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How Not to Ask for a Major Gift

Monday, March 3, 2008

Everything was working out as planned. I had hired a researcher to identify potential prospects for my client. His name was one of many who were long time board members of a simlar but much more established institution. He had made major gifts including one large enough to have his name on a prominent building. And when I called him to introduce myself and my client, he was willing to listen.

He asked me to send additional information including our financials. He looked them over and agreed to meet. After 4 cancellations, one of which came while I was on the train to New York just to see him, we finally met. Not only was he impressed, he thought we were right on target and that we were serving a need that the other more established institution was not. He told me that he wanted to hear more and that he was gong to check us out.

A month later the President of my client was in from overseas and the three of us met. The prospect loved what he heard and offered to help us. Here was his plan… He would ask his friends, all very wealthy as well, to check us out for him. Since they lived within an hour or two and he lived in NYC, it was a reasonable request. He said he would have 2-3 friends call the President to set up a time to visit.

Hungry for major gifts. the President asked whether he would be willing to ask his friends to match his gift to us. The man instead revealed his own plan. When his friends had checked us out, and reported back to him with positive feedback, he would ask them if he should make a gift to us. When they told him he should, he would aks them why, if he should, shouldn’t they? Brilliant. He was not only going to engage new donors for us, he was going to solicit them as well. Talk about a great fundraising idea and the ideal donor.

His friends visited. They were animated and the meetings were very positive. I spoke with the man and he told me he received positive reports. He was going to be traveling for a few months but we should get together when he got back after the first of the year. Then February. Now March. I meet with him in 2 days.

I had encouraged the President to call him to stay in touch, to say hi. They would meet on his next trip to NYC. But the President didn’t always like to pick up the phone. In fact, I learned just recently, several weeks after it was sent, that the President had sent the man a letter. My client never showed me the letter, but I understand he asked him for a gift of $5 million.

Yes, you may have guessed that as a fundraising consultant this is not my idea of either a great client, or a smart fundraiser. You do not ask for $5 million via a letter. The good news is that the man has agreed to meet with me. I have to assume that if he was totally offended by the letter, that he would not have agreed to meet. Then again, a colleague pointed out, perhaps he just wants to yell at me.

Now is the time to make lemonade. Perhaps we will ultimately receive a gift larger than we might have asked for intially. Usually I prefer to dance before getting intimate, to date before proposing marriage. But sometimes, things just slip out, and you work with what you are given. Of course I’ll let you know what ultimately happens.

In the mean time, do you have any ideas or advice on how you think I should handle this meeting? How would you do it?

Filed in Fundraising Capital Campaigns, Major Gifts Fundraising | Comments (3)

Fundraising Ideas – Identification

Friday, February 29, 2008

In the digital world there is too much spam, what we used to just call junk mail. But, being a direct marketer as well as a fundraiser, I’m one of those who actually like junk mail. There is much to learn from reading the sales pitch or solicitation that another organization invests in sending. And if you see it three or four times, you know it is profitable.

Spam on the other hand, has few redeeming qualities. While ostensibly we can learn from those emails that continue to show up, yes, if they continually use the same ones it means they are profitable, they waste more time and resources than they are worth. Permission based marketing is the only way to go when it comes to email.

Yesterday I spoke to Doug at Estrella Marketing Solutions about testing some permission based email. He assured me that Estrella is one of only 4 email list brokers that both uses double opt-in permission and is whitelisted by AOL, where he tol me 52% of U.S. email addresses are still housed. Double opt-in means that not only odes someone have to sing up to receive email, but they have to verify a link in the first email they receive. It ensures that they want to receive offers.

I will most likely be testing a broadcast email for one of my clients. I think that prospecting is a good fundraising idea that finally ahs made its way into the digital age. Of course I will let you know the results. Ten thousand targeted names can be sent to twice for $1000. Thats a nickel per email sent. If that test works we can roll out to 200,000 in my target market for $4,000.

