Category: Financing & Loans

On first reaction, you might think that title would evoke a “Ya think?” response.

Not so fast. Too often, those seeking “major gifts” for those major campaigns, settle for what are really small gifts, not at all in keeping with the size and scope of the donations needed to meet those larger goals.

While an annual campaign is a broad-based effort relying on smaller gifts from a great number of donors to achieve its goal, a major gifts campaign expects to reach its goal with a much smaller number of donors making very large gifts – see “What is a Major Gift.”

All too often, organizations that have decided on a major gifts campaign incorrectly begin with the idea of making it a broad-based appeal. You can’t raise a million dollars with gifts of $100 or (even) $1,000. You would need 10,000 of the former or 1,000 of the latter.

Rather, you need to begin by targeting prospects who can give at least $50,000—and remember, a number of those prospects may give only $20,000, or $10,000, instead of the $50,000 you anticipated.

Also to be considered is fundraising’s daunting “rule-of-thumb” for prospect-to-donor ratio. You usually need to identify at least four viable prospects for each contribution you desire at the required contribution level.

Ask Small And You Get Small
At the Cleveland Orchestra, I once disagreed with the volunteer leadership of a $15 million endowment campaign about the size of gifts we should be seeking. The idea was put forth that we raise $5 million by enticing people to endow each of the 2,000 seats in our concert hall. That worked out to $2,500 per donor.

I strenuously objected to this, literally risking my job.

My reasoning was simple: We would not succeed in finding 2,000 donors at $2,500 each. Experience had shown me that the base of donors able and willing to give that much wasn’t large enough. I also feared that the campaign committee and solicitors would get used to the idea of asking small, and the campaign would lose its steam.

My argument held, and the volunteer leadership agreed not to put so much of the campaign effort into an idea that past experience showed could not succeed without damaging other areas of the drive.

In our effort to find 2,000 donors willing and able to make gifts of $2,500 we would have included donors we knew to be capable of making far larger gifts. They would be donors we would need to solicit for the larger-gift divisions of the campaign.

It is never a good idea to ask for two separate gifts for the same campaign. Donors will often make the decision to give either one or the other, and the option they pick can well be the lower.

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Have a question or comment about the above posting?
You can Ask Tony.
There is also a lot of good fundraising information on his website:
Raise-Funds.com
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Have you seen
The Fundraising Series of ebooks ??
They’re easy to read, to the point, and cheap ($1.99 – $4.99) ☺
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If you’re reading this on-line and you would like to comment/expand on the above, 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, click on the feedback link at the top of the page, or send an email to the author of this posting. If you’ve received this posting as an email, click on the email link (above) to communicate with the author.

An email raised this question:
My organization is in the process of developing a Fundraising Committee.

Three of our Board members are on this Committee and we are trying to determine other non-Board members who we could invite to join as well.

We have one major gift donor who began to fund us at the recommendation of her [philanthropy] advisor. I would like to talk to this advisor, who I have become acquainted with through email exchanges, about possibly joining our Fundraising Committee or perhaps recommending others who might join.

Are there any conflicts of interest around this that would prohibit my reaching out to this advisor?

The response:
To avoid conflicts of interest, you should not consider asking the philanthropic advisor to be a member of the committee. S/he can’t advise you and, at the same time, advise her/his clients to give to you if s/he is on your committee.

Also, ethically, the advisor can’t give you information about his/her clients without their permission to do so. If s/he would be willing to talk to those clients on your behalf (without being on your committee) that would be acceptable … as long as it was clear that the advisor was not, in any way, being compensated by you.

The best recommendation that s/he could give his/her clients would be that some other client became a donor and was very pleased with how they were treated, how their support has made a difference, and how the donor’s needs have been satisfied.

One question: Do you have a job description for the “Development Committee”?

I say, “development,” because the main/major function of the committee should be to establish/identify, maintain, and enhance relationships that will result in gifts. It’s not a fundraising committee, it’s a “relationship” committee.

In that context, you should not look to recruit people to the committee just because they have the financial ability to give significantly. The basic criterion for committee selection should be the extent to which an individual can help you do the identifying, creating, maintaining and enhancing of relationships.

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Have a comment or a question about starting, evaluating
or expanding your fundraising program?
AskHank
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Have you heard about
The Fundraising Series of ebooks.
They’re easy to read, to the point, and cheap ($1.99-$3.99) 🙂
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If you’re reading this on-line and you would like to comment/expand on the above, 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, click on the feedback link at the top of the page, or send an email to the author of this posting. If you’ve received this posting as an email, click on the email link (above) to communicate with the author.

