Author: Jim Shapiro

Jim Shapiro is the fundraising coach you’ve always wanted, the proven Sherpa who can help you get to the top of the mountain. Jim has 30 years’ experience raising money, including serving as the VP of Development for a global $100m nonprofit. He co-founded The Better Fundraising Co. to help small-to-medium nonprofits raise more money.

How to ask major donors for a sizable gift

Jim Shapiro  |  Major Donor Fundraising

What if I told you it could be just as easy to ask a donor for $10,000 as it is to ask her for $1,000? Would you believe me?

Well, I’m here to tell you that it can be just as easy – BUT only if you are willing to keep things simple, follow the ‘success ingredients’ I’ve outlined below, and then ask with confidence.

Here are the ‘success ingredients’ that need to be in place in order for you to have confidence when asking major donors for a sizable gift.

  • Know your donor. What does she like about your organization, or about the outcomes your organization creates? What has she funded in the past? What are her personal interests or hobbies? The more you know about your donor, the more likely it is you can create an Ask that appeals to her.
  • Before you ask your donor for a sizeable gift, tell your donor that you plan to ask them for a sizeable gift. Don’t surprise your donor! Tell her your intentions. If you prepare her to be Asked, she’ll respond better when you ask.
  • Develop a great fundraising offer that you know she will love. Ask her to fund projects, programs and outcomes she already likes! If you know your donor likes directly funding meals for homeless moms and kids, then don’t ask her to fund the new job-training program for men. Stay on target.
  • Make your ‘Ask’ part of a larger vision or campaign goal. Most donors don’t want to feel like the only donor giving a sizeable gift. They want to know that other donors are giving or being asked to give at sizeable levels.
  • Ask for more than you think your donor can give. I can tell you story after story of Major Gift Officers that have applied this thinking and come away with $100,000 gifts when they were first thinking of asking for $10,000. The big idea here: don’t accidently downgrade donor giving amounts by always asking for what you think donors can/will give. Sometimes you need to ask for what is needed, because oftentimes donors will surprise you!
  • Ask with confidence, and then give your donor time to mentally process your request and respond. It is all too common for Major Gift Officers to do most of the talking. It is critical that after you have delivered your appeal for support, that you stop talking and listen. Remember, this is a two-way conversation, and the donor deserves time to ask questions or respond with a financial commitment.

Try it!

The best way to improve your confidence and ability to ask donors for sizeable gifts is to go out and try it. I challenge you right now to identify 2-3 major donors (or potential major donors) and ‘cook up’ an Ask with each ingredient.

It might feel awkward at first. But it’s what I see successful major gift fundraisers do again and again and again. For you, this process will become easier and easier to do as you practice the steps above. And pretty soon, you won’t believe you used to do major donor fundraising ‘the old way’!

If you don’t have any major donors to try this out on, or you don’t feel as confident as you’d like, then practice by role-playing. Do it with a co-worker, a board member, or even a friend.

Whatever you do, it is time for you to get out there and put this thinking to work. You’ll be amazed at how much easier major donor fundraising can be – and how much more money you can raise for your cause.

[SHORT POST] The simple things very few nonprofits do for their major donors

Jim Shapiro  |  Major Donor Fundraising

The Virtuous Circle.

You guys. It really is this simple. And so few nonprofits do it.

  • Yesterday I heard about a nonprofit that hadn’t communicated (at all!) to their major donors in 2 years.
  • There’s the story that’s going around about the guy who gave a million dollars to his alma mater – and never received a thank you.
  • And there’s story after story about major donors who gave large gifts and then, after being thanked, were never communicated to again until they were asked for their next large gift.

Each time a major donor gives a gift to your organization, make damn sure there is a plan to Thank them well and later Report back to them what their gift made possible.

Here’s Why

When you thank a donor well, they know their gift was appreciated and important. Put your donor hat on for a moment. As a donor, you’d like to feel appreciated and important, right?

When you Report well, they know their gift actually made a difference. As a donor, you’d like to know that your gift made a difference, right? And you’d be more likely to give again if you know your gift made a difference, right?

The Easy Steps

If you’re like most nonprofits, at least 80% of your revenue comes from 20% (or less) of your donors. And usually, it’s closer to 90/10. So we’re not talking about that many people.

Here’s what I want you to do:

  1. Go make a list of the last 10 major donors who gave your organization a gift
  2. For each one, write down whether they need to be Thanked or Reported to.
  3. Over the next 10 days, do the appropriate step for each major donor.

You’ll be amazed at how happy they will be to hear from you. And you’ve instantly made it more likely they will give you a gift this year!

