You can inspire donors in a group setting. You can educate donors in a group setting. You can engage donors in a group setting. You can relationship-build with donors in a group setting. You can share your strategic plans and funding priorities with donors in a group setting. You can receive feedback from donors in…
Author: Jason McNeal
I provide leadership, advancement and fundraising consulting services to educational, healthcare, and non-profit organizations.
Thankful and Grateful
When we appreciate that someone let us merge in front of them while driving, we are thankful. When we acknowledge our privileges (we all have them, even if we can’t easily see them), we are grateful. When we feel relief because a meeting ended early, we are thankful. When we reflect on the positive impact…
Understanding The Rules
Without a keen grasp of the applicable rules, it’s hard to be good at any game or activity. Imagine, for instance, that you and your friends decided to play a card game. You all gathered around a table and one friend dealt each person 7 cards, placed the remaining cards in a deck at the…
More Looping, Less Story-Swapping
During visits with donors, if you find yourself regularly sharing a personal experience or anecdote because the donor brought up a similar topic, you might be story-swapping. Story-swapping during conversations is a natural way for humans to build rapport and isn’t necessarily a poor practice for a gift officer to use. But, it also may…
What Major Gift Donors Want But Don’t Always Get
After decades of donor interactions and thousands of donor interviews, here is a list of what I’ve heard from major gift donors about what they want but don’t always get: Follow-up and follow-through; Recognition – even, if only privately; Timely responses; Mission-centered impact reporting – doesn’t have to be specific (i.e., “your gift provided the…
How Many?
How many incoming media/content/messaging streams are you managing right now? How many tasks do you have on your to-do list today? How many transition periods (i.e., where you can breathe and reset) do you have built into your calendar today? We claim we are constantly overwhelmed. We complain about our schedule being too busy. We…
Taking Responsibility
If we want to get the philanthropic results that make the biggest difference in the lives of others, there is no getting around the notion that we also have to take responsibility. Here is a beginning list of ways we have to take responsibility if we want our work with donors to make a significant…
Asking, Inviting, and Nudging
Less effective gift officers ask for gifts. When we ask a donor for a gift we don’t position ourselves (nor our missions) in the most attractive light. We may even feel bad about asking because we don’t want to be a bother. Asking reinforces a sense of “haves and have nots,” that reduces our influence…
Strategy Clarification or Avoidance Mechanism
Seeking answers to strategy exceptions can be helpful. For example, if our strategy is to establish visits with each Board member and invite their gift in support of our newly-approved multi-year, comprehensive campaign, it becomes helpful to agree on how our strategy might change for Board members who have already given this year versus Board…
5 Questions For Every Advisory Group
If you are involved in facilitating an advancement-related advisory group for your organization, the following 5 questions are critical to getting the most out of their engagement: What is the topic on which you are seeking their advice, perspective, feedback? Having a specific topic-focused theme for each advisory group meeting is an essential starting point. …