How One Fundraiser Helped Unlock Transformational Gifts

By Amanda L. Cole

David Baldwin’s first gift to the St. Petersburg Free Clinic was $5,000. Debbie Sokolov, the organization's director of development at the time, flagged it as an outlier gift.

Upon learning about the gift, she immediately called Baldwin to thank him. She was unaware of his net worth then, but that small gesture would lead to numerous transformational gifts to her organization over the next decade.

Sokolov, who is now the deputy director of development and communications at The James Museum of Western and Wildlife Art, shared her experience in the session, “Unlocking Donor Generosity: Crafting Your Annual Stewardship Plan,” at AFP ICON on Sunday. Sara Leonard, CEO of the Sara Leonard Group, joined her as a co-presenter.

“Stewardship is about building relationships, and that's what we do,” Sokolov said. “That's what makes us successful fundraisers, is building meaningful relationships. And then I want to emphasize they need to be authentic relationships also. When we thank a donor, when we share the outcome of their gift, when we just reach out and say, ‘we've been thinking of you,’ that builds trust with the donor because we're just not going to them when we need money.”

Here’s how her efforts resulted in transformational donations to her organization, plus pointers on how to build your own donor engagement plan.

The Engagement Plan

Fundraisers should first segment donors based on frequency and cumulative gift amounts to create different courses of action for each — but don’t forget to account for new donors who aren’t on your file yet. Then select from a menu of engagement options to create the best annual engagement plan for each type of donor.

An engagement plan should include a variety of touch points detailed in a spreadsheet and/or your donor database. Determine which levels of giving receive which touch points. For example, you may decide to send every donor formal acknowledgement within 24 hours of receipt of their gift while asking the executive director to call major donors within 48 hours. The fundraiser could also call donors of outlier gifts, though the amount that triggers that could vary by nonprofit.

Then, for recognition, all donors might get a monthly newsletter and annual impact report, while only donors with higher levels of giving are invited to a donor appreciation dinner or a facility tour. Start with what you’re already doing for various levels of giving and fill in the blanks. Though it’s important to requalify and reassess your plan throughout the year, an annual engagement plan might look like this:

January. Make a thank-you call and send the e-newsletter.
February. Schedule a private tour and send the e-newsletter.
March. Make an introduction to the executive director and send the e-newsletter.
April. Schedule lunch with program staff and send a gala invite and the e-newsletter.
May. Send a recipient story and the e-newsletter.
June. Send the impact report and e-newsletter.
July. Call or email to share a story and send the e-newsletter.
August. Send a birthday card and the e-newsletter.
September. Send a recipient story and the e-newsletter.
October. Schedule a personal visit and send the e-newsletter.
November. Send a holiday card signed by the staff and the e-newsletter.
December. Make a thank-you call and send the impact report and e-newsletter.

The Initial Conversations

Stewardship builds relationships. Every touch point helps to build trust, and every impact story helps to show their investment in your organization is worthwhile. It’s important to not only contact a donor when your organization needs money, Sokolov said.

“We're all trying to make some kind of change to solve some type of problem,” she said. “Stewardship reminds our donors that they are a key part of the solution and that we can't do it without them. So the exciting thing is, when you do this and you do it well, it will increase your donor retention, it will increase donor satisfaction, and that will hopefully lead to greater giving for your organization.”

In that initial brief phone call with Baldwin in 2012, she thanked him and invited him to tour the nonprofit’s health center. He declined.

“I have to tell you what I learned many years later is that he did that to several organizations as a test — sent that $5,000 check to see how they would respond and how they would treat them,” Sokolov said.

She also learned later that many of the nonprofit to which he gave ignored him.

Fast forward to early 2013 when he attended a donor appreciation lunch. She chatted with him and extended an invitation to tour the health center. This time, he accepted.

During the tour, he shared that his late wife had a nursing degree and Sokolov could feel the love he had for her, so she mentioned the grant for the organization’s nurse practitioner was ending.

“Honestly, it was a soft ask I just threw out there,” Sokolov said. “I said, ‘You know, David, our nurse practitioner, sees X amount of people every month. She's grant-funded, and we're losing that grant.’ And I stopped, I didn't ask him.”

When he asked for the amount, she let him know the need was $110,000 and she let him sit with it.

“And as they always say, ‘Be quiet after you make that [ask]’ — even though it wasn't really an ask,” she said. “It was a soft ask. And he just sat there, and I could tell his wheels were spinning, and he said, ‘I think I'd like to do that.’”

The Big Ask — Whether Planned or Unexpected

After that first major gift, she began monthly stewardship touch points, such as birthday cards from the nurse practitioner and impact stories with a picture of a patient who benefited from the health center’s care.

With a goal of building a new women’s residence — which provides women recovering from substance abuse temporary housing, case management and life skills — Sokolov arranged a lunch with the nurse practitioner and leadership at the current women’s residence so Baldwin could also meet its director. She had only planned to ask for a $100,000 gift to help with prescriptions that day, but was planting the seeds for the women’s residence.

Later that year, he expressed interest in giving to the capital campaign for the women’s residence when it launched. Though the campaign wasn’t ready and she only had a building rendering, she adjusted and went against best practices that recommend seven touch points between asks.

“Sometimes you’ve just got to strike when the fire is hot,” she said. “And again, this is when I went totally against best practices. There were not seven touch points between when he had made his last commitment [and that day he expressed interest], but I just said, ‘You know what, David? Let's go back in my office and let's talk. Let me show you the rendering.”

By the end of 2013, he made the lead $1.5 million gift in honor of his late wife. The building is now known as the Virginia and David Baldwin Women’s Residence.

“David really became a partner,” Sokolov said. “He was just a dream donor to work with, and he continued to make transformational gifts until he passed away.”

Baldwin died in 2021. Though it took a while for his estate to be settled, last year, about six Florida charities split a $63 million portion of his estate, with $9.5 million going to the St. Petersburg Free Clinic.

“So, I'm not going to promise you that your stewardship activities will result in this,” Sokolov said. “I hope it does, and I hope you find a David Baldwin. But I can promise you, if you don't do it, you're not going to find your David Baldwin.”