Major Gifts

Category Archives — Major Gifts

Major gifts that add-up: The power of multi-year giving

by Diane Remin
Posted in Major Donors Major Gifts Smaller nonprofits

As a smaller nonprofit, you have limited resources. Multi-year gifts leverage your staff’s time. 

Research on your donor base will determine the multi-year giving numbers that are right for your organization.  For this example, let’s assume you have donors with the ability to give either $5,000 or $10,000 per year for five years.

$5,000 & $10,000 Major Gifts

The following chart shows what happens if you make 10 successful asks each year:  5 for $5,000 per year for five years and 5 for $10,000 per year for five years.  That’s less than one new major gift per month. 

 

By Year 5, you are generating $375,000 in unrestricted operating funds!

Thank your major donors seven times…. that’s right, seven

by Diane Remin
Posted in Major Donors Major Gifts

Seven is the magic “thank you” number for major gifts.

What is it about seven? The seven colors of the rainbow? My guess is the tradition of thanking donors seven times was someone’s measurable translation of “a lot.” It drives us beyond the usual two or three. It works.

What might seven major donor thank yous look like?

1) Acknowledgement of receipt of check: Call within 48 hours

2) Legal thank you: The one you are required to do. The letter that acknowledges the gift in writing for tax purposes. Don’t stop here!

3) Board Chair or Board Member thank you: A call, perhaps (leaving a message is fine)

4) Executive Director thank you note separate from the legal thank you

5) Solicitor Team member thank you

6) Development Director thank you

7) “Re-thank you” within 6 months describing/updating use of funds (Really important!)

8) Free cultivation/recognition event

9) Recognition in Newsletter, Annual Report or Program Book (much less personal—I would count this as ½)

10) Other forms of recognition depending on the magnitude of the gift: donor walls, podium recognition at events or a press release, if warranted

Thank yous are the time for calls, handwritten notes and snail mail. Email thank yous can be part of the mix, but only part. Be up close and personal. And don’t forget to extend the thank you process with a “re-thank you” down the road.

In addition to genuinely acknowledging a major gift, thank yous play an important role in inspiring your donor to make yet another gift in the future.

I hate asking for money

by Diane Remin
Posted in Major Donors Major Gifts Making the Ask

You are dedicated to the cause. Your nonprofit is wonderful. You hate asking for money. 

Why is that? 

Why do so many passionate and otherwise engaged board members and, secret be told, staff members, too, run in the opposite direction when it comes to major gift “asks”?

Seven Reasons You Might Hate Asking for Money–and Possible New Perspectives

  1. The arm twist.
    These are not gifts based on passion and connection to your organization. They are often based on repaying a favor, currying favor or playing a power card of some sort. I’d hate this too. 
  2. I’ll give to yours if you give to mine.
    This is a variation of the arm twist, in that you are asking someone to make a gift to an organization with which he or she has limited or no involvement. In the short-run, money swirls around. But there is no real long-term gain unless connections develop.
  3. You don’t know what to do and what to say.
    You can’t possibly know how to make an “ask” if you haven’t been trained. In addition to training, I recommend a practice round or two with mid-tier donors who are not your prime prospects.  (Training note: You are over half way there if you are passionate and knowledgeable about your organization and a good listener. Be the ambassador for your organization that you usually are.  You’ll just be adding a few techniques to your repertoire.)
  4. You don’t trust the ask amount.
    Should I really be asking this person for this much?  Not to worry. Donors are typically flattered by the “over ask.”  Why wouldn’t they be? And there are strategic “negotiation” benefits for starting high—but that’s a subject for another day. (Yes, there is a too much—but it needs to be way off base.) If you properly research the donor, you will be in the right ballpark.
  5. Money talk is taboo in our culture.
    True, but what you are doing is inviting someone to support a cause and organization in which he or she believes.  The connection and desire to give have already been expressed with smaller gifts.  You are providing the donor with the opportunity to play a larger role. Research assures us that this donor has the financial wherewithal to make this level gift if he or she so chooses.  And that’s all it is—a choice.  A choice that comes with a slew of benefits, both tangible and intangible.  This is bad?
  6. The prospect might say, “no.”
    You can count on “no’s.” In fact, fundraising research tells us that you are likely to have to make anywhere from two to five asks per gift. That’s lots of “no’s.” The path to success is to keep asking. Plus, there is a benefit to every in-person conversation with a donor. It builds the relationship. Check out my blog entry, “Every ‘no’ is a ‘yes’” and move right past the “no’s.”
  7. You believe the experience of giving is negative for the donor.
    I may have saved the best for last:  There is a body of scientific research that tells us giving is good for your health. When you make an “ask,” you are not harming the donor or otherwise inflicting pain. Quite the contrary!  You are opening the door to the pleasure center of the brain lighting up, blood pressure dropping, immune system boosting, stress reducing experience.  The donor will feel good!  And, by the way, so will you!  (For more about this research, visit my blog entry: “Giving is good for your health!”)