Thank you for what you do.

If you’re reading this blog, I’m going to make the educated assumption that you’re probably involved (directly or indirectly) with non-profit fundraising. Regardless of the particular role you have, you make a difference in the lives of your non-profit’s beneficiaries whether they are called clients, members, students, citizens, or are non-human (water, animals, plants, trees, etc.).

My favorite quote about fundraising is by Mother Teresa, who always recognized the value and importance of fundraising in relationship to all the other components of her work: “It takes oil to keep the lamps burning.”

We are now at the mid-point of the 2013 CFC campaign solicitation period, and this is when the CFC donors are pledging their gifts for so that their favorite charities can “keep the lamps burning.” I thought it would be valuable for you to get a glimpse into what a typical CFC donor experiences during the course of a CFC campaign.

During the summer, each Federal agency recruited its CFC team, and the various campaign roles were staffed (campaign manager, communications chair, logistics chair, team captains, and key-workers – the Federal employees who directly solicit their coworkers).

In the early fall, each Federal agency conducts their Campaign kickoff, where the agency head and a few selected charities are invited to share their stories, and all employees are invited to attend. The program will include the video message from the President of the United States, (the videos started with President Carter and have been made by all Presidents since). Here’s the link to the President Obama’s CFC message (it’s short – 2:07).

If you watch it, you will see the consistent themes of thanking the Federal work force for all that they do, thanking them and encouraging them to participate in the CFC because of the difference it does make, and emphasizing that there is a list of thousands of charities from which they can choose.

While giving and participation is always encourage, there is never pressure to support any particular charity and indeed that is against multiple CFC regulations.

The CFC is always evolving and, where there is a printed “Catalog of Caring,” for many regions that is now available online — it lists national and international charities, and has the local list that is unique to that particular regional CFC.

Each federal employee will also be given a pledge card, or the link to its electronic version; and, regardless of the manner of the actual pledge, it always contains examples of what a donation at a particular level can mean to the recipients of the CFC charities’ efforts.

Your gift does make a difference–whether it’s $5 or $100 per pay period, see how your gift can impact the local and global community:

Per 26 Pay Periods:
$5  Allows 20 kids to attend a nature-oriented, guided education program.
$10  Provides 15 cases of nutritional supplements for HIV and AIDS patients.
$20  Provides 52 mosquito nets in Africa for the protection against mosquitoes
that transmit malaria.
$25  Provides medical professionals with 20 first-aid kits, 156 blankets, and
65 surgical scissors to use in some of the hardest-hit regions of the globe.
$30  Provides a half day of chemotherapy for a child cancer patient.
$40  Patches two leaky roofs for a senior or disabled homeowner.
$50  Vaccinates, feeds, and cares for a 13 shelter dogs and/or cats for a week.
$100  Feeds and cares for approximately1,600 disaster victims for a week.

In the pledge form itself, there are blanks for the non-profit CFC 5 digit code, plus the annual amount that the federal donor is pledging to that CFC charity, as well as the personal information about the CFC donor, (name, address, e-mail, etc.).

In addition, there is an “Information Release” option about whether or not he or she wants their personal information released to the CFC charity, because a CFC donor can choose to remain completely anonymous. Between 60-90% of the Federal donors choose to remain anonymous, so you need to plan for this in your communications and thank you responses.

You may have noticed that I started this post with an example of how you can thank someone anonymously, and I thank you again for your attention and comments. In the next post I’ll talk about additional techniques to use during the solicitation period.

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During his 25-year career in the Federal sector, Bill Huddleston, The CFC Coach,
served in many CFC roles. If you want to participate in the Combined Federal
Campaign, maximize your nonprofit’s CFC revenues, or just ask a few questions,
contact Bill Huddleston
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Have you seen
The Fundraising Series of ebooks.
They’re easy to read, to the point, and cheap ($1.99 – $3.99) ☺
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If you’re reading this on-line and you would like to comment/expand on the above, 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, click on the feedback link at the top of the page, or send an email to the author of this posting. If you’ve received this posting as an email, click on the email link (above) to communicate with the author.

There is an enormous amount of easily accessible information on constructing a nonprofit fundraising Case-For-Support … from the library, bookstores and the Internet. Countless volumes and articles have been written on the subject, and there are always workshops and seminars dealing with this critically important topic.

Keeping that in mind, I’ll try to give you the condensed version of what I’ve come to know about this vital “selling” tool for all nonprofits.

No nonprofit should ever be without a strong and compelling argument for its support. The Case should convey a sense of urgency, suggest efficiency in operation, state a uniqueness in filling a demonstrated need to an identified constituency, and provide personal (mostly internal) rewards to the donors.

The Case For Support is the “argument” for your fundraising program/campaign or your project in need of funding. It grows out of your organization’s mission statement in the sense that the money to be raised will be used by your organization to advance that mission.

It articulates your organization’s reason for being, its integrity, the good you do, the good you want to do, your specific fundraising need … and the urgency for it.

Developing the Case For Support and setting an annual goal and/or the goal of a campaign are preliminary, almost intuitive, steps in the process of creating a development/campaign plan, and they generally occur simultaneously.

The goal is the overriding concern of the program/campaign, and the focus and strength of the case to be made for the campaign are dependent on the size and purpose of the goal. The Case For Support often becomes the main tool used to recruit volunteer campaign leadership and solicitors and to convince prospective donors to give.

From what I have seen of compelling and relevant case statements, here is a suggested case development outline:

1. A statement of the problem/challenge.

2. One-or-more specific examples of the need.

3. Proof you did your homework – that you have studied and planned.

4. Evidence that you can make it work – that you have the skills and the organization to do it.

5. A discussion of how the donor might benefit … by helping others, or by doing something heroic.

6. A “Call-to-Action,” showing the donor what s/he could/should do to help, and why.

How short or how long should the Case For Support be?

It depends upon the magnitude and scope of the program/campaign or the project. Good judgment will tell you not to make it too brief, as it could suggest to the prospect that you have not researched adequately or that perhaps the project is not so important.

Then too, if it’s overly long, you run the risk of losing the attention of your reader. (If I have kept your attention thus far, I hope my Case Statement tips will work for you.)

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Have a question or comment about the above posting?
You can Ask Tony.
There is also a lot of good fundraising information on his website:
Raise-Funds.com
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Have you seen
The Fundraising Series of ebooks ??
They’re easy to read, to the point, and cheap ($1.99 – $3.99) ☺
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If you’re reading this on-line and you would like to comment/expand on the above, 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, click on the feedback link at the top of the page, or send an email to the author of this posting. If you’ve received this posting as an email, click on the email link (above) to communicate with the author.

Last month I focused on IRA gifts, now I’m back to bequests, picking up from August with strategies other than direct mail to promote bequest giving. (See Tony’s previous posts on Planned Giving.)

If you haven’t got the budget for direct mail, these are for you!

If you’re using direct mail, augment it with these methods. Think multichannel engagement. It’s essential in today’s interconnected world.

Look at your meetings and events
In face-to-face sit-downs and at larger events, it takes just a few sentences to ask prospects to think of your organization when they prepare their long-term plans. This message isn’t appropriate for every event, so look for the times when you’ve gathered people who love your work and you’re already asking for their support. They can support you in the long-term by including you in their wills.

Look at your publications
Newsletters, magazines, annual reports, anything where a fundraising message is appropriate. You don’t need a full article; a sidebar will do. Include your legal name and federal tax ID number (Employer Identification Number, or EIN), so readers can take action. A lawyer will need those to prepare a bequest properly. If you have an attorney on your board, or otherwise close to the organization, prevail upon him or her to write a sample bequest paragraph to include. It won’t take more than five minutes to write one for you.

Use your Website
I wouldn’t make this your first priority, but it doesn’t hurt to have a presence because enough seniors are internet savvy, and the rate of penetration increases each year. Also, your prospects’ attorneys might go to your site looking for the necessary details. Provide information similar to what I’ve suggested for your publications. You won’t need more than a page or two.

Small ways, too.
Can you slip a couple of check-offs into your annual appeal reply card? What about a check-off saying “send me information on including you in my will” on the back flap of your return envelopes? Wherever you’ve got a few extra lines on something your donors are returning to you anyway, give them the chance to ask for information or tell you they’ve already included you in their wills. Don’t put the “have included” option anywhere it’s visible to outsiders.

Get out there and promote! You’ve got something newsworthy: you’ve inaugurated a Planned Giving program.

Next month, wills can be undone – changed at any time. What does this mean for stewardship?

