Donor Relationship Management

If you want gifts, you must give them. The essence of a relationship is reciprocity: give and take. When you are kind and giving, people want to reciprocate. Yet too often nonprofits put "taking" at the center of their development strategies. Do you ask, “What can we do today for our donors?” Or, do you fall into the camp that asks, “What can our donors do for us?”

There is a big difference between simply knowing something about a person and truly knowing the person. Our ability to know a person requires that we have great familiarity with that individual. It’s through this process that we begin to understand whether a person’s behavior is the result of some episodic impulse or something the individual truly could not stop themselves from doing...

If someone says “talk to the hand” to you, it could simply mean they do not want to hear what you have to say. But is it that simple? In the major-gifts world, when a major donor does not want to talk to you and, in essence, says “talk to the hand” it can mean so many different things...

Calendar or fiscal year, you are only months away from the greatest season to thank donors, cultivate prospective donors and to secure gifts. What are your plans? Are you ready? Is your team ready? How fast are you moving?...

I will never forget what happened to the major gifts officer (MGO) who went into the office of an owner at a very large company in California and asked for a gift. The donor said, “When you have something that has some vision and is in the million-dollar range, come back and see me. What you are proposing today does not interest me.” ...

Susan and I had a recent conversation on how her organization, a nonprofit focused on education for disadvantaged youth, can expand its donor reach. Her complaint is a similar one. “We’re in a relatively small community. There must be a thousand nonprofits here competