Major gifts are the holy grail of fundraising. These are the gifts that can fund important programs, solidify your financial base and even catapult your organization to new heights.

The return on your investment of time and energy is much higher in major gifts than special events and mailings.

Then why don’t all organizations press forward with a major gifts program? It’s because the time and effort to develop a major gifts effort is more than many organizations can spare.

Our Triangle AFP meeting last week focused on major gifts. We were fortunate to have Martin Novom CFRE of Skystone Ryan share his ideas as our terrific speaker.

Here’s a great step-by-step guide to create and implement a successful major gifts program for your organization based on Martin’s presentation, with some ideas of my own added in.  He also credits Laura Fredricks’ excellent resource “Developing Major Gifts: Turning Small Donors into Big Contributors.” (You may know that Laura is also author of “The Ask” which is always on the top of my list!

Step One: Develop a Major Gifts Team

Major gifts is a team sport, not a solo sport. If you are trying to do this all by yourself, you’re making it much harder than it needs to be.

A team helps expand your contacts and bring in new information to the process.

•    Enlist your CEO and your board leaders
•    Show them the upside and potential
•    Create clear jobs: identifying, strategizing, opening doors, hosting cultivation events, soliciting
•    Set clear goals
•    Meet with them often to maintain momentum

Step Two: Create and Maintain a Pool of Major Gift Prospects

Your prospect list is your fundamental tool for your major gifts program.

Choose a smaller number of potential donors and work them thoroughly. Rate them on their affinity for your cause and their financial capability.

•    Start with the donors you have
•    Organize what you know
•    Highlight what you don’t know
•    Create group opportunities for you to learn more about them
•    Create a gift tracking system to aid you
•    Prioritize them

Step Three: Work With Major Donor Prospects One at a Time

Don’t rush the relationship, you are exploring and getting to know your prospects.

Make them close friends of the organization through frequent contact. Spend the face time needed to develop your relationship.

•    Create an individualized plan for each person
•    Create trust
•    Do what you say you’ll do
•    Listen deeply
•    Develop each relationship with the long term in mind
•    Track and measure each step

Step Four: Craft the Approach and the Presentation

Don’t rush to the ask – only ask when the donor is ready. If you spend the time here, then the ask will take care of itself. How does your opportunity match the donor’s vision?

•    Get ready carefully
•    Create a clear, concise, compelling case
•    Be able to SELL your case
•    Match donor interest with the opportunity
•    Know when your donor is ready
•    Organize your call and rehearse

Step Five: Make the Ask

Let it take care of itself by doing a super job with the approach and presentation. It is just a continuation of the process, and your donor will say to you “how can I help you?”

•    Be passionate and enthusiastic
•    Listen deeply!
•    Don’t low ball your donor – ask for the stretch gift if they are ready
•    Know exactly what you are asking for
•    Explain why the donor should give to your cause
•    Explain why the donor should give now
•    Follow up! An ask is not an ask without followup!

What are your biggest challenges organizing a successful major gifts program? Share them with a comment below.

I’m going back to the basics this summer.  I’m giving you something special that is the bread and butter of fundraising for many nonprofits -  their mailing program.

Here’s a special guide with all my up-to-the-minute best practice tips for raising money through mail fundraising appeals.

(Warning, this is a long post. You can get this entire guide right here in pdf format:  115 Tips to Raise More Money By Mail to store for future reference.   And please forward this post to anyone else who may need this resource.)

115 Tips to Raise More Money by Mail

• Use the same appeal message in your mail solicitations, on your website “call to action” and in your email communications – to reinforce your message over and over.

• Focus more on your donor and what he wants to accomplish than on your organization.

• The appeal letter can have only one objective: a clear ask for support. It is not a newsletter, an end-of-year report or mixed in with other communications.

• Your top priority is always to renew your past donors.

• Don’t solicit any donors until you have shown them what results you have accomplished with their first gift.

DRAW YOUR DONORS IN

• Use the word “you” immediately in the first sentence of your appeal.

• Repeat the word “you” frequently: it’s most important word in your letter.

• Always immediately thank your donor for their past support in the first or second lines.  I like to open letters with “thank you” because it draws the donor in.
• Use the word “I” in the letter to make it more personal and friendly.  It does wonders changing your tone from “institutional” to “personal.”

• In the letter copy, talk about your donor’s interests and their “kind” or “loyal” or “valued” support.

• Use photos in your letter or accompanying materials. Captions under photos will be read before your letter copy.

• Always use photos of people.

• Photos of cute kids and attractive people draw better than photos of sick kids. (Cute animals draw better than sick animals.)

• Always send out personalized letters.  (Dear Mr. Smith rather than Dear Friend)

• Make your letter as personal in tone as you can.