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Tony Martignetti, Esq. is the host of Tony Martignetti Nonprofit Radio.
He’s a Planned Giving consultant, speaker, author, blogger and stand-up comic.
You’ll find him at TonyMartignetti.com.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Have you seen
The Fundraising Series of ebooks ??
They’re easy to read, to the point, and cheap ($1.99 – $3.99) ☺
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

If you’re reading this on-line and you would like to comment/expand on the above, 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, click on the feedback link at the top of the page, or send an email to the author of this posting. If you’ve received this posting as an email, click on the email link (above) to communicate with the author.

For over three-and-one-half years, we’ve been writing/posting about Fundraising/Development — The Basics and the more Advanced.

We’ve written on (in alphabetical order) Board & Staff Relations, Capital Campaigns, Certification, Corporate Fundraising, Development Staff, Donor Categories, Donor Recognition, Donor Relations, Effective Grantsmanship – Foundation and Government, Fundraising Accounting Practices, Fundraising Constituencies, Fundraising Consultants, Fundraising Ethics, Fundraising Leadership, Fundraising Planning, Hiring Consultants, Major Gifts, The Mature Non-Profit, The New Nonprofit, Nonprofit Leadership, Planned Giving (including Bequest Programs), Planning Studies, Special Events, Social Media, Workplace Fundraising and even a couple of book reviews.

We’ll keep ’em coming, but we’d like to write about what you’d like to read about.

What do you say ??

Let us know.

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Have a comment or a question about starting,
evaluating or expanding your fundraising program?
AskHank
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Have you heard about
The Fundraising Series of ebooks.
They’re easy to read, to the point, and cheap ($1.99-$3.99) 🙂

When hikers get together, many of them talk about their boots. When chefs gather, they swap recipes.

What do grant proposal professionals do? Many of us talk about the proposal-generating work environments at our nonprofits.

What Good Companies Have in Common:
Grant proposal professionals can learn how to create good work environments by looking at Fortune magazine’s the “2013 Best Companies to Work For.” These companies vary in their size, products, and services, but they have three things in common:
• Employees trust each other in the workplace.
• Employees have pride in their work.
• Employees enjoy their colleagues.

Salaries, benefits, and perks are important, but nonprofit employees also need to feel that they are appreciated. No holiday bonus or annual picnic can replace the feeling that their day-to-day work is valued and that they like working with their colleagues, whom they trust. It is difficult to develop good grant proposals when there is a deficit in trust, pride or conviviality among the members of the grant team.

Improve your Grant Proposal Environment
If your nonprofit has a good work environment for proposal preparation, you are very fortunate indeed. But if you believe that your work environment leaves much to be desired, short of moving on there are steps you can take to make positive changes:
• Don’t work in a “war room.” These places are awful. They have
no privacy, no opportunities for thinking and solitude, and no
opportunities to build social capital with your colleagues. By
definition, a “war room” is a demeaning and unprofessional
environment.
• Find out what the best companies do to foster/create great work
environments and copy them.
• Start small. Make small changes at first because they are easier
to implement and may have big consequences.
• Suggest policies to senior management that make for happier, more
productive work teams. Provide evidence to support your argument.
Expect skepticism and resistance, but be quietly persistent.
• Become the change you advocate. This worked for Gandhi, and it’s
still good advice. You will have no credibility if you do not model
the changes you want to see in your proposal environment.
• Lead the charge – offer to help make the changes by taking a
leadership role.
• Get social. A bowling night or a pot-luck lunch with a prize for
the best dish will help employees build trust and friendships … as
long as this carries over into the workplace. This is foundation for
making changes, not a substitute for them.

Your goal should be to create a proposal preparation work environment where people feel appreciated, trust each other, like each other, and take pride in their work. If you can improve the quality of your work environment, you are likely to improve the quality of your grant proposals.

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We’re taking a short break for the long Columbus Day weekend.
See you next Thursday.
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Dr. Jayme Sokolow, founder and president of The Development Source, Inc.,
helps nonprofit organizations develop
successful proposals to government agencies.
Contact Jayme Sokolow.
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Look for Jayme’s ebook on
Finding & Getting Federal Government Grants.
It’s part of
The Fundraising Series of ebooks
They’re easy to read, to the point, and cheap ($1.99 – $3.99) ☺
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If you’re reading this on-line and you would like to comment/expand on the above, 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, click on the feedback link at the top of the page, or send an email to the author of this posting. If you’ve received this posting as an email, click on the email link (above) to communicate with the author.

