Know Your Donor. Know Your Donor. Know Your Donor.
Could it be that the major-gifts officer who knows the program is the one who (a) understands his job, i.e., matching donor interests and passions to organization needs and/or (b) has been proactively trained by the organization to know what it does? Maybe.
But what about the major-gifts officer who doesn't know the program? Putting the best light on it, maybe he expects others to know. Maybe his understanding is that someone outside himself gathers the info and all he does is act as the broker or presenter to the donor? Or maybe he just doesn't know how to conceptualize the whole program thing and organize it for donor consumption? Or, maybe, it's a manager who says, "Look, I want you out there with donors! Do not spend time visiting program."
If you’re hanging with Richard it won’t be long before you’ll be laughing.
He always finds something funny in everything. But when the conversation is about people, their money and giving, you’ll find a deeply caring counselor who helps donors fulfill their passions and interests. Richard believes that successful major-gift fundraising is not fundamentally about securing revenue for good causes. Instead it is about helping donors express who they are through their giving. The Connections blog will provide practical information on how to do this successfully. Richard has more than 30 years of nonprofit leadership and fundraising experience, and is founding partner of the Veritus Group.