4 Steps to Create a System to Raise More Major Gifts

Jim Shapiro  |  Major Donor Fundraising

Over my 20 years of doing and teaching major donor fundraising, I’ve noticed something that small nonprofits should pay attention to:

Organizations that have a systematic approach to major donor fundraising raise the most money and have the most satisfied donors.

It’s really that simple.

The system that I recommend has 4 easy-to-follow steps. And if you do them right you’ll honor your donors, deepen your organization’s relationship with them, and raise more money.

Don’t get me wrong, installing this system takes real work. But the work isn’t hard – especially when compared to the personal and financial results you’ll see!

Let’s get to it . . .

Step #1 – Identify exactly who your major donors are

  • If you already have very specific criteria for who is a major donor, or your organization is currently managing major donors, move to step #2.
  • If not, then pull a list of all donors that gave your organization a gift in the last 24 months. Sort them by total giving. The donors at the top of the list are your major donors.
    • I realized that “the top of your list” is a little imprecise. But it varies wildly by organization. The main principle is to identify the donors who give the lion’s share of your donations, call them your major donors, and then cultivate them with more time and effort than your other donors. If you have less than 100 donors, treat all your donors like major donors. If you have 10,000 donors, you’re probably looking at a group of 250 to 500 donors.

I used the word “exactly” because most small nonprofits don’t clearly define who is and who isn’t a major donor. And because of that, some major donors don’t get cultivated well. Gifts (and relationships) are lost.

Step #2 – Rank your major donors

Just knowing who your major donors are isn’t enough. You must rank them, but not just by financial capacity or historic giving.

Most major gift officers make the mistake of managing their list from the financial information only. There are other factors at play! Factors like whether the donor has a strong relationship with someone associated with your organization, and whether the donor has a strong affinity to your organization or to your cause.

How to implement this step is too much for one blog post. But to help you rate and sort your donors, I created this spreadsheet for you to read and use.

Step #3 – Create a plan for each major donor

Now you know who your major donors are. You’ve rated and sorted them. It’s time to create a cultivation plan for every donor on your list.

First, for each major donor, decide who at your organization will be responsible for the relationship. That may be your Executive Director, it may be a “major gifts officer,” it may a Board member. The point is to make sure that someone is responsible (and accountable) for each major donor relationship.

Here’s what happens if it’s “management by committee” and no one single person is responsible for a major donor relationship. That means that everyone is responsible. Which means that no one is responsible. Which means the relationship won’t be cultivated as well. Which means the donor is likely to give less and less – and then leave altogether.

Once each donor has been assigned to a person, then make a communication plan for each donor, so you can cultivate a relationship that leads to a point where an ask for support is warranted and even expected. This should be a step-by step plan, mapped out over the course of a year. Know exactly what your plan is for asking, thanking and reporting.

This work requires reviewing the major donor rating sheet on a daily basis and reviewing/updating your moves strategy as needed, as fundraising goals are met or the donor’s appetite for working with you evolves or changes.

If you fail to plan these steps, you are planning to fail.

Step #4 – It’s time to Ask

Once you have completed steps 1-3, you move from internal planning to external action.

In many cases it will be time to Ask a donor for a gift. Donors who have recently given a gift will need to be thanked or reported to.

My advice is to know exactly where each donor is in the Ask, Thank, Report, Repeat rhythm, then make the appropriate next move. A “move” is major donor fundraising jargon for “the next step.” And what experienced fundraisers do is plan a series of “moves” over the course of a year to lead the major donor to making a gift. (This is the “step-by-step plan” I’m talking about in Step #3 above.)

These “moves” could include in-person meetings, phone conversations, writing thank-you notes, sending emails, sending a copy of your newsletter in a nice envelope, etc.

Here are three quick pro-tips for you

  • The more in-person meetings you can get, the better.
  • Never have lunch alone!
  • Major donors are far more likely to give you another gift if they have been well-Thanked and Reported back to re: their previous gift.

Step-by-Step + Accountability = Success

Doing all of this absolutely creates more work than you’re doing now. However, it makes all of the work easier because it takes the mystery out of successful major donor fundraising. Instead, you have easy-to-follow steps. Just build your system and then work your system.

Just make sure that accountability is part of your plan!

Make sure the plan for each donor is written down. Make sure the plan is measured and followed. True fundraising success happens when your organization has a custom plan for each major donor, each step is tracked, and the person responsible for each step is held accountable. Do that, and all the little steps needed to build the relationship will happen.

I hope this blog post encourages you to take your major donor planning and strategy to the next level. I believe you can do it!

Who – exactly – makes or breaks your fundraising goals?

Jim Shapiro  |  Major Donor Fundraising

We’re going to spend this month blogging about major donor fundraising, and teaching you to get better at it quickly.

And I’ll start with an educated guess about your organization: a majority of your fundraising revenue (from individuals) comes from a small percentage of your donors.

Most of our clients have at least 80% of their fundraising revenue coming from about 20% of their donors. For a couple of organizations it’s as high as 95% of the fundraising revenue coming from 5% of their donors.

Most organizations we start working with would say they ‘pretty much know that our top donors bring in most of our revenue.’ But it’s the organizations who ‘know exactly which donors bring in most of the revenue and have a plan to help them give even more’ who raise a LOT more money.

If you don’t know your ‘major donor revenue ratio,’ stop what you are doing right now and figure it out!

Once you know your ratio, you’ll instantly have a game-changing realization: you need to focus more of your efforts on cultivating those relationships.

I am constantly amazed at how many organizations don’t know their ratio. One look at your ratio is all it’ll take to know how important it is to build relationships with your top donors, and to do all you can to retain them.

And listen – I am the first one to say that major donor fundraising is not easy work. It takes time and real effort. But in my opinion it’s the most important work you can do to sustain and increase your fundraising revenue.

Consider this: if a majority of your fundraising revenue comes from a small number of donors, then you should spend a majority of your time working to keep those donors actively giving and (if possible) giving more.

Let me hit this point home for you with a short story.

Recently I was asked by our local fundraising association to talk to a group of fundraising directors. After my talk, I was approached by one of the directors in attendance. She asked me how I expected fundraising directors like her, from small organizations, to do all that I was teaching them to do. She felt overwhelmed with all of her fundraising responsibilities, and it was common for her to feel paralyzed by her workload.

My response to her question was simple and direct.

I encouraged her to figure out which fundraising activities produced the most revenue for her organization, and spend her time maximizing those activities. I also told her it was okay not to do some of the fundraising tasks on her list, especially those tasks that produce very little revenue.

She looked so relieved to know that she didn’t need to do it all!

This story illustrates two things:

  1. You are one person, and you can’t do it all. So it’s important for you to focus on the fundraising activities that produce the most revenue.
  2. In order to focus on the fundraising activities that raise the most money, you must say no to some of the tasks on your fundraising list that don’t produce revenue.

Over my 20 years of fundraising, I have seen this kind of thinking and prioritization turn overwhelmed fundraising staff into focused, energized and driven fundraising professionals. And they start raising more money immediately!

So here are your next steps:

  • Figure out what percentage of your income is coming from your major donors
  • Identify exactly who those donors are
  • Shift your thinking to prioritize everything to you do to retain and upgrade those donors
  • Make a plan for each one of those donors for the rest of the year. After all – if you make a plan for the donors who provide 20% of your income, isn’t it more important to make customized plans for your donors who provide 80% of your income?

As this month goes on, we’ll talk more about how to make your plan for each donor, how to ask them, and how to increase their giving!

Your newsletter: The most powerful way to report

Jim Shapiro  |  Report

Now is a great time for you to report back to your donors and show them how their recent donation was used to make the world a better place. Your primary aim when reporting is to close the loop with the donor and show her how the problem you presented to her when you asked her for a gift has now been solved.

Reporting can take various forms including, but not limited to, in-person visits, phone calls, personal notes, letter from the executive director or video update.

Even with all of these great resources at your fingertips, your newsletter is still the most powerful way to report. It is a proven vehicle for delivering completed stories. If designed correctly, it will send a strong message to your donor that she made a big impact on your beneficiaries.

Without a doubt, delivering a donor-centric newsletter is the key to reporting success. Here’s why:

  • It puts the spotlight on the donor and the role she played in helping someone in need. When you write about your donor and tell her how great she is, her level of trust and connection with your organization increases.
  • Now that her trust and connection has increased, she is more likely to give you another gift and in some cases increase her giving. Increased retention and increased giving is an outcome of great reporting!
  • We know that donors are busy, so sending them a newsletter that is easy to read and full of great pictures and picture captions, is an efficient way to report back to your donors. They don’t need to wade through a long, detailed report. In a matter of seconds they feel great about their past giving.

The big picture thinking here is donors want to be reminded they made a good decision by giving to you. The most powerful and proven way for you to remind them is to send them a stream of great communications, including a donor-centric newsletter. Publishing them on a regular basis will send a strong message that you care about your donors, that you have good news to share, and that there is more work to be done.

Your newsletter is the most powerful way to report back to you donors, so do all you can to create and deliver the best newsletter possible.

5 Ways To Report Back To Donors With Newsletters

Jim Shapiro  |  Report

When I was a young fundraiser, over two decades ago, I thought fundraising was sales. I had to sell major donors the case for support and do my best to move them to give a charitable gift.