A participant on a listserve raised the question: “What skills or personal qualities make one competent to ‘make the ask’ when meeting with a) an individual and b) a corporate representative?”

Because I have some very strong feelings/opinions about the issue, and didn’t want to be angered/frustrated/annoyed by that discussion, I didn’t read the rest of the posting or any of the responses.

Not having read the referenced exchange, I can write what I will without concern that I might be stealing someone else’s thoughts/words.

So, to answer the question, I’ll start with a question.

Could a stranger walk into your home/business and ask you for a “significant” gift to a nonprofit organization … and get it ??

Chances are, if you admitted that stranger into your home/business, that all you’d give (if anything) would be “go-away” money – an amount you could spare, just to get that person to go away.

On the other hand, if that person was not a stranger, but someone with whom you had a relationship, chances are that the check you write would be bigger than the “go-away” amount.

But, if the gift that’s being sought is considered (by you, the solicitor and the NPO) to be significant/major, it’s not likely to be solicited by someone who has just “showed up” at your door.

Before you can ASK for the major gift, there would have had to be created in the mind of the potential donor a reason, a motivation, why s/he would want to make that gift.

The idea is ludicrous that someone could just read an article or a book and become an effective solicitor. Asking for a significant gift has little-or-nothing to do with scripts, formulas, handouts or training.

I always ask my classes who they think would be the best person to ask me for a major gift … to get me to want to make a major gift. Then, after getting knee jerk answers (like a board member or the executive director), I ask who would know me well enough to know my hot buttons, my interests, my commitments and my ability to give.

Eventually, someone suggests that it might be my wife. Of course!

Now, obviously, my wife is not associated with every nonprofit that wants me to make a gift, but there are many other people who know me well enough to participate in my evaluation, cultivation and Ask. Certainly the people who know me can have a lot greater impact on my giving than could a stranger.

I can’t understand how people could think that reading a book on How To Make The Ask will make them more effective than someone who knows and/or is close to the prospect.

In case you’ve forgotten, Development is about relationships. If the book on how to ask doesn’t emphasize that building a relationship comes first, then the rest of the book can’t be worth very much.

So, back to the original question: “What skills or personal qualities make one competent to ‘make the ask’ when meeting with a) an individual and b) a corporate representative?”

The necessary skills are: the ability to build and maintain substantial relationships; the ability to read/understand people so that you’ll know when it’s time to Ask; and, the understanding that Asking means asking for a specific dollar amount. The personal quality most needed is the willingness to Ask.

When and where to do the Ask, and deciding what the Ask amount will be, come directly from the depth of the relationship between the solicitor and the prospect.

Without the relationship, without the knowledge and understanding, all you’re going to get is go-away money. Is that what you want??

I refer you to this blog’s series of postings on Major Gifts ….

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Have you heard about
The Fundraising Series of ebooks.
They’re easy to read, to the point, and cheap !! ($1.99-$3.99) 🙂
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Have a comment or a question about starting, evaluating
or expanding your fundraising program?
AskHank@Major-Capital-Giving.com
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If you’re reading this on-line and you would like to comment/expand on the above, 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, click on the feedback link at the top of the page, or send an email to the author of this posting. If you’ve received this posting as an email, click on the email link (above) to communicate with the author.

My two previous postings included the nuts and bolts of preparing financials for grant proposals to private and corporate foundations.

This post will focus solely on a significant issue facing NPO’s seeking grant funding: namely that many foundations don’t provide general operating support. Instead, they prefer to fund specific programs or projects, and often something new or innovative.

Some specific examples from Missouri based foundations:

• “Repetitive requests for operating support are discouraged,” Dana Brown Charitable Trust;
• Grants requesting, “Unspecified general funds will probably not be approved. Innovative developmental and educational programs for children are preferred,” Allen P. and Josephine B. Green Foundation; and,
• “Non-profit organizations with budgets of $1 million dollars or more may not apply for general operating support grants. Such organizations may only apply for project or capital grants.” William R. Orthwein, Jr. and Laura Rand Orthwein Foundation.

This issue has been discussed and debated in the nonprofit sector, and there are good arguments on both sides. Being on the grant-seeking side of the issue, I appreciate the perspective offered by Kevin Starr in the August 2011 article in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, “unrestricted money makes an organization work smoothly, enables innovation, and provides fuel for growth.”

Nevertheless, most foundations don’t provide general operating support, so we grant seekers need strategies for how to procure funds to support our NPO’s general operations from these foundation grant makers.

A strategy that I have used successfully involves rethinking how to describe what your NPO does, and breaking down your services into individually fundable “programs.”

For example, if you are a school with a mission to provide a holistic education to underserved children, think about all that this entails. Do you serve breakfast and lunch to your students? Do you provide counseling services for your students? Do you provide after-school athletic or enrichment programs? If any answers are yes, then you can submit each of these programs as stand-alone proposals to foundation that only provide program support.

This strategy is not a quick fix. It entails all the work you will need to do, with the help of others at your NPO, in fleshing out these programs. You will need to develop all of the following for these individual programs (described in detail in my previous post on Proposal Development – Part 2): Needs Statement; Target Population; Program Goals & Objectives; Program Activities & Timeline; Program Evaluation (what are the specific metrics your NPO will use to determine the effectives of this specific program); Personnel; Collaboration; and Program Budget and Budget Narrative. Your NPO will also need to commit the program resources to collecting the evaluation data – if your grant proposal is funded, you will need to provide report(s) to the foundation, including data on program effectiveness.

This sounds like a lot of work, because it is, but I encourage you and your NPO to consider the statistics on fundraising that I quoted in my first post on this blog from a 2010 WealthEngine white paper, “Measuring Fundraising Return On Investment and the Impact of Prospect Research:” The average cost-per-dollar-raised for grants is 20 cents; this compares to over a dollar for direct mail donor acquisition, and fifty-cents-per-dollar-raised for special events.

So, a lot of work, yes, but still a good return on your investment!

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Lynn deLearie Consulting, LLC, helps nonprofit organizations develop,
enhance and expand grants programs, and helps them
secure funding from foundations and corporations.
Contact Lynn deLearie.
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Look for Lynn’s ebook on Grants & Grantsmanship.
It’s part of
The Fundraising Series of ebooks
They’re easy to read, to the point, and cheap 🙂
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If you’re reading this on-line and you would like to comment/expand on the above, 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, click on the feedback link at the top of the page, or send an email to the author of this posting. If you’ve received this posting as an email, click on the email link (above) to communicate with the author.

I take the strong and unwavering position that members of the board of trustees and other volunteers are the people who must raise all or most of the money for a non-profit organization.

These days far too many boards and eager-to-please development professionals are starting down the slippery slope of relying on staff to be the gift solicitors of first resort.

Following is an overview of how I would see the effectiveness of staff solicitations vs. solicitations made by volunteers.

•  When a volunteer solicitor’s relationship to a prospect, relative to the solicitor’s level of giving, is the same or more than the prospect, the following qualities are shared:

1. Career Status

2. Economic Status

3. Social Position

4. Interest In The Organization

5. Mutual Respect

•  When a staff member-solicitor is compared to a prospective donor, only the following qualities are usually shared:

1. Interest In The Organization

2. Mutual Respect

What do you say? Wouldn’t you rather have five out of five of the best chances for major gifts working for your organization – or only the two a staff member brings to the asking table?

The best solicitor is a member of the prospect’s peer group or the peer group to which the prospect aspires. The CEO of a company is far more likely to share career status, economic status, and social position with another business leader than the development director or even the executive director of a non-profit organization.

Ideally, prospective donors should be asked to give by someone likely to have a high degree of influence with them. Qualities to look for in a solicitor for a specific prospect include:

1.  Past association with the prospect: The solicitor could be someone a prospect knows professionally, shares the same neighborhood with, or has in some other way had positive and meaningful contact.

2.  Charisma: People who have a compelling presence and an infectious personality can influence both the willingness to give and the size of the gift.

3  Stature: People are flattered when someone they consider important asks them for a contribution.

4.  Commitment: The higher the degree of devotion and dedication to an organization and its programs that a volunteer solicitor manifests, the more successful he or she will be in convincing others.

I have heard the argument made that a staff member’s commitment to an organization and the respect that he or she has earned in the community or in the eyes of the prospect is enough to overcome an absence of shared social, economic, and career points. Don’t you believe it!

Peer group influence and leverage are and always will be two of the best solicitation tools of fund-raising.

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Have a question or comment about the above posting?
You can Ask Tony.
There is also a lot of good fundraising information on his website:
Raise-Funds.com
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Have you seen
The Fundraising Series of ebooks ??
They’re easy to read, to the point, and cheap ($1.99 – $3.99) ☺
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