Category: Major Donor Fundraising

How to Get Matching Funds from a Major Donor

Steven  |  Major Donor Fundraising
match

I wrote earlier this week that the signs are pointing to donations from individual donors being down this year. 

If that holds true for the rest of the year, it’s important to do everything you can to make your fall fundraising attractive.

And the slam-dunk way to do that is to have matching funds available at year-end – and all of your fall fundraising if possible.

If you’re interested, you should read How to Get Matching Funds from a Major Donor.

I think the main reason this approach works so well – and that this blog post is our second-most-popular post of all time – is the question that we recommend asking the major donor. 

Most organizations ask the major to solve the organization’s problem: “Will you give us matching funds so that we can use them in our fundraising?”  Instead, you’ll see how to get your major donor wanting to give you matching funds because it helps them get what they want.

Go read the post, and then go get some matching funds for this fall!

The Difference Between “Understanding” and “Feeling”

Steven  |  Major Donor Fundraising
gratitude

A major donor can understand that their gift was appreciated.  That’s nice.  And pretty easy to make that happen.

Yet it’s also possible for a major donor to really feel that their gift was appreciated.

There’s a big difference. 

The blog post How to Thank a Major Donor So She’ll WANT to Give Again gives you a simple road map to making your major donors feel your organization’s appreciation.

I share that post today because the signs are pointing to donations from individual donors being down this year. 

If that holds true for the rest of the year, it’s more important than ever for your organization to make sure your major donors feel your gratitude.

Here’s what often happens in down years.  Major donors deploy a two-part strategy:

  • They reduce the number of organizations they support, and
  • They reduce the amount they give to each organization. 

But major donors usually have a couple of organizations – close to their hearts, where they feel their giving really matters – that they do not cut or reduce.

That’s the group you want to be in. 

But you must earn your way into that group.

So go read the post, then go make sure your majors feel your gratitude!

How to Ask for a Major Gift

Jim Shapiro  |  Major Donor Fundraising
ask

A Beginner’s Guide to Major Donor Fundraising Success: Step #3, How to Ask for a Major Gift

When it’s time to ask for a major gift from a donor, it helps to have a simple game plan.

First, set up a time to meet in person. This can be the hardest part! Donors are busy.

Start by giving them a call on the phone. Tell them why you’d like to meet (don’t leave them guessing!) and suggest a time and a place that’s convenient for them.

It may take a few phone calls, texts, emails, (carrier pigeons). That’s normal. Keep at it! If you can secure a meeting, you’re halfway there.

Once you have your meeting set, here’s your meeting game plan:

  1. Social time (5 minutes). Order coffee, ask about their family, be warm, friendly, and LISTEN.

  2. Deliver the fundraising offer (3 – 5 minutes). Share the problem, the solution, and how you’d like them to help. Ask if they’d be willing to give a specific amount. Aim for a higher amount than you think you can get.

  3. Sit quietly and wait for their response (as long as it takes!). Don’t talk. Wait for THEM to talk. Let the donor sit with the request and consider it. If it feels awkward, that’s okay. Take a sip of coffee.

  4. Listen to what they say and respond appropriately (5-ish minutes). Answer any questions they have. Address concerns. Listen for what’s important to them.

    If the answer is yes, thank them warmly and share any details needed for them to make their gift.

    If the answer is maybe, let them know when and how you will follow up with them.

    If the answer is “not right now,” see if you can find out more. Is it a timing thing? Have their interests shifted? You could try asking for their opinion on something related to your campaign or mission. This is a good way to keep the communication open and let the donor know you value them, even if they can’t give financially this time.

  5. End the meeting on time. Thank them, shake hands, then go to your car or back to your office and jot down any helpful notes from your meeting.

  6. Follow up as agreed. Be sure to thank and report back if they gave.

Once you get a few of these meetings under your belt it will start to feel natural — then you won’t have to think about the structure much. But as you get started… having a game plan can help you feel more comfortable and confident asking for a major gift.