Some quick math shows that a 1% response rate and an average gift of $20, might even break even on the first mailing. That is heaven for any direct marketer. Most direct mailers are willing to spend 3 or 4 times the intial purchase to acquire a lead.

Now don’t try this at home kids. You don’t want to be prospecting by sending out unsolicited emails to any email address you can find. That’s called spam. If you are going to try this one, go with a reputable firm that insists on double opt-ins  and is already white-listed by AOL. You can call Doug at Estrella or track down the other firms that fit the bill.

This is one fundraising idea I haven’t yet tried. But I’m looking forward to it.

Filed in General Fundraising, Marketing | Comments (2)

Jewish Fundraising Consultants

Thursday, February 28, 2008

I was just updating my home page for my marketing and fundraising consulting business, Aliya Marketing Group. I was focusing on finding my top 3 keywords and optimizing my site. On my home page I use a silly example of a page I put up a year or two ago that got me ranked for “The Best Fundraiser in Rhode Island.” Yes, there are more than a dozen of us, but I’m not sure how many more.

On the other hand, I just discovered that I rank #3 for Jewish Fundraising Consultants. Actually I’m the second one ranked as the first one is listed for two pages. There are a few hundred if not a few thousand of us in that category. I can tell you about this because I’m not worried about the competition coming in and targeting me for that keyword, though to be honest, now that I know, I will be gunning for #1.

I suppose it should not be a surpirse. I am doing a good amount of fundraisng for charities in Israel. In fact, there is a great review of my work as a model for raising funds for Israeli charities on Maya Norton’s blog on Jewish Philanthropy here:  Best Practices for Israeli Charities.

There seems to be a pretty strong need in Israel for Jewish fundraising consultants as colleges and not-for-profits continue to expand. I’ll do mybest to keep up with the demand, but I may need to hire an associate or two shortly.

Filed in General Fundraising, Internet Marketing, Marketing | Comments (2)

Powerful Yet Reasonable Goals

Thursday, February 14, 2008

As a consultant I have the privilege of working with executives at many not-for-profits. Like executives in the for-profit world, they often want it all and they want it yesterday. Speaking of which, yesterday was a perfect example in which I spoke to a potential new client about launching a capital campaign for his very young college in Israel.

The  goal for the campaign will be between $3 million and $5 million, to be used to renovate two existing historic buildings that currently make up the campus. Can it be done? Of course it can. Can it be done this month? Of course it can’t. This year? Perhaps. Within 3 years? Absolutely.

It is important to set powerful goals that will motivate your volunteer leadership and your donors, not to mention your staff. On of my favorite stories is about my alma mater, Tufts University. Shortly after they hired world reknown nutritionist, Jean Mayer, to be President of the University in the late ’70s, he hired a consulting firm to do a feasibility study. The study showed that with current resources, Tufts could raise $80 million in a 5 year campaign. Mayer promptly announced a $200 million campaign!

The purpose of that story is not to tell you to ignore the consultants. On the contrary, in this story, the consultants were correct. The purpose is to show you the power of big goals and dreams. Although Mayer accepted the resignations of many in is development team, he successfully reached his goal (which, by the way was more than 4 times as large as any previous campaign for the University.)

But wait, didn’t I tell you the consultants were correct?

They were.

And Jean Mayer was also correct.

With its current resources at the beginnning of the campaign, Tufts raised $80 million, just as the feasibility study had shown. Mayer’s bold plans and powerful goals brought new resources, new players, and new donors to the table. He inspired his leadership and his donors and launched Tufts from a small time fundraiser into a major fundraising university. The growth that followed during the next decade was unbelieveble with new buildings, programs, and schools enriching the University.

The difference between dreams and goals is a deadline. You need to dream big, but you also need to set reasonable deadlines to make your goals both powerful and achievable. Because if they aren’t achievable, they won’t be credible. And without credility, there is no power.

Filed in Business Values, Fundraising Capital Campaigns, Fundraising Volunteer Leadership, General Fundraising, Leadership for Fundraising Pros, Major Gifts Fundraising | Comments (5)