I quickly realized this was a negative equation. I was taking from the donor but never really giving back. It was then I felt the need to report back to the donor, telling them how great they were for making the world a better place, but I didn’t know how to deliver this content.

Over the years I have found the best vehicle for reporting back to donors is your organization’s newsletter. If your newsletter is designed with the donor in mind and it communicates a strong sense of how important her role is in changing the world via your organization — magic happens! Your donor feels great about their recent gift and deepens their trust in you and your organization.

When using newsletters to report to major donors, I try to leverage these five elements. They have worked really well. Here they are.

  1. You don’t need to create a separate newsletter or report for your major donors. Use the same newsletter you create for your mass donors. This will save you time and money.
  2. Show your major donors that you spent time preparing the newsletter and outer envelope. Don’t fold the newsletter. Larger packages gain attention in the mail. Since you didn’t fold the newsletter you can deliver it in a large outer envelope. Hand address the envelope and use a real stamp to deliver it!
  3. You aren’t going to send a special newsletter (point #1) but you can draft a special, custom cover letter to include with the newsletter. Address the letter to your donor, tell your donor how great you think they are, and thank them for making the world a better place.
  4. If there is a special article or section of the newsletter you want to bring to their attention, then use a post-it note, paperclip, or highlighter to mark that section of the newsletter. In your cover letter, tell the donor why you marked that section for them.
  5. As a major gift fundraiser you are always looking for a good reason to contact the donor, so call them prior to the newsletter being delivered to let them know it is on its way! During your call you can say the same things you say in the cover letter.

Just know that your major donors are people that care deeply about your mission. They care about your work and the people you serve. They care about all of this so much that they are even willing to send you money so that your good work can continue! They deserve something in return for their gift and the newsletter is the best vehicle I know of to deliver good news and appreciation to your donors.

3 ways to maximize major donor fundraising NOW

Jim Shapiro  |  Major Donor Fundraising

You know how critical major donors are to your organization.

This fact is magnified during the month of December. The amount of money you raise this month largely rests on the shoulders of a few key donors.  And it is your job to maximize your efforts this fundraising.

But if you are like everyone else in nonprofit work, you probably have very little time to add another thing to your to-do list. You are running out of time!

The good news is that this fundraising season you have one more week than usual between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

This means you have a BONUS week to raise more money from your major donors. Another side of the same coin: you have a bonus week to give your major donors the opportunity to experience the joy of giving.  Because never forget; they LOVE to give!

With this in mind, I’ve come up with 3 easy things for you to do to maximize the fundraising season and to make the most of this bonus week.

1. Don’t spend time writing Christmas cards; spend your time writing Christmas appeals.

Since your time is limited, you should focus most of your energy on what will produce revenue. Christmas cards are nice, but they won’t generate revenue. The first thing you should work on and deliver is a Christmas appeal. Ask your donors to make a generous year-end gift and then once you receive that gift you can send them a thank you note and wish them a happy holiday.

2. Call your top 10 major donors who haven’t given a gift this year right now and set a time to meet with them to ask them for a year-end gift.

Be very clear that the purpose of the meeting is to ask them for a gift. Taking the time to meet in person sends a strong message that you value them and their giving to your cause.

3. Say, “YES!” to any and every invitation you receive to attend a holiday party, open house, public event, etc.

This is a great time of year to deepen relationships with current major donors and to meet their friends. I know you are tired and feel maxed out, but the number of opportunities to meet with current and future donors in-person won’t come this way until December of 2018.

Major donors are incredibly generous people who give a significant percentage of the total donations for your organization. So it’s essential that you maximize the fundraising season and take advantage of this bonus week between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Now is the time to lead your donors to give a big year-end gift, and when possible cultivate new relationships that will fuel your major gift fundraising throughout 2018.

If this blog post sparked your thinking, then I know you’d benefit from a webinar I hosted a few weeks back. Click here to get our Major Donor Year-End Fundraising Webinar and learn an easy-to-follow system that will help you get (bigger!) gifts from your most valuable donors before the year ends. You’ll feel confident with a step-by-step plan for what to do this year, and you’ll love knowing that you’re stewarding your most important donor relationships!

I believe in you and the work you do so much that I’m going to give you my personal discount code. Type in JRS25 (that’s for James Robert Shapiro) and you’ll get an additional 25% of your purchase of this product and/or any other products you purchase from our site.

How to raise more money at year-end without breaking the bank

Jim Shapiro  |  News and Events

Year-end is fundraising prime time. Most nonprofits receive 1/3 of their annual donations just in the last few weeks of December!

It’s daunting — but it’s also the easiest time of the year to raise more money!

We gathered the most successful fundraising strategies we’ve ever used. Then we created year-end fundraising tools that will help you stay ahead of the game throughout the entire season.
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