A president has invited a small group of major gift donors and prospects to serve on an advisory council for a new strategic initiative for the institution. These are current or previous donors who have given significantly in the past, have a sense of ownership about the institution’s future success, and are especially interested in seeing this initiative flourish.
A question was asked in a planning session for the first meeting of this council: “What should we ask of them?”
Immediately, someone on the planning team said, “we really need money to fund the technology piece of this initiative. It would be great if we could come out of this meeting with a group commitment to fund that.”
I’ve written previously about the diffusion of responsibility when asking for gifts in a group setting. It’s not a good idea typically.
Besides that reality, though, inviting gifts in a group setting also provides donors with the sense that, “I’ve done my part.” This is not a helpful starting point when we may want to propose an additional gift later.
Instead of inviting a gift in a group setting, here are 3 other “asks” that are much more helpful:
- Ask them for their feedback on your plans for the initiative;
- Ask them for other people or businesses they know who might have an interest in the initiative;
- Ask them for a follow-up, individual visit after the group meeting to discuss their personal philanthropic support for the initiative.
When we ask these questions in group settings, we not only learn more about the motivations of the individual council members, we learn about potential new donors for this initiative, and we establish an expectation that giving will be substantial and personal.
Formal groups – like councils, boards, etc., – are wonderful vehicles to educate, engage, and inspire individuals.
They are rarely good at inviting an individual’s next best gift.