Give it a try and let me know how it goes!

Read the series:

  1. A Beginner’s Guide to Major Donor Fundraising Success: Step #1, Build Your Portfolio
  2. A Beginner’s Guide to Major Donor Fundraising Success: Step #2, The Plan to Build Meaningful Relationships
  3. A Beginner’s Guide to Major Donor Fundraising Success: BONUS Simple Strategy to Build Relationships Immediately
  4. A Beginner’s Guide to Major Donor Fundraising Success: Step #3, How to Ask for a Major Gift (This post)

BONUS: A Simple Strategy to Build Major Donor Relationships Immediately

Jim Shapiro  |  Major Donor Fundraising
relationships

A Beginner’s Guide to Major Donor Fundraising Success: BONUS Simple Strategy to Build Relationships Immediately

I’ve been sharing some of my tips and tricks for getting started with major donor fundraising.

Today, I’m going to share a strategy a client and fundraising friend of mine came up with that is so simple (and easy to remember!) that I can’t keep it to myself.

It’s called 3 – 4 – 5.

3 days a week, call 4 major donors to say thank you or report back, at 5pm.

That’s it. That’s the strategy.

Even if you can’t start a full-blown major donor program, see if you can try THIS.

Make this part of your week (every week!) and you will start building stronger relationships with your major donors immediately!

It’s as simple as 3 – 4 – 5!

Next time: how to ask for a major gift from the donors in your portfolio.

Read the series:

  1. A Beginner’s Guide to Major Donor Fundraising Success: Step #1, Build Your Portfolio
  2. A Beginner’s Guide to Major Donor Fundraising Success: Step #2, The Plan to Build Meaningful Relationships
  3. A Beginner’s Guide to Major Donor Fundraising Success: BONUS Simple Strategy to Build Relationships Immediately (This post)
  4. A Beginner’s Guide to Major Donor Fundraising Success: Step #3, How to Ask for a Major Gift

Plan to Build Meaningful Relationships with Major Donors

Jim Shapiro  |  Major Donor Fundraising
plan

A Beginner’s Guide to Major Donor Fundraising Success: Step #2, The Plan to Build Meaningful Relationships

Last time we worked through the steps of figuring out how many major donors you can successfully manage, and which major donors you should manage.

Now that you have your portfolio set, it’s time to start building relationships with these donors.

An exceptional donor experience is at the heart of an effective major donor fundraising program. This means attempting to build a genuine and authentic relationship with each donor.

First, work through your list and come up with a plan for each donor. Focus on your current major donors first, then your lapsed major donors, then your prospective major donors.

During this phase, you will develop fundraising offers (what would the donor be excited about funding?), communication calendars (when are you going to approach them?), and the best fundraising approach for each person (how are you going to approach them?)

Here’s what this involves:

  • Identify the best possible fundraising offer for each donor by matching up their interests with your organization’s needs. (Free eBook available here.)
  • Determine the next step for each donor in the Ask, Thank, Report, Repeat communication rhythm.
  • Create a systematic but relational plan to connect the donor’s personal mission/heart with the mission/outcomes of your organization.

Plan to have three to four interactions (meetings or phone calls ) with each donor per year. Then add in some additional email or text check-ins. When your portfolio is the right size, this is very possible!

One or two of the meetings should be asking the donor to make a gift. The other interactions should be thanking and reporting back on what their giving made possible.

For a full-time gift officer, this will mean 7 – 10 major donor phone calls or meetings each week.

Next time… a bonus simple strategy to start building major donor relationships IMMEDIATELY!

