Title: Major Gifts: Engaging Your Donors at Every Stage
1Major GiftsEngaging Your Donors at Every Stage
- Susan Horvath, CFRE
- President
- Mount Sinai Hospital Foundation of Toronto
- Dana James
- Associate Director, Development
- Robarts Research Institute
- April 5, 2007
- 1045 a.m. 1200 p.m.
2Major Gifts Engaging Your Donors at Every Stage
- Definition
- Making the case for major gift focus
- Robarts experience
- Translating this to your cause
- Practical steps
3Multiple Choice Quiz
- You need 30,000 to save a program from closing.
If you could do only ONE activity to raise the
money you would
- Have a gala dinner
- Mail request letter to 200 friends
- Organize a lottery
- Resign and they can use your salary for the
program - Ask one person for 30,000
4Multiple Choice Quiz
- You consider a major gift to be
- gt 1,000
- gt 10,000
- Twice what donor gave previously
- A gift solicited in person
- All of the above
5Multiple Choice Quiz
- You and your CEO are making a solicitation call.
His most compelling point is
- They can help by funding the 1M deficit
- Soon your organizations financial success will
mean youll be giving out money - They can give to you and then rationalize not
supporting others - Their name will appear on new donor wall
- Their support will advance research in
Alzheimers disease
6Impact of Major Gift Focus
7Impact of Major Gift Focus
2004-2005
8Comparing 2 Projects
- Vascular Biology renos
- Goal 350,000
- 7 prospects
- F-to-f mtgs, proposal, specific request amt,
campaign chair, staff fup - 5 donors 360,700
- 2 donated to other projects 50k 250k
- Bioinformatics Centre
- Goal 250,000
- 37 prospects
- Reception, honouree, mailed proposals, no ask
amt, volunteer personal notes, phone fup by staff - 3 donors 10,200
9Sources of Donations3 yr avg, 22.5M total
10Major Gift Cycle
11Major Gift Cycle
12Prospect Identification
- External sources
- Donor lists
- News sources
- Newsletters
- Business magazines
- Databases
- Internal sources
- Referrals of volunteers, staff, donors
- Current lapsed donors
13One Hour or Less of Research
- Capacity
- Affinity interest in the cause
- Connection relationship to your organization
14Prospect Review Meeting
- Determine strategy for each prospect
- Prioritize
- Set activity goals
- Share information
15Prospect Research
- Start inside your organization
- Is there someone you can ask?
- Donor records
- Free information sources
- Google
- Revenue Canadas Charities Directorate
- Fee-based information sources
- Funder databases (Big Online, CCP)
- Current events (LexisNexis, Factiva)
- Is a full profile necessary?
16Major Gift Cycle
17(No Transcript)
18Volunteer Involvement
- Volunteer roles
- Prospect identification, strategy
- Door opening (letter, call, tour)
- Working with volunteers
- Build trust
- Set specific actions
- Limit administrative demands
- Follow through
- Collect and record information
19(No Transcript)
20Book the Call
- Call day in your area
- Stewardship information
- Recommended by volunteer/prof/ etc.
- New program of possible interest
- Survey on something donor recognition, new
program ideas, communications - You are half-way there!
21Call Booking Objections
- Coming to ask for money?
- No, not this visit
- Just send me the information
- Would really appreciate getting your input
- Im new, looking forward to meeting past
supporters - Would like to hear about your involvement with
the organization
22On the Call
- Chit chat
- Stewardship
- Organizational update
- Ask about objectives
- Amount, timing, purpose, fit within
organizational priorities - Importance of naming/recognition
23Building the Relationship
- Call notes
- Action plan (ask or continue cultivation)
- Tour
- Involve volunteers, staff
- Guest-friendly agenda
- Events
- Cultivation opportunity
- Personal invitations
24Major Gift Cycle
25(No Transcript)
26Preparing the Right Gift Proposal
- Based on interests
- Preferably written
- Describe gift opportunity, importance, how it
matches interest, amount timing, suggested
recognition - As personal as possible
- 2-3 choices is effective
- Supporting materials
- Presented in person
27Program Funding Model
Funding Components
Establishing a novel program at Robarts
28The Ask Who Makes the Call
- Gift size determines strategy
- Small/mid staff who know the prospect
- Large organizations leaders
- Ideal if 2 people - FR staff PLUS
- Pres or VP, Board Chair, senior volunteer,
faculty/ scientist, another FR staff
29Scripting the Ask
- Specific ask asking you to consider
- Sell the gift with excitement
- Worthy of prospects support participation
- Matches prospects interests
- Emphasize benefits
30Concerns or Objections
- Listen and restate to confirm
- Answer or get the answer
- Modify proposal if needed
- Stay positive
- Examples
31Concerns / Objections
- Bad timing cant commit right now
- Not totally committed to this proposal
- Foundation asset base low
- Wont be the lead gift
- Change in organizations leadership
- Time to support other organizations
32 Wrapping Up the Call
- Thank
- Restate gift opportunity
- Assume positive response
- State follow up plans
- Youll call, send answer to question, call/visit
in a week, send draft gift agreement .
33(No Transcript)
34Follow Up
- Possible revision of proposal
- Engage volunteers
- Seek opportunities for contact
- New program developments
- Media coverage
- Events
35Success!
- Gift agreement
- Designation
- Payment plan
- Recognition
- Stewardship
- Celebrate!
- Gift processing
- Prompts for stewardship
36Reasons for Saying No
- Wrong gift opportunity
- Wrong timing
- Ask was too high or too low
- Specific amount not requested
- Needs more involvement, information
- Immediate need not conveyed
- Just not interested
37Handling Rejection
- New action plan
- Volunteer involvement
- More cultivation
- Fresh ask
38Major Gift Cycle
39Thank, Recognize, Steward
- Gift announcement
- Recognize the donor
- Raise organization profile
- Involves development and communications staff
- News release
- Event
- Media tracking
- Honour gift agreement
- Donor wall, plaques, titles, reports
40Continued Cultivation ofMajor Donors
- Social gatherings
- Send relevant publicity clippings
- Special events
- Ask for advice
- Ask to volunteer
- Invite friends for a personal tour
- Present success stories
- Invite to a lecture, news conference
- Invite to be on a panel
- Call/email regularly with updates
41Susans Tips
- Fingertip files cultivation, solicitation,
stewardship - Book call days in your calendar and start calling
the names on your list - Do not let other tasks interfere almost
anything else is easier! - Follow up track status, report to someone
42Danas Tips
- Data entry is relationship management
- At all stages of the major gift cycle
- Record past, prompt future actions
- Accuracy, thoroughness, consistency
- Effective and timely retrieval
- Be efficient
- Ask the potential donor what they want
- Share information
- Dont rewrite what youve written
- Consider multiple uses for materials
43Summary Major gifts.
- make a big impact
- encourage others to give big
- are rewarding to work on
- introduce you to philanthropic people
- get attention
- are exciting and worth your effort!