People, businesses, and foundations make charitable gifts to your institution every day. Comprehensive (unrestricted) gifts, restricted gifts, and, gifts of all amounts. The motivations behind each of these gifts are almost as numerous as the number of gifts themselves.
Important to keep in mind, though, that donors are motivated to make major gifts to your institution when they trust your institution’s leaders. In fact, along with, “belief in the mission/belief that the gift will make a difference,” “trust in leadership,” is one of the top two motivating factors regularly cited by major gift donors.
Two questions immediately emerge from this research-based fact:
- Why don’t we focus more in professional development sessions about the factors related to trust-building between humans? And,
- What are you doing today to enhance the sense of trust between your donors and your institution’s leadership?
As advancement professionals we are not simply facilitators of gift-giving transactions. We are facilitators of trust-building relationships.
