Giving is Good
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 lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.” You’ve probably seen this sign on someone’s desk or door in your office. Perhaps someone even has muttered the words to you in a moment of frustration. Here’s the thing about this statement — everyone agrees with it. Everyone. If…
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…
For most all of us, the reality is that we fall short of living out our full promise not because we fail in attempting something ambitious and important but rather because we simply get comfortable. Comfort comes in the form of familiar people, old habits, daily routines, and mindless decisions. In our fast-paced, 140-character, always…
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…
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…
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…
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 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…
Recently, I was in attendance at a higher education institution’s Board meeting and watched as an administrative leader at the institution rose to address the members of the Board. As she began her presentation on the progress to date on the institution’s Strategic Plan, she projected a huge S-W-O-T Quadrant onto a screen behind her…