Category: Major Donor Fundraising

Major donor fundraising doesn’t have to be difficult and complex. I’ve been raising money from major donors for over 20 years and have discovered that success fundraising comes down to four important ingredients:

1. Identify who your major donors are. If you can’t name them by name or don’t know their giving history or giving priorities, then you have some work to do. Research your top donors, know exactly who they are, and learn as much about them as you can.
2. Your #1 job is to keep your current major donors actively giving to your organization. Do this by Thanking them promptly and emotionally when they give a gift. Then Report back to them what happened because they gave a gift. Odds are you have donors right now waiting to be Thanked and Reported to.  Don’t wait, reach out to them today!
3. Make your appeal in person. Stop hiding behind your email and phone. Get out there and meet with your donors face-to-face. Most (but not all) major donors desire to be in relationship with you and our cause.
4. Ask for more money than you think you can receive from your donor. The goal here is to stretch your donor’s thinking and then let them decrease the giving amount if it is too high.

Apply these ingredients to your fundraising and you will raise more money right away.  You’ll also build genuine, mission-driven relationship with your major donors – which means you’ll raise a LOT more money in the long term too.

If you are tasked with raising money for your organization, then I strongly suggest you put your money where you mouth is.  Make a generous gift to your organization today.

You see, donors are like sharks.  They can smell blood in the water.  And in fundraising, they can sense when you don’t believe in your cause or work.  They somehow know if you are truly invested in the work – or not.  The best way to motivate and energize your fundraising work is to invest not only your time and talents, but also your own money.

This recommendation isn’t just for you.  It’s for your CEO, your board, your staff, and your volunteers.  Those who make the greatest investment will work the hardest to fund and fuel the mission.

So go and put your money where your mouth is.  Make a donation to your cause today.

A local CPA firm asked me to speak to a room of nonprofit board members.

I started my talk by saying that fundraising is really about messaging.  This simple statement upset one particular board member because his definition of fundraising was wrapped up in his personal negative experiences where his time and money weren’t valued by other organization.

It was clear to me that this guy didn’t like fundraising. He had been hurt or angered by his previous fundraising or giving experience.

This board member reminded me why most board members, executive directors and program staff are uniquely unqualified to think about fundraising clearly.

1. They know too much about your organization, so they have a hard time “keeping it simple.”
2. They bring their personal feelings and opinions to the fundraising discussion – they want your fundraising to move them, not your donors.
3. They don’t understand that most donors to your organization don’t know much about your work and need a simple problem they can solve with their giving.

The key takeaway is to remember that board members matter, their opinion matters, but their opinion should not drive your fundraising strategy.

Consider this common major donor scenario . . .

You are about to go have lunch with a donor.  The purpose of the lunch is to ask her for a major gift.  You’ve done a good job building a relationship with this donor. She loves the work your organization does and wants to help.

Good job setting the appointment and preparing to ask her for a donation.  And before you meet with her let me give you a powerful piece of advice;

Ask your donor for a gift amount larger than you think she can give.

Stretch her thinking. If she really believes in your cause she will do everything in her power to gift a gift at the level you are asking for.

Put differently, it is not your job to downgrade the donor’s gift. She will do that IF she needs to.

So many times you enter into these conversations and feel like you are bothering the donor, or you want to make it easier on you and the donor, so you ask for a smaller amount.

Stop doing that!  You are taking the joy of giving away from your donors.  It is your job to build genuine relationships with your donors and present to them the best opportunity to help.

Now go out there and make the world a better place by raising more money for your cause!

Every donor has a story to tell.  And if she sent in a donation, then odds are her story aligns with the story of your organization, the people you serve or the cause you support.

Last month I had the opportunity to work with story telling guru Chris Davenport, the founder of the Nonprofit Storytelling Conference and 501c3 videos.  During our time together Chris unveiled an amazing “donor story-telling sequence” that helps you with acquiring new donors, cultivating your existing donors, and re-engaging your lapsed donors.

Chris is a very generous person and has offered to send you a pdf that outlines the Donor Story Sequence.  Just click here to download it.  Check it out!

Your donors are people that care about your mission, they care about your work, and they care about 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!

But if this relationship is going to continue for months and years to come, then you need to know what your donors are asking for in return for their financial gifts.

Here’s a short list of what I believe your donors are asking for:

1. They want to be thanked for their gift.
2. They want to be appreciated for playing a role in fulfilling your mission.
3. They want to be part of a larger community of like-minded people who believe in your work and support your cause.
4. They want to feel like they made a difference in the life of a person in need.

If you follow the Ask, Thank, Report, Repeat communication rhythm, and follow the best-practices for each step, you’ll give your donors what they want.

And specifically, your donors will actually ask for your newsletter.  They’ll love seeing and reading their Report on the amazing things that happened because they gave a gift.

Ask, Thank, Report, Repeat helps you build trust with your donors.  This trust opens the door to future donations and a strong relationship with your donors.

I recently asked some successful fundraisers how Ask, Thank, Report, Repeat had improved their fundraising.  Here’s how that came about, and what they said.

Over the last 6 months I had the opportunity to teach Ask, Thank, Report, Repeat to a group of fundraising professionals from Yakima, Washington via a 4-part training series.

When I first started this training, most people in the room had never heard of Ask, Thank, Report, Repeat.  By the time I had finished the training, most of the people in the room were more successful fundraisers and had implemented much of what they had learned from our time together.

During our last session together I asked for people to share their success stories.  I was encouraged by what I heard:

• Newsletters were changed from being a report about the organization into reports of what the donor accomplished because they made a gift.
• More asks were made in person and via direct mail. The end result was more money was raised!
• Several organizations improved their thanking process by writing thank you notes, making phone calls and scheduling personal visits donors who recently made a gift.

The common theme in the room was that more money was raised and more donors retained because of the Ask, Thank, Report, Repeat fundraising rhythm!

At some point in your fundraising career you will be asked to raise money to fund a capital project. When this opportunity comes your way it’s important know that successful capital campaigns are built on three key elements:

1. Strategy — If you expect to raise money for your capital project you must have a clearly defined project scope. This includes detailed budgets, design, and construction timelines.
2. Funding — Most capital projects require funding beyond just how much money you raise for the project. This includes potentially using cash reserves or taking out a loan. It is important for your leadership to answer financial questions before you start raising money for the project.
3. Communication — Capital campaigns typically fall short of their fundraising goal because they communicate the wrong things at the wrong time to the wrong people. Successful capital campaigns implement a communication plan that communicates the strategy and funding needs to the largest donors, in private, first.

Now that you know these three elements, you have the basic framework you need to help your next capital campaign succeed.

Being good at fundraising is a knowledge issue, not a talent issue.

This means that you can learn all you need to know about fundraising by listening and learning from fundraising experts that have gone before you.

To get you started on the path to learning, consider these simple fundraising truths:

1. Talk less about your organization, your programs, and your process. Talk more about your beneficiaries, your donors and how your donors can help someone in need by making a donation today.
2. Communicate more often with your donors. Most organizations don’t communicate often enough with their donors. You can increase donor retention and their giving by increasing the number of times you communicate with them throughout the year.
3. When asking your donors for a gift, ask them to solve a problem that is easy to understand. When you simplify and clarify your fundraising ask, your donors are more likely to make a gift.

Use these three fundraising truths to build your knowledge base.  I’d encourage you to dig deeper into this blog, our videos and other fundraising training resources as you seek to build your fundraising knowledge.