UPGRADE YOUR DONORS

• Focus on more frequent gift opportunities each year as a way to upgrade your donors to higher giving levels.

• Establish a monthly giving program.

• Use gift clubs to encourage higher-level donations and ask donors to move up to the next level.

• When you ask for an upgraded gift: talk about an increased or enhanced partnership.

CREATE A DYNAMITE CASE

• Talk about opportunities not needs.

• Make your message emotional. Donors give out of emotion, then justify it with logic.

• Tell a story. Narrative is far more powerful than a set of statistics and organizational accomplishments.

• One story is more powerful than three stories. Think simplicity. Stories inspire and encourage action.

• Emphasize how you change or save lives: your life-affirming, or life-saving work.

• Talk about your vital or important or key initiatives or efforts.

• DON’T use the words “programs” or “services” any more than you have to. They are boring and too generic.

• Repeat the case for support – the need and its urgency – several times in the letter.

• Use statistics to build credibility and make the cause more concrete.

• Describe your project as “innovative,” trailblazing” or “groundbreaking,” and your work as “wide-ranging, ” comprehensive,” or extensive.

• Offer the donor proof that your organization has made a significant impact and can do much more.

• If you are a membership organization, be sure to emphasize membership in your appeal. Membership helps create a closer bond between the donor and your organization.

WRITE A LETTER YOUR DONORS WILL READ

• Break up your letter copy with boldface headings.

• Make your letter easy to skim and still deliver its message.

• Have plenty of white space on the letter, which makes it easy to read.

• Use snappy action verbs that convey action.

• Use short, concise sentences and paragraphs.

• Write on the 5th grade level for easy reading. (like these tips)

• Use present tense.

• Never, ever use the passive voice. (“people are being helped”)

• Use wide margins to add white space.

• Use type large enough to read easily. 12 point type is the minimum size appropriate for fundraising material.

• ALL CAPS is ok for emphasis.

• Boldface is wonderful for emphasis, and helps break up the copy.

• Use the word “you” in headings.

• Use bullets to break up the copy.

• Eliminate every possible word – including adjectives and descriptive phases – in your copy.

• Include a date on the letter.

CREATE A KILLER ASK

• Use a matching or challenge gift opportunity and tell your donors it will make their gifts go further.

• Always ask for a specific amount or “the largest contribution you can make.”

• Place your ask in the first part of a paragraph. Don’t bury your ask at the end of a sentence or paragraph – it will get missed.

• Don’t ask for a “gift,” ask instead for an investment, a contribution, for help or to supply something special.

• Ask for a “generous” or “special” or “thoughtful” gift.

• Create a sense of urgency by asking for an immediate contribution or asking for help with an urgent or critical situation.

• Use please such as “please send your gift today” or “please consider a leadership contribution of xxx.”

• Ask based on your donor’s giving history.

• Give the donor a deadline for responding and a reason for the deadline.

END THE LETTER WITH A BANG

•     In closing, include your warmest or deepest or heartfelt thanks.

•    Say “I urge you to do your part to help.”

•    Use a handwritten PS at the end. This is always read first.

•    Use these words for the PS:  “Thank you for helping with this important need” or “Please send your check today to help with….”

•    Include a personal handwritten note to the reader from the sender.

•    Personally sign letters.  The more personal the letter, the better chance you have to receive a gift.

•    Whenever possible, have the signers of the letters actually sign in blue ink.

•    WHO SIGNS is vitally important: it should be a person whose name the donors will recognize – someone with clout and authority.  This is never the development director and rarely the executive director.

•    Endorsements of your work by celebrities or local personalities can add credibility.

RAISE MORE FROM YOUR TOP DONORS

•    Send your Top Donors special, custom-tailored personal letters and appeals.

•    Have board and staff members write or visit them personally with an individualized appeal.

•    Use words like “exceptional” or “outstanding” when you refer to their past gifts, support and involvement in your cause.

•    Thank them in the opening sentence for their continuing and steadfast support. Emphasize their partnership with your cause.

•    Ask the donor to send the largest gift they can.

•    Ask these donors to make a leadership gift.

CREATE A PLAN and SCHEDULE YOUR MAILINGS

•    Set up a calendar of mailings and plan ahead.

•    Mail several times a year to your entire donor base.

•    Segment your mailing list and mail personalized appeals to specially targeted groups.  (i.e., past donors, volunteers, people who have attended your auction, corporate sponsors, board members, past board members)

•    Mail to donors more often than nondonors.

•    Track your LYBUNTS (people who gave Last Year But Unfortunately Not This) carefully and send them repeated (cheerful and enthusiastic) appeals to be sure they renew.  Once a donor has given for two straight years, they are likely to remain a donor for the long run.

