Getting donors to sit down with you is a cycle. You have to get the pump primed before most donors say, “yes, let’s meet”. It might take 10 phone calls, 3 voice mail messages, a handwritten note and 2 or 3 actually phone conversations to get a visit. When you interrupt this cycle for one week, two weeks or even, three weeks, guess what? You have to start all over.
FIT Fundraising Articles
Fundraising Tips and Strategies.
Tipping Points in Fundraising
When you have a donor who upgrades their giving, especially those that move dramatically to the 5-figure level, do not just put them through your normal thank you receipting process. Get out of your office and go see them. Get face to face with that donor and thank them. Ask them to explain the decision making process and their trusted advisers that helped them with the decision. Before you know that single gift will blossom into five or six major gifts, but only if you take the time to meet and cultivate real friendships.
A Check Up From the Neck Up
over time, fundraising procedures stacked one on top of another, can place an organization in a box that it cannot get out of.
Where Do You Find New Major Donors?
Major donors NEVER (or rarely) begin by making 5-figure and 6-figure gifts to your non-profit organization. Remember, major donors are NOT donors at all. They are investors! Major donors expect (some will even demand) to see a return on their investment before they increase their giving.
Major Gifts and Painting Porches
When I called the major gift officer to check on how his visit went with the donor, a dear older lady answered the phone. She said that “her friend was helping her paint the front porch right now and could he call me back in an our our so?”
Are You Signing Up Your “90 Day Wonders” as Monthly Giving Sponsors?
90 Day Wonders. The best way to get monthly donors to “sign up” for a monthly pre-authorized gift is to track monthly giving from your regular donor program. Run a report monthly and identify those donors who have given 3 months in a row. Call them immediately after the third gift to thank them and ask them to join your monthly giving club.
Put Your Board of Directors to Work!
As the chief development officer you must empower your board with the knowledge to raise funds (even if they think they already know it all). You must create an environment that is focused on creating new revenue, instead of simply cutting the old spending.
WARNING. WARNING. WARNING. Beware of the major gift gurus “secret lists”
Major gift “specialists” who peddle their “black book” are a dime a dozen. I call them butterflies and bumble-bees because they move from flower to flower (organization to organization) and sting a bunch of people along the way.
The 50-10-3 Rule of Major Gift Work
Building real relationships with donors does not happen because by Facebook or by email or by a direct mail letter. Those channels are simply tools. Friendships are built only one way. They happen one-on-one, face-to-face.
What is Your Major Donor Lapsed Rate? Why?
If you build the relationship, the money will follow…if your contact with the donor is only about money it will not succeed. You major gift program consists of hundreds of individual donor plans.
