Those lovely people at Fundraising Research & Consulting (FR&C) have decided to give a massive gift to all you fundraisers wondering where the money is in Australia.
For years they have been trawling the web and building a database of the richest people around, who they give to, how much (where known) and anything else in the public domain.
This information helps charities save lots of money on targeting but also FR&C offer a service where they have a look at the people who are already donating to you and match that to this database of big givers. You may well have someone who donated $1m to another charity giving you $100 every Christmas. That doesn't mean they will suddenly give you a million, but you certainly should be talking to them differently.
You have to pay for this service but there are a load of free resources available too, and this is the gift FR&C are giving to you: A full list of all those resources. Now you could go and find them yourself, but using this free list will save you over a hundred hours of work (and you would probably not have found them all anyway!)
Check out http://www.fundraisingresearch.com.au/oz_resources_16.html
Sean
Showing posts with label identify major donors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label identify major donors. Show all posts
Monday, April 16, 2012
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Major Donors
The barriers for asking for large gifts from individuals are numerous.
"I need to do more research"
"The timing is not right"
"I don't know how much to ask for"
"The chairman should ask this one"
and lots more
Many of these are valid, but ultimately not asking is a failing strategy. If you want to get $1m from someone then you almost certainly need to build a relationship with them, and going straight in with an ask will not get you that $1m. But done well, a smaller ask is unlikely to put them off their bigger one. In fact, it is part of building a relationship.
If that person was already a donor, then there is some form of relationship already in place.
For example, to lift a donor from $500 - which they donate in response to your annual Christmas appeal - to $5,000 is much easier than following the full seven steps to developing major donors; and it helps bring them along the journey too, if you follow it up properly.
If you have a lot of higher value donors who donate to your appeals, but you don't really do anything else with them, try ringing them up and having a chat. Ask them why they support you, if they have friends that do too. Try and set up a meeting. Maybe 1 in 3 or 4 will catch up with you. There you can look to ask them for a more substantial donation.
It isn't that hard, and I have worked with many organisations to formalise this approach as a process, and with all but one it has led to significant extra income at little cost - and bringing those donors closer to a really big gift. I call this 'Major Donors: Next Week" because you need to do it next week, or it doesn't work.
Lucky Australians can find out more about major donor fundraising from an excellent bunch of practitioners at the Fundraising and Philanthropy "Art and Science of Major Gift Fundraising" event at the end of the month. A bargain at $600. Check it out here.
Frankie Airey helped raise around $500m in one campaign. Gulp.
Charlotte Grimshaw will also be speaking at the event. She can help identify potential major donors from any list of donors.
"I need to do more research"
"The timing is not right"
"I don't know how much to ask for"
"The chairman should ask this one"
and lots more
Many of these are valid, but ultimately not asking is a failing strategy. If you want to get $1m from someone then you almost certainly need to build a relationship with them, and going straight in with an ask will not get you that $1m. But done well, a smaller ask is unlikely to put them off their bigger one. In fact, it is part of building a relationship.
If that person was already a donor, then there is some form of relationship already in place.
For example, to lift a donor from $500 - which they donate in response to your annual Christmas appeal - to $5,000 is much easier than following the full seven steps to developing major donors; and it helps bring them along the journey too, if you follow it up properly.
If you have a lot of higher value donors who donate to your appeals, but you don't really do anything else with them, try ringing them up and having a chat. Ask them why they support you, if they have friends that do too. Try and set up a meeting. Maybe 1 in 3 or 4 will catch up with you. There you can look to ask them for a more substantial donation.
It isn't that hard, and I have worked with many organisations to formalise this approach as a process, and with all but one it has led to significant extra income at little cost - and bringing those donors closer to a really big gift. I call this 'Major Donors: Next Week" because you need to do it next week, or it doesn't work.
Lucky Australians can find out more about major donor fundraising from an excellent bunch of practitioners at the Fundraising and Philanthropy "Art and Science of Major Gift Fundraising" event at the end of the month. A bargain at $600. Check it out here.
Frankie Airey helped raise around $500m in one campaign. Gulp.
Charlotte Grimshaw will also be speaking at the event. She can help identify potential major donors from any list of donors.Tuesday, March 22, 2011
What do you say to identify a major donor prospect?
I am at the AFP conference in Chicago, listening to Eli Jordfald from the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Carolina.
Amazingly 85% of the major donor portfolio was developed from existing donors - smaller gift donors. The majority of these were ex patients.
In the US, major donor fundraisers talk about 'The Discovery Call'. These are calls that connect people with what the organisation does. Physical, or by phone they are not really cold calls. Yet fundraisers still dread them.
Her first angle is to look at people who are already grateful. Ex-0atients are obvious choices, but other 'alumni' should be considered. But you have to be quick. People are not grateful forever.
Her list for prioritizing targets is remarkably similar to the Pareto major donors next week program.
- past donors
- first time donors (everyone!)
- alumni
- board
- donors to similar causes
- screened grateful patient lists
The screening is wealth screening - similar to the service that Charlotte Grimshaw offers through Fundraising Research.
So you have a list. So what do you do next?
Discovery calls. Whatever you do, at some point you have to call the prospect. And listen. These are not sales pitch calls (unless the donor is not a major donor prospect), they are question sessions.
The purpose of the first call is not to get a visit but to asses whether a visit is appropriate. Be prudent - is it worth it? Visits are expensive. And in that first call, be upfront about title. Also, she says not to worry about avoiding discussing diagnosis. Ie ask them about their diagnosis and treatment.
If you do determine that the prospect is not a major gifts prospect, it is fine to ask during the call. Unless they give you a reason not to ask - ie the person says they are broke, just lost their house, gone bankrupt etc.
So, you get to speak to them, what do you say?
- Opening
- Assess interest
- Validate capacity
- Determine next steps
Examples of openers.... Introduce self, thank for previous gifts and ask something like 'I understand that you were recently at my hospital and I would be interested to hear about your experience there'
Examples of questions assessing interest.... Tell me about your personal experience
How do you see your involvement
Would you be interested in learning more about our research and clinical programs?
What areas interest you most in the field of cancer?
Basically, ask why they believe in your cause.
Examples of validating capacity questions....
- did you work while in treatment?
- now that treatment is over, do you plan to travel?
- do you have favorite organisations you like to support? .... Tell me about your involvement.
Examples of questions to determine next steps...
- I'm planning a trip to (your town) next week, would it be convenient to meet in person?
- I would like to invite you to a unique tour of the new cancer hospital
- would you like to tour ... Something else
For lower level people
- would you like to be a member of the .(donor club)
Now and then you will here people say you are in my will - make sure it is documented and they have the wording right.
Amazingly 85% of the major donor portfolio was developed from existing donors - smaller gift donors. The majority of these were ex patients.
In the US, major donor fundraisers talk about 'The Discovery Call'. These are calls that connect people with what the organisation does. Physical, or by phone they are not really cold calls. Yet fundraisers still dread them.
Her first angle is to look at people who are already grateful. Ex-0atients are obvious choices, but other 'alumni' should be considered. But you have to be quick. People are not grateful forever.
Her list for prioritizing targets is remarkably similar to the Pareto major donors next week program.
- past donors
- first time donors (everyone!)
- alumni
- board
- donors to similar causes
- screened grateful patient lists
The screening is wealth screening - similar to the service that Charlotte Grimshaw offers through Fundraising Research.
So you have a list. So what do you do next?
Discovery calls. Whatever you do, at some point you have to call the prospect. And listen. These are not sales pitch calls (unless the donor is not a major donor prospect), they are question sessions.
The purpose of the first call is not to get a visit but to asses whether a visit is appropriate. Be prudent - is it worth it? Visits are expensive. And in that first call, be upfront about title. Also, she says not to worry about avoiding discussing diagnosis. Ie ask them about their diagnosis and treatment.
If you do determine that the prospect is not a major gifts prospect, it is fine to ask during the call. Unless they give you a reason not to ask - ie the person says they are broke, just lost their house, gone bankrupt etc.
So, you get to speak to them, what do you say?
- Opening
- Assess interest
- Validate capacity
- Determine next steps
Examples of openers.... Introduce self, thank for previous gifts and ask something like 'I understand that you were recently at my hospital and I would be interested to hear about your experience there'
Examples of questions assessing interest.... Tell me about your personal experience
How do you see your involvement
Would you be interested in learning more about our research and clinical programs?
What areas interest you most in the field of cancer?
Basically, ask why they believe in your cause.
Examples of validating capacity questions....
- did you work while in treatment?
- now that treatment is over, do you plan to travel?
- do you have favorite organisations you like to support? .... Tell me about your involvement.
Examples of questions to determine next steps...
- I'm planning a trip to (your town) next week, would it be convenient to meet in person?
- I would like to invite you to a unique tour of the new cancer hospital
- would you like to tour ... Something else
For lower level people
- would you like to be a member of the .(donor club)
Now and then you will here people say you are in my will - make sure it is documented and they have the wording right.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Recent presentations available
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