Like algebra, major gifts is an area where you need to show your work as well as the results. In many charities there are very few explicit plans for new donors. In major gifts, excellence is achieved through evidence.
To run a great major gifts program, you need to be strategic. Past performance is a good indicator of good behaviour.
Benchmark first
Set aside a year to benchmark. Put in all solicitations, actual and planned, amount to raise, and what time of year. Get people to start thinking and be explicit. This includes starting to think monthly, quarterly, weekly to understand where the program results are at any given time.
Get active
Actions in the system are focused on face-to-face meetings or phone calls. For an action to be counted, it has to be a two-way conversation that had an agenda and a next step. The only exception is a qualification action - this is an action when fundraisers picked up the phone and made a call and determined if the donors was interested in next steps with the charity.
Activity shows effort
By monitoring fundraising activity, you can show how hard fundraisers work. After all, we can't control the outcomes but we can control our activities. Having a well recorded set of activities and a plan allows the charity to provide a guide to an incoming staff member. This is especially important in a high turnover sector.
Tracking activity also showed we did the work. It also allowed us to let the Board know if we were or were not going to meet budget and gave them assurance that the work was in place.
Impact is the end game
Investing in tracking data allows us to make data-based decisions. This includes good information about when we ask. Tracking the number of solicits, value, and timing lets us know when we need to ask to make goal. This timeframe becomes the calendar for when I have to talk to donors in month X for us to make goal this fiscal year.
Stay accountable, stay awesome
By regularly reviewing the number and type of meetings in the database, the charity can produce monthly reports to Board Chair and CEO to show actions. This ensures that fundraising stays on target and that we keep the database updated to show the fundraisers' "awesomeness."
3,2,1
In tracking donor identification use the 3,2,1 model - 3 different touch points using 2 different types of communications, then invite to 1 event. If the donor responds, move them into cultivation. Can expand this, can't shrink it. Can recycle these prospects after 6 months to have Board review or other volunteers to find a connection for door opener.
What's your focus?
A major gifts team might focus 25% on each area - Qualification, cultivation, solicitation, stewardship. Other teams might have more of a focus on qualification and cultivation.
Success is a numbers game
This model makes it clear what work needs to be done. With this plan, you will learn how many prospects you need to qualify to get to your goal. If you know your success ratio, you can work backwards. For instance, identify 10 to get to 4 qualified prospects for 1 ask. Acquistion is a numbers game. The numbers you need to qualify are enormous.
PLAN, Don't panic
Start small on metrics and make sure that the data can be input quickly and correctly. Excellence is achieved through evidence. When you can do that, you are able to adapt. Impact is the end game.
Liz Rejman and Danielle Begora are awesome fundraisers at Pathways for Education. This is a summary of a presentation they did at AFP Fundraising Day. All errors are the result of Editor Ann Rosenfield not typing fast enough to record all their smart ideas.