Read the series:

  1. A Beginner’s Guide to Major Donor Fundraising Success: Step #1, Build Your Portfolio
  2. A Beginner’s Guide to Major Donor Fundraising Success: Step #2, The Plan to Build Meaningful Relationships (This post)
  3. A Beginner’s Guide to Major Donor Fundraising Success: BONUS Simple Strategy to Build Relationships Immediately
  4. A Beginner’s Guide to Major Donor Fundraising Success: Step #3, How to Ask for a Major Gift

A Beginner’s Guide to Major Donor Fundraising Success: Step #1, Build Your Portfolio

Jim Shapiro  |  Major Donor Fundraising
major donors

Does your organization have a major donor program?

If not… or if you’d like to grow your existing program, it might seem like a big, daunting thing.

But it can be easier than you think. If you follow a few simple steps.

Today, I’ll walk you through figuring out how many major donors you can manage, and building your portfolio. In future posts I’ll show you how to build a relationship with these donors and even walk you through the steps of asking for a major gift.

Step #1 – Figure Out How Many Major Donors You Can Manage

Here’s a simple formula you can use to figure out how many major donor relationships you can manage in the time you have.

A full-time Major Gift Officer, who spends 40 hours a week on major donor fundraising, can manage 120 donors in their portfolio

How many hours a week can YOU spend on major donor work?

Write down that number, then multiply it by 3. That’s how many donors you can reasonably manage.

Let’s say you have 20 hours a week to spend on major donors. This means you can manage 60 donors in your portfolio. You get the picture.

Step #2 – Run a List of Your Donors and Assign Your Portfolio

Now, run a query or report to show all your donors with their cumulative giving in each of the last five years. You may want to export this list to Excel so you can work with it.

Sort the list using the most recent year’s giving column, from highest amount to lowest amount.

You are ready to make some decisions based on your list.

Decide who are your top donors based on the amount given in most recent year, the pattern of giving over the last five years (giving more, giving less, about the same, or all over the place…) and less-tangible factors like how closely aligned they are to the organization and how well you know them.

Leave a little room in your portfolio for lapsed major donors and prospective major donors. A rough percentage should be:

  • 80% existing active major donors
  • 10% lapsed major donors that could be re-engaged with some work
  • 10% prospective donors who have high potential of becoming major donors

This is your portfolio.

This may take a little time, but once you have your portfolio list built, you are off to a strong start.

If there are more names than you can handle, that’s okay. Let your direct mail program do the work of engaging them for now.

In my next post, I’ll share what to DO with the donors in your portfolio.

Read the series:

  1. A Beginner’s Guide to Major Donor Fundraising Success: Step #1, Build Your Portfolio (This post)
  2. A Beginner’s Guide to Major Donor Fundraising Success: Step #2, The Plan to Build Meaningful Relationships
  3. A Beginner’s Guide to Major Donor Fundraising Success: BONUS Simple Strategy to Build Relationships Immediately
  4. A Beginner’s Guide to Major Donor Fundraising Success: Step #3, How to Ask for a Major Gift

How To Get Matching Funds from a Major Donor

Steven  |  Ask, Major Donor Fundraising

Matching funds are the easiest way to make everything you do (appeals, events, newsletters, you name it) raise more money.

And your easiest source of matching funds are your major donors.

We’ve had great success helping our clients get their major donors to donate matching funds. When done correctly it engages the major donor, gives the major donor a chance to multiply their impact (who doesn’t like that?) and helps you raise more money towards your development goals.

Here’s how we go about it. And of course every major donor is different, but here’s the approach that’s worked for us . . .

Review your major donors for the right donor(s)

Look for a donor who either a) hasn’t given a gift yet this year, or b) you think has the capacity to give another gift at year-end. At year-end, I think approaching majors who haven’t yet given a gift this year is your best move.

Approach the donor with a question

Use the opening question of, “Would you like the chance to multiply your giving and increase the impact of your generosity?” You want to — right away — get the donor in the frame of mind that they can increase their impact by donating matching funds.

Share the stats with them

Make it clear to the donor that they will be multiplying the impact of their own giving. Here’s why: not only do they get their gift matched by the rest of your donors, but there’s additional giving that takes place because of the match!

