Major Gifts = Major Impact

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Black and white image of two women having coffee at a round table. A chandelier hangs over the table.When nonprofits lean into “major gift” fundraising, they typically start with data mining to see who in their donor pool has untapped capacity—and then unleash a gift officer to visit those donors.

That, however, is only half the battle. The other half is what will you use to motivate that $100 donor to start giving you $1,000 or even $5,000. 

Your $100 donor likely feels just fine about their giving level; it feels normal and they may keep on giving at this same level indefinitely unless you give them a reason to change their gift level.

To get someone to climb the giving ladder, you need to be prepared to show them a parallel impact ladder.

To encourage a mid-level donor to increase their gift, development offices need to have well-planned middle-to-major donor programs that show impact. It goes like this:

  1. Research which donors in your pool are giving at well below their capacity. 
  2. From there, segment which of those donors give to a particular part of your mission. Are they interested in children’s programs, education, job training, etc.? 
  3. For donors who don’t designate their gifts, you can do the same thing. Just pick a program or service that is central to your mission and set a price point that will accomplish one discrete thing or serve one discrete person or class of persons.
  4. Present the donor with a thoughtful opportunity to have more impact on the population they most care about. For example, “a gift of $1,257 will provide counseling to a child for a year” or “provide job training for a single mother in our program.” Make it a realistic jump from their current giving level.
  5. The ask amount should be a precise number, not rounded up, and should approximate the actual cost of the services/program.

Remember, the larger the ask, the larger the impact. That is a donors’ primary motivation; not whether you hit your fundraising goal. That is for YOU to worry about.

 

Learn more about major gift fundraising in my new book “Finding Funding: How to Ask for Money and Get It.”
Want to talk? Email me at jpfundraising.com. 

In Fundraising, Learn to Leverage

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three gifts wrapped in dollar bills and a red ribbon

Few things create a power imbalance more precisely than money. Fundraisers encounter this power imbalance acutely, perhaps more than people in other professions.

Wealthy people tend to socialize and congregate with people like themselves (as most people tend to do). Because successful fundraisers are successful relationship builders, navigating this dynamic can be particularly tricky as you need to be conversant and comfortable in their environment, but understand and accept that their daily reality and yours may differ greatly.

It can be easy to get caught up in the trappings of the wealthy and make assumptions about their quality of life versus yours. You may need to do some personal work around acceptance  because, as a professional fundraiser, your job is motivating the donor to move a portion of that wealth to your nonprofit. To do so, you need to know how the wealthy relate to money.

In a word, it’s leverage. Most wealthy people built up their asset base by leveraging a portion of it to generate more wealth. They take risks both large and small with their capital to realize a return on investment. Bottom line: money is a tool to generate more money.

So, when asking a person of significant means to invest in your nonprofit, how are you talking about leverage? There are two key leverage points every fundraiser needs to incorporate into an ask for a major gift.

How will the donor’s investment leverage:

  1.  A better outcome for the people/animals/environment your nonprofit supports? If you don’t have a clear, crisp answer to this question that evokes a sense of both emotion and logic, then pause and take time to develop a succinct answer before making your approach.
  2. Additional support for your cause? In other words, what is your investment strategy? Think about concrete ways you can use their gift to leverage additional support. For example, many foundations will not consider an application until you are at 50 percent of your goal. Your donor’s investment will help get you closer to that 50 percent threshold, thus leveraging those funds.

Coming in prepared with a few thoughts about how to leverage their investment shows you are someone who knows the dynamic of how money works. Your donor will appreciate the care and thoughtfulness you bring to their potential major gift and investment in your mission.

 

Learn more about how to talk about money in Chapter 9 of my new book “Finding Funding: How to Ask for Money and Get It.”
Want to talk? Email me at jplourde@jpfundraising.com. I’d love to hear from you.