Month: November 2014

Confession: I don’t love making phone calls.

In fact, there was a time when I’d do anything to avoid calling prospects. Like many in my generation, I was far more comfortable emailing or texting, or even sending them messages through LinkedIn.

Digital tools are great, but it didn’t take me long to realize that the top performers in our line of work are good on the phone. It’s better for building rapport, and it creates a sense of urgency that email and other tools simply do not.

Now, I make at least four outbound calls daily. I still don’t always love it, but I’ve come a long way.

In this post, I want to begin to focus on the type of call that is among the hardest to make: an introductory call requesting a face-to-face meeting with someone you’ve never met.

For my fellow phone-averse Millennials, there are six perspectives that have helped me:

1. Divide and conquer. Making outreach calls requires mental and emotional energy; and, let’s face it, our supply of those is limited… so is our willpower. But I’m able to make more calls if break up the process and make each step a separate activity:
a. Deciding whom to call, what I want to talk about, and when to call
b. Preparing for each call I’m planning to make in a given session (see #4 – next week)
c. Calling
d. Following up, if needed

This approach gives me the least opportunity to talk myself out of picking up the phone. By the time I’m ready to make calls, the decisions are all made; the preparation is done; and all I have to do is pick up the phone and “dial.” ☺

I’ve learned the hard way that, if don’t frontload most of the work, I’m just not going to get through as many calls.

2. Call when you’re fresh. I like to do A and B (above) at the end the workday, and then C and D the next morning. I know that I’m freshest (read: most caffeinated) between 9:30 am and 11:30 am.

3. Write a script. Yes, I know you’re not a sleazy telemarketer, but having a script, or at least an outline, will keep you on track, reduce your fear of the unknown, and boost your confidence. And sketch out the message (see #6 – next week) you’ll leave (under 30 seconds) if you don’t get the prospect on the phone. A script is also a handy tool to help you remember specific, phrases that have proven effective.

Be sure to come back next week, when
K. Michael Johnson lays out the rest of the list!

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K. Michael Johnson is a major gift officer at a large research university
and the founder of Fearless-Fundraising.com,
where he discusses the inner game of deeper relationships and bigger asks.
You can contact him at K. Michael Johnson.
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Have you seen
The Fundraising Series of ebooks ??
They’re easy to read, to the point, and inexpensive ($1.99 – $4.99)
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If you’re reading this on-line, and would like to comment/expand on the above piece, or would just like to offer your thoughts on the subject of this posting, we encourage you to “Leave a Reply.” If you’re reading this as an email, and you want to comment on the above piece, click on the title of this posting, then go to the bottom of the on-line version to offer your thoughts.

Stocks and mutual funds make great charitable gifts, yet many non-profits overlook them; and, donors may not think to make those kinds of donations, unless you remind them.

Once donors learn about the tax advantages of donating stock, they often become consistent stock donors.

Stocks and mutual funds are securities that represent an ownership interest in a single corporation (stock), or an interest in many corporations (mutual funds). Appreciation is when a stock or fund grows in value, which often accounts for most of the profit from investing in a stock. Some stocks pay dividends (a share in the corporation’s profits) to stockholders, some don’t.

Most securities are publicly-traded, which means they are bought and sold daily in an exchange or active market. The fair market value (FMV) of a publicly-traded security or a mutual fund is fixed daily by the buyers and the sellers. You can look these up in the Wall Street Journal and many other newspapers.

Publicly-traded securities make great charitable gifts for a number of reasons:

• They are easy to accept and liquidate.

• They are easy to value, as the IRS accepts the market price for
   the determining the charitable deduction. (To calculate the gift
   value for a stock, you take the average of the High and low
   selling prices on the date of the gift. The value of a gift of mutual
   fund shares is the closing price on the day of the gift.)

•  If highly-appreciated shares of stock or a mutual fund are donated
   directly to a charity, the donor earns an income tax deduction
   based on FMV of the shares, yet pays no capital gains tax.
   Your donors may find this a very attractive alternative to making a
   cash gift, especially if they own highly-appreciate stocks.

   It is often more of a tax advantage to contribute appreciated stocks
   or mutual fund shares instead of cash. Many people hold on to
   highly-appreciated stock to avoid the capital gains tax that would
   be due if they sold it. This is increasingly important, as the top
   capital gains rate has recently risen to 20% and that does not
   include state taxes that may also apply.

• Publicly-traded securities can also fund life-income gifts like
   charitable remainder trusts and gift annuities (more on those
   topics in a future posting). A donor can convert an appreciated
   stock with low or no dividends into a steady stream of lifetime
   payments and earn a sizable tax deduction. If you do not offer
   these gift arrangements, try working with your local community
   foundation. They can often set them up for you and manage
   the details.

Before you can accept stock and mutual fund donations, you’ll need to set up an investment account. You can do this at many financial institutions, like banks and online discount brokers. Once you’ve done that, you should earn how to transfer donated securities into that account. Most securities are now transferred electronically, directly from the donor’s account.

Many mutual fund shares can be transferred just like stocks. Other funds are proprietary and cannot be held in standard investment accounts. In those cases, you may need to an open an account with the mutual fund company to liquidate the shares. Your investment account manager can guide you through this.

Once you start accepting donations of stocks and mutual funds, if you don’t already have one, you will need an Investment Policy Statement. This defines how your Board of Trustees will govern/manage the organization’s investments. This can get complicated if your organization maintains a stock portfolio, so you may wish to adopt the simple policy of liquidating every donated share to cash as soon as it arrives in your account … but that’s a conversation you should have with your financial advisor(s).

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Next Week, another insightful piece from K. Michael Johnson
on how Millennials can grow in the Development field.

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John Elbare, CFP, has spent the last 30 years helping non-profits
raise more money through large, planned gifts.
He shows them how to add an effective planned giving
strategy to their current fund raising effort
without a lot of extra expense or staff.
You can contact him at John Elbare, CFP.
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Have you seen
The Fundraising Series of ebooks?
They’re easy to read, to the point, and inexpensive ($1.99 – $4.99)
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

If you would like to comment/expand on the above piece, or would just like to offer your thoughts on the subject of this posting, we encourage you to “Leave a Reply” at the bottom of this page.