Here are a few cliches about why donors give: “Donors don’t give to meet your institution’s needs, they give to meet their own needs.” “Donors don’t give because you have needs, they give because you meet needs.” “Donors don’t give to institutions, they give through institutions.” “People give to people.” These cliches have become cliches…
Category: Fundraising
What’s Important To Know
Millions of dollars are spent each year on professional development. People attend conferences, webinars, conventions, workshops, and buy books all in an attempt to become more knowledgeable and become more valuable employees. Learning matters. The more we know, the more effective we become. That’s easy enough to understand. But if we can all agree that…
The Slow Yes
Recently, I listened as a candidate for a director of development position at a major U.S. university answered a question about how he handles rejection. His response was a winner: “Yes, every development officer hears “no” from time to time and you have to have a plan for how to respond to a “no” response…
Buying Ugly Socks and Answering For Donors
Last week I sat in a major gift donor prospect management meeting with a client and listened as a gift officer said, “What we know from visits and our research is that John (the donor) has the capacity to make a $5 million gift during our campaign. But I just don’t think he will give…
“A thought just occurred to me. . .”
A seasoned and effective development leader once told me, “never leave a visit – even a first visit – without asking for something.” His rationale was that the prospective donor understands your role and is expecting some sort of ask. If you don’t ask for something, you don’t appear to be doing your job. Over…
5 Things Effective Development Professionals Say
It’s common for board members and other volunteers (and some development professionals) to ask the question: “What is the best way to ask someone for a gift?” What they are looking for, of course, are the “magic words.” The words or phrases that, when uttered with confidence and enthusiasm, wondrously unlock a donor’s generous spirit…
Are We Really Interested In Building Relationships?
Last week our family enjoyed celebrating my wife’s birthday. She received gifts, cards, Facebook greetings, and good food over the course of a few days of celebration. She even received a handful of text and email messages. In today’s world it is simple enough for a friend or colleague to drop a quick text or…
Further Evidence on the Critical Role of Donor Engagement
In today’s development field the phrase, “donor engagement,” get tossed around like a football owned by Peyton Manning. Everyone uses it. But not many people pause long enough to provide any definitional specificity to the phrase. What do we really mean when we say we need to “engage” donors? And why is it really important…
Asking Too Early or Asking Too Late
Both are bad. But asking too early is worse. You risk injuring the relationship by signaling that you value the donor’s money more than the donor. And sometimes that is never repaired fully. When you ask too late you risk getting a smaller gift (you didn’t strike while the iron was hot). And you risk…
The Social Media Question for Development Professionals
The most often-asked question about social media is, “How can we raise more money using Facebook/Twitter/Foursquare/YouTube/etc?” But this question has it a bit backwards. The more helpful question for us to ask is, “How can we use Facebook/Twitter/Foursquare/YouTube/etc., to raise more money?” When we turn the question around, our focus becomes using social media not…