•    Develop a series of appeals to SYBUNTS. (People who gave Some Year But Unfortunately Not This year).  “We’ve missed you!”

•    The letters you send to your LYBUNTS and SYBUNTS should remind them of their past support and remind them how much they have helped create your success.

COMMUNICATE WHEN YOU ARE NOT ASKING

•    Find ways to communicate cheerfully with your donor base outside of the newsletter and mailing solicitations.

•    Don’t send a dull newsletter. Studies show that donors think nonprofit newsletters are boring.

•    Write to your donors often with newsletters, alerts or other news – both in the mail and via email.

FOLLOWUP MAKES A HUGE DIFFERENCE

•    Send a followup letter a few weeks after your appeal: “we didn’t hear from you and we need you to respond.”

•    Studies show that followup letters are the most important factor in securing the donor’s gift.

•    Followup letters need to be short and play on urgency and the emotions.

•    Write your followup letter at the same time you write the first letter.

•    Use a different kind of envelope for the followup letter.

•    Organize the board members to make phone calls to follow up appeals to donors.  You can’t lose by following up with a personal call.

WELCOME NEW DONORS

•    Send first time donors a “welcome” package and several special communications. Only 35-50% of new donors will typically renew.

•    Invite new donors to get involved. Move quickly to develop the relationship so they will renew.

DON”T FORGET THESE PROSPECTS

•    Identify local businesses that you have a relationship with and send them a special appeal for higher amounts.

•    Solicit all the businesses who supported your most recent auction or gala. Ask for additional support apart from the auction.

•    Add your vendors to your appeal list and request their support at least twice a year.

•    Don’t forget these prospective donors: foundations, churches, civic clubs.

LINK TO YOUR WEB SITE

•    Include your website address. Donors, even when they give with a check in the mail, are highly likely to check out your website.

•    Use different landing pages and urls to track donors’ responses to individual appeals.

•    Create a landing page on your web site for replies to appeals.

CREATE A MAILING PACKET THAT BRINGS RESULTS

•    Your mailing packet should include four pieces:

1. The solicitation letter
2. A reply/pledge card
3. A return envelope for the reply card
4. The outside envelope.

•    Always use a return envelope. It is critically important to make sure it is easy for people to give.

•    Your package can also contain a fundraising brochure but does not have to.  A good letter can be sufficient.

•    Any brochure enclosed with a solicitation should have a specific fundraising message or it should not be included.

•     The reply slip needs to stand out in the package.

USE A REPLY CARD THAT SELLS

•     Put a headline on the reply card such as “Yes! I want to help!”

•     Add a one-sentence summary of your case.

•     Show gift levels in terms of how it would help your cause:

•    $100 will buy xx shoes
•    $500 will help 5 families with food

•      Limit the amount of information you request.

•    Use checkboxes on your reply slip.

•    Make sure there is room for handwriting on the reply card.

•    Make the reply card paper easy to write on.

•    Circle the amount you are requesting from the donor on the reply  card.

•    Pre-print the donor’s name and address on the reply form.

•    Include a postage paid business reply envelope.

•    Stock your reply envelopes so they are always on hand.

IMPROVE YOUR INFRASTRUCTURE!

•    Use a mail house to process your mailings efficiently.

•    Upgrade your fundraising software – you must have a sophisticated state of the art data base system in order to manage an expanded mailing program.

•    Longer letters with more pages are more successful than one page letters.

•    The print quality of everything you send out needs to be first class. Never cut corners – this appeal represents your organization and needs to look professional.

•    Make updating your list a priority.  Assign a staff member whose responsibility is to keep the mailing list up-to-date and clean.

If this guide is helpful to you, go ahead and forward it to someone who might like the information.

And leave your comments here – tell me what you think!

Fundraising always comes down to asking, doesn’t it?

“The Ask” is something we study, prep for, script, dream about, love and and sometimes avoid.

Board members particularly have trouble asking. Untrained and inexperienced, they often back away from the moment of truth.  I don’t blame them because they are unprepared.

That’s why I’m focusing my next webinar on helping board members and volunteers get organized for the Ask:  “The Board Member’s Guide to Asking and Never, Ever Getting Turned Down.

Because if they are properly prepped and in the right mindset, they can ask successfully all the time. Then you can have a whole team of people out there raising the funds you need for your urgent work in the community.

Join me next week to learn how to approach major gift prospects so they’ll say “yes, I want to help!”

Here are the five steps that will lead you to a “yes” every time you ask:

1.  Identify the Right Prospect to Approach.

Is this person really a good, “qualified prospect” as we say in fundraising or are you just hoping that they are? Don’t spend your time unless you are certain this person can make a gift at this level and that they might want to make this gift.