Look at these stats from MailChimp. I would share these stats directly with your major donor, and talk about how their donation can make results like this possible:

  • Matching funds increase average gift size by 41%
  • Matching funds increase the # of donations by 110%
  • Matching funds increase revenue by 120% (and that’s not including the matching funds themselves!)

Do you see how a match does more than double the money you raise? You get 2x the original amount because you have the match, and the funds raised to match it. But then your fundraising performs better than average too! This is an instance where 1 + 1 = 2.5. THAT’s the opportunity you have to give your donor!

Give them a deadline

If your donor is interested but doesn’t commit, give them a deadline that’s reasonably soon. You want to make them feel like opportunities to multiply their impact like this don’t come around that often (which is true). Tell them that if they say “no” you are going to contact another donor because you need the match to increase fundraising results.

And if you haven’t heard from them by the deadline, contact them to check in. Then if you need to talk to another donor, talk to the next person on your list.

Having a match really is the easiest way to increase your fundraising results. And if you want those kind of increased results for your year-end fundraising? Figure out what major you should be talking to right now and approach them right away.

This post was originally published on November 6, 2017.

Major Donor Focus: Getting the Gift before Dec. 31

Jim Shapiro  |  Major Donor Fundraising
Phone call.

I know you’ve worked feverishly to get to this point. It’s almost the end of the calendar year.

Thankfully, there’s still time to raise a significant amount of money from your Major Donors.

Here are two simple things that you can do today to give yourself the best chance to secure significant year-end gifts from major donors.

  1. Identify your Major Donors who haven’t given in the last 90 days. Their last gift may have been in May, June, July, or even August. These are the people who are most likely to send you another gift as the year comes to a close. But only if you give each Major Donor a compelling reason to do so.
  2. Present a compelling offer. When you ask each Major Donor for their year-end gift, your offer must be compelling. In your ask, stress the urgency and the relevancy to the donor. It might be a funding need or financial shortfall. Perhaps the pandemic has added some unexpected expenses to your budget. Or a large grant has fallen through. You might even have an initiative for 2021 that needs seed money to grow. Whatever your offer is, present each Major Donor with a compelling reason to give before December 31.

Once you’ve identified the Majors that didn’t made a gift in the last 90 days, and you have a compelling offer to present, it’s your time to shine.

Pick up the phone, send some emails, schedule a Zoom meeting – leverage all methods of communication. But do it with urgency, because there’s still time – and your Majors haven’t run out of money!

MAJOR DONOR FOCUS: Getting the Gift before Dec. 31

Jim Shapiro  |  Major Donor Fundraising
Phone call

I know you’ve worked feverishly to get to this point.  It’s almost the end of the calendar year.  But your work isn’t done.

There’s still time to raise a significant amount of money from your Major Donors. 

Here are two simple things that you can do today, to give yourself the best chance to secure that year-end gift.

  1. Identify any Major Donor who hasn’t given in the last 90 days.  Their last gift may have been in May, June, July, or even August.  These are the people that are most likely to send you another gift as the year comes to a close.  But only if you give each Major Donor a compelling reason to do so. 

  2. Present a compelling offer.  When you ask each Major Donor for their year-end gift, your offer must be compelling.  Ensure it’s urgent, relevant, and needed now.  It might be a funding need or financial shortfall.  Perhaps COVID has added some unexpected expenses to your budget.  Or, a large grant has fallen through. You might even have an initiative for 2021 that needs seed money to grow.  Whatever your offer is, present each Major Donor with a compelling reason to give before December 31.

Once you’ve identified the Majors that didn’t made a gift in the last 90 days, and you have a compelling offer to present, it’s your time to shine.

Pick up the phone, send some emails, schedule a Zoom meeting – leverage all methods of communication.  But do it with urgency, because as we mentioned in this previous blog post, there’s still time, and your Majors haven’t run out of money.