May I suggest that you are doing a major gift prospect a favor when you invite the opportunity for greater involvement in a cause he or she believes in—that’s right, a favor.

Feel any better?

Want to make a successful “ask”? Silence, please.

by Diane Remin
Posted in Major Gifts Making the Ask

You can talk your way right out of a major gift.

Let’s set the stage: So, here you are, with your colleague, seated in the prospect’s living room, sipping the coffee you were offered.  You’ve spent the first 30 to 45 minutes of the meeting re-connecting, telling your story based on the prospect’s interests, listening and responding. 

 It is now time to make the “ask.”  You say, “So Susan, we’d like you to consider a gift of $<pre-determined gift amount> to support <project, program, campaign or organization>.

 And now, here it comes:  BE QUIET!

 Repeat:  Be quiet.  Do not speak again until the prospect responds.   

Why?  If you speak before the prospect answers you are:

  1. Negotiating against yourself (the prospect hasn’t said anything yet)!
  2. Distracting the prospect (give the person space to consider your request)
  3. Signaling that you are nervous
  4. Missing the prospect’s core reaction 

You’ve put a lot of time and energy into setting up the “ask.”   Don’t do the talking for your prospect.

Silence, please.

To learn more about making the “ask”?

  • Google—you’ll find lots of information and training programs.
  • AFP (Association of Fundraising Professionals) conferences, workshops and trainings  http://www.afpnet.org/
  • Can I toot my own horn?

We’re small. Can we really launch a major gifts program?

by Diane Remin
Posted in Major Gifts Major Gifts Program Smaller nonprofits

Let’s start with the basics: What is a major gifts program?  At the end of the day, it’s simply in-person meetings with carefully chosen prospects with the ultimate goal of securing sizably larger gifts.

No donors?  Stop right here. 

Your major gift prospects are:

  1. Enamored with your cause and engaged with your organization, e.g., attend programs/events, volunteer and/or otherwise connect to your nonprofit. 
  2. Have enough money to make what your organization decides is a major gift.  Notice that I didn’t say “rich” or “wealthy.” Enough is, in fact, enough—an important distinction for smaller organizations, in particular, where major giving levels do not have to be in the stratosphere to have significant impact.

For smaller organizations, a major gift may be $2,500 per year for four years for a total of $10,000.  If your operating budget is $250,000, ten of these donors produce $25,000 annually—that’s 10% of your budget! (Yes, I do have a bias for multi-year gifts, especially for smaller organizations.)  Or, maybe your operating budget is $2M and you have donors capable of making gifts of $25,000, $50,000 or $100,000+.

What do you need to launch a major gifts program? 

  1. Existing donors, e.g., annual fund, membership
  2. Program parameters, e.g., minimum gift amount and donor recognition plan
  3. Your story, told in a compelling way
  4. Additional information about the donors you identify as prospects (prospect research)
  5. Techniques to “set-up the meeting” and “make the ask”
  6. Willingness to pick up the phone
  7. A system to record donor information and track progress
  8. Passion/enthusiasm about your organization

How do you identify your major gift prospects?

You are looking for your actively engaged, financially capable donors (this includes board members!) It is possible to have your donor list “screened” to identify prospects you may not be aware of. It’s a valuable service, but it adds expense. You may well be able to launch your program with the donors you identify internally.

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’ll write-up meeting notes.  You’ll assess if the prospect is ready to be asked or needs more “cultivation.”
  • By researching publicly available information. Welcome to the world of “prospect research,” or learning everything you can about your prospective major gift donors. The idea is to assemble a comprehensive picture of your prospects: financial position, inclination to give and degree of connection to your nonprofit.

Prospect research resources include:

Many organizations have moved ahead with cursory research. It is not “best practice” and there is the risk of leaving money on the table. That said, do the best you can. 

Where do you learn the techniques for making the “ask”?

  • Google—you’ll find lots of information and training programs
  • AFP (Association of Fundraising Professionals) conferences, workshops and trainings  www.afpnet.org
  • At MajorDonors.com, we know a thing or two

To launch a successful major gift program, you must be trained and willing to meet with your prospective major donors. There is no escaping this!

Major Gifts Program bottom line: 

Know your prospects, meet with your prospects, ask your prospects. You’ll need some time, some research, some training and lots of enthusiasm.