There needs to be a firm reason that this person can and would make the gift. Spend some time analyzing:

• their giving potential,
• their level of interest,
• likelihood that they would give at this level.

Be willing to do a realistic, honest appraisal of where they rate in these categories. Then you’ll be able to target those individuals who are MOST LIKELY and approach only them.

2. Get to Know Your Prospective Donor.

Do your research well before you want to ask for the gift. The more you know about your donor’s interests, passions, vision and track record, the better your chance of securing her support.

Spend time in person chatting with her about your cause and her interests.  Listen to her.  Understand what she cares about and what causes she likes to fund. Find out what she thinks about your organization, its leadership, and its vision.

You should know these things:

• What are her attitudes about your cause?
• What is she really passionate about?
• How interested is she really in your organization and its vision?
• Is she prepared for a solicitation? Have you mentioned a possible number earlier?

3.  Make it a Conversation.

We have an old saying in fundraising: “Listen Your Way to the Gift.”

If you are doing all the talking, then you’ll never “make the sale.” It’s so very important to draw your donor out and get him to react to your ideas. If you don’t know what’s going on in his head, how on earth can you promote your idea in a way that will appeal to him?

• See if you can pull out any objections.
• Listen carefully to his questions, because they give you an indication of what’s on his mind.

4.  Make Your Ask into an Exciting Opportunity

Take it to the highest level.  Show the donor what will happen if he makes an investment in your cause.  Talk about the impact and your results.

This is an opportunity to do what? To accomplish what?

Donors want to be part of something exciting. They want to help create a better future. They want to help change or save lives.

Say something like this:   We’d like to talk to you about being the lead in this vision.  Can you help us?

5. After You Ask, Sit Quietly and SHUT UP.

The donor is mulling over your idea and your request. She is probably thinking:

• Can I do this?
• Do I want to do this?
• How can I do this?
• Do I need to talk to my spouse?
• Do I need to talk to my investment adviser or my CPA?

Give your donor plenty of time to consider your request and DON’T SAY A WORD.

There is an old line in sales that goes like this:  “He who speaks next, loses.”

6. An Ask is Not an Ask Without Followup.

My friend Laura Fredricks, author of The Ask, says that we often fall down on the most important part – following up the request. How many times have we made asks that never got closed? Way to many.

Be sure you followup cheerfully and often until you get an answer from your donor.

Join me for my webinar next week when I’ll give you even more strategies that will help you get that big YES when you really need it!  And bring your board members!

Monthly Giving can be a Pot of Gold

Monthly giving just hasn’t taken off in the US like it has in Europe.

I keep hearing that the streets are packed with cheerful solicitors who will come up to you and ask you to consider a monthly gift to their cause.

And here are the latest statistics on the number of monthly gifts in the UK.

You won’t believe it:

37% of ALL DONORS in the UK are monthly givers.

And monthly donations amount to 31% of ALL GIVING in the UK.

Of course people who give monthly easily make much larger annual gifts than the typical donor.

Last I read, people who give monthly give about $220 a year in total gifts to their organization. And this stat may be out of date.

What’s more, the average monthly gift that a donor in the UK makes is 11.95 pounds, which in US dollars is around $220.

So what’s the lesson here? Promote monthly giving wherever and however you can.

Approach your annual donors to convert to a monthly bank draw or credit card debit.

In my own philanthropy, the two organizations that I support financially the most are on monthly debits from my bank account.

It makes the gift easier, simpler, painless, and without consideration.

I made the commitment once, and I’m happy with it – and I don’t have to write the check each month – which could deter my generosity!

Thanks to my favorite blog, The Agitator, for this tip.

What are the skills the best fundraisers have?

You’d be surprised at my answer: Listening and followup skills are tops on the list.

My recent posts about advice visits and asking donors their impressions are all about listening.

“Listen your way to the gift.”

Did you know that listening is actually a gift to the other person?

And who really listens any more?

It’s a compliment to sit quietly and honor the other person with your full attention.

And it’s rare.

It’s not what you think you need to do.

Volunteers and staff all think they need to be able to make a dynamite, enthusiastic presentation. That’s great!

But even more important is the ability to engage them in conversation, to listen to their thoughts on the issue, to carefully consider their questions, and to explore the topic in more detail FROM THEIR POINT OF VIEW – not yours!

Why do you think we call this work “development?”

It’s because it is slow work, developing a relationship over time with someone who really cares about your organization and your cause.

And the way you develop a relationship is listening to the other person.

“When people talk, listen completely.
Most people never listen.”
— Ernest Hemingway