Our firm regularly helps institutions prepare for major, multi-year fundraising campaigns. One of the most requested services we provide is what we call our Campaign Readiness Study.
These studies are comprehensive, thorough, and typically include anywhere from 50-75 confidential interviews with the client’s most capable and engaged donors. In addition, we review all kinds of data, information, and materials in order to provide a well-rounded assessment of both the preparedness of the institution to successfully implement the campaign as well as the feasibility of achieving the campaign goals.
Even with my biases acknowledged, it really is a helpful process for an institution to experience. In the end, the recommendations generated from the findings and observations – if implemented thoughtfully – will significantly increase the promise of campaign success.
But a fundamental question that rarely gets asked by anyone at the institution during the Campaign Readiness Study is simply this:
Within the short span of the study, how were we able to get 50-75 of our best donors and prospects to agree to a visit?
Think about that question.
My guess is there are at least a few gift officers on your team who complain about donors and prospects not getting back to them for visits. Or declining visits. Or canceling visits. Or postponing visits. These gift officers may even struggle to meet their visit goals each year.
And yet, within just 2-3 months, the institution was able to arrange 50-75 interviews. And these aren’t just any donors. They are the institution’s best donors.
Imagine if every 2-3 months your institution was visiting with 50-75 major gift donors!
Why can’t gift officers do this all the time?
P.S. You might thinking something along the lines of, “That’s easy! Our donors are willing to meet because this interview is for a specific, special, and important purpose! That’s why they said, ‘yes’.”
You’d be correct.
And you’d also be identifying the kind of creative, purposeful strategy that all gift officers should be using regularly to get visits.