donor relations team member who answers the phone and emails, and processes donations is also important.

He is a vital front line in communicating the organisation’s authenticity and valuing of donors.

Secondly, he is an important source of clues about donors whose support could be upgraded with the right cultivation.

Option A?

But, the major gifts executive should be the

staff member with primary responsibility to

plan the steps of cultivating, soliciting and stewarding the donor.

This doesn’t mean actually doing all

those steps

It may simply mean making

a plan and ensuring that

others do what’s required.

The role is a combination of gatekeeper and planner, to work

out how to show the organisation at its best.

This improves internal co-ordination and gives a better

chance that the donor will feel your organisation is seamless.

The CEO needs to tactfully ensure that actions of volunteer leadership (board, and campaign volunteers) are planned with

staff.

ROEWEN WISHART IS DIRECTOR OF XPONENTIAL STRATEGY

Your organisation helps meet the world’s greatest needs. Xponential Strategy helps you plan your

fundraising to reach where you need to be.

Part of Xponential Group, the fundraising specialists raising millions of dollars for not-for-profit

organisations throughout Australia and New Zealand.

Follow us on LinkedIn and on SlideShare for high quality ideas about fundraising for Big Gifts.