Major Gifts

Category Archives — Major Gifts

Major Gift Cultivation & Solicitation: Say “yes” to the coffee

by Diane Remin
Posted in Donor Cultivation Major Gifts Making the Ask

When the donor offers you refreshments, say “yes.” 

The first few minutes of a major gift cultivation or solicitation visit set the psychological stage. With the offer of refreshments, the prospect is taking a step toward you.  Accept. Your acceptance is building the social bond. You are also modeling “yes” mode.

If the offer is generic, as in, “Can I get you something to drink?” pick something that is obviously available. Water is a safe bet if you don’t see cans of soda or the coffee pot percolating. If you are offered an array of choices, e.g., “Would you like coffee, a soft drink, or some water?” – feel free to select your favorite. 

If the prospect has made coffee or is serving tea, he or she will typically tell you: “I’ve made fresh coffee.” Say “yes” to the offer whether or not you are thirsty or a coffee drinker.

 Your only escape is a medical issue that precludes you from partaking, i.e., the prospect already made caffeinated coffee and you can’t have caffeine, in which case you should thank the prospect, wish you could join him or her, encourage the prospect to pour him or herself a cup and request water instead, e.g., “Thank you so much for making/ordering coffee. It smells great and I wish I could join you but I’m not permitted to have caffeine. But please do pour yourself a cup and I’d love a glass of water.”  Don’t forget the glass of water.

Beverages are the most frequent offer, but the same holds true if cookies, pastries or other foods are presented.

 Say “yes” to the coffee at the beginning of a donor cultivation visit or major gift “ask” and set the stage for success.

Major Gift Cultivation & Solicitation: Compliments Count

by Diane Remin
Posted in Donor Cultivation Major Gifts Making the Ask

The prospect’s environment often reflects areas of deep passion. Build rapport quickly by paying an authentic compliment.

Whether you are visiting your major gift prospect in his/her home or office, notice what strikes you as you enter the environment and pay a genuine compliment. By complimenting your prospect’s gardens, decorating, artwork, antiques, jewelry, spectacular views or family photos, you are creating a positive connection.  Your compliment let’s the prospect know that you are attentive to what is important to him or her.

Plus, we all like compliments.  They make us feel good.

Get the positive energy flowing right away.  Start your visit with a prospective major donor with a compliment.

Prospect Research by the Numbers for a Small Nonprofit

by Diane Remin
Posted in Major Gifts Prospect Research Smaller nonprofits

High quality prospect research—learning everything you can about your major gift prospects—pays for itself many times over. It is a key best practice used by successful major gift programs. 

Prospect research is important to:

  1. Learn more about the donor, especially financial resources, inclination to give and connections to your organization you may not have known about
  2. Get the “ask” into the right ballpark.
  3. Use your time profitably.
  4. Reassure the person doing the asking–don’t under-estimate the importance of boosting the confidence of your “asker”!

How do you learn more about your major gift prospects?

  • By talking to them:  A visit to a prospect’s home or office is the picture worth 1,000 words. This is an information-gathering visit, not an “asking” visit. You are getting to know the prospect better and vice versa. You’re asking lots of questions.  You’re writing-up meeting notes.  You’re assessing whether or not the prospect is ready to be asked the next time around.
  • By researching publicly available information and assembling a donor profile. The idea is to assemble a comprehensive picture of your prospects:  where they live; family; business ties and dealings;  who they know; where they belong (memberships; board service; volunteering); where they give (in addition to you); how much they give (to you and others); asset value, e.g., real estate, stock holdings; income; and any other relevant information.  Put it all together and you have a sense of financial position, inclination to give and connection to your nonprofit.

How does a small organization develop donor profiles?

  1. Purchase them from an independnt prospect research company or freelance prospect researcher.
  2. Do your own research with a subscription to an online prospect research tool such as WealthEngine through which you can run an unlimited number of prospects.  Please note that online subscription services are tools, not researchers. The data must be cross-checked, analyzed and developed into a meaningful donor profile.  Trained staff is a necessity.
  3. Do your own research for free. Between Google and the assessors office, it is possible to learn something about your donors real estate holdings and much else as well.

Prospect Research by Numbers:  Return on Investment (ROI)

Assume you use a a professional prospect researcher. At $200 per profile, for example, research on 20 prospects will cost you $4,000. From the 20, let’s say you set up 10 asks and 2 say “yes” to $25,000 and 4 say “yes” to $10,000.  That’s $90,000 in gifts for which you paid $4,000 in research.

That’s a $22.50 for every $1 you spent on prospect research–or an ROI of 2250%!

How to fund your prospect research:

If you are screaming: “Hey, I’m small—how on earth am I supposed to do research?  I don’t have the money.  I don’t have the time.”

  •  Maybe a board member or donor will underwrite the research once he or she understands the whopping ROI.
  • Perhaps you can recruit a “Google-oriented” volunteer (remember to emphasize confidentiality if this is your solution).
  • Or, maybe you can squeak funds out of your collateral budget. “Glitzy brochure” is not on the list of requirements for successful major gift asks.

Prospect research resources include:

Prospect research sitting on the shelf is expensive.  Prospect research used to make “asks” is a goldmine.

Print collateral is the baby blanket of the major gift process

by Diane Remin
Posted in Case for Support Major Gifts

The “printing beast” is a well-oiled machine. But when it comes to major gifts, paper does not produce the gift.

You do.

A Case for Support–the letter, brochure or other print piece that describes why the donor should give you his or her money– is certainly comforting to have in-hand when you head out to make an “ask.” It does get everyone on board with similar messaging.  And when it’s compelling, it can help move the donor. Compelling. Not expensive.

CASE FOR SUPPORT:  Emotion drives major gift decisions

You want your Case for Support to grab the donor. Emotions drive the decision.  Facts play a supporting role. 

I’ve made successful asks with no written Case for Support.  But I had a wonderful story and facts to back it up. 

I give each of my client’s Tom Ahern’s book, “Seeing through a Donor’s Eyes.”  It’s a great resource that I highly recommend.  But even Tom’s last line on the last page of his book about how to write a Case for Suport says, “So take a breath.  Don’t let the writing of a case intimidate you. A below-average case in the hands of an above-average peer-to-peer solicitor will still bring in cash.” 

Major gifts are about passion and relationships–not about print collateral.

The good news: Passion is all yours!

Major Donors are out there! Giving USA 2010 estimates individual giving at $227B in 2009

by Diane Remin
Posted in Major Donors Major Gifts

GIVING USA 2010 estimates $227.41B of individual gifts in 2009.  As always, individual giving dominates total charitable contributions, accounting for 75% of the total.  Surprisingly, individual giving remained relatively stable between 2008 and 2009, falling a scant 0.4%.  Total giving fell by an estimated 3.6%, with bequests (-23.9%) and foundation grantmaking (-8.9%) experiencing the largest drops.

Now in its 55th year, this comprehensive study of charitable giving is researched and written by The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University.  The Executive Summary of the report: “Giving USA 2010: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2009” is available for free from Giving USA.

Check-out Giving USA 2010 and see for yourself!