A fundamental difference between the unexceptional and the exceptional gift officer is how they view their donor visits.
The unexceptional gift officer is thrilled to have the donor visit. After the donor visit, he will talk at great length about how “warm” or “positive” the visit was. He will report that the donor will “definitely give” to the campaign, or whatever else is the priority. He will repeat these kinds of donor interactions over and over. This gift officer participates in donor visits.
The exceptional gift officer, on the other hand, is thrilled to create and implement a particular donor strategy. Before the donor visit, she will spend time strategizing how best and how much to propose for the donor’s next gift (even if the invitation to give is not being planned for the upcoming visit). She will have a longer-term giving plan for the donor and she will repeat various donor planning steps over and over. This gift officer designs donor visits.
Advancement leaders want more gift officers to become visit designers. We know that the best gift officer work happens when they are a building rapport and deepening relationships in face-to-face interactions with the most financially capable and willing donors and prospective donors.
It is common, then, for leaders to evaluate gift officers by focusing heavily on their number of donor visits. But, if the evaluation of gift officers does not also include other more specific aspects of their work and role (i.e., types of donor visits, planning for donor visits, number of solicitations at certain amounts, etc.), leaders run the risk of encouraging more gift officers to simply become visit participants.
The participant vs. the designer.
Yes, gift officers can and should take responsibility for not simply going through the donor engagement motions. Yes, gift officers should have the professional integrity to avoid “gaming their evaluation.”
But, if you are an advancement leader who wants gift officers to become more designer and less participant, a good place to start is to assess how you have designed the evaluation of their work.
It turns out, unexceptional advancement leaders simply participate in their teams success while the exceptional advancement leaders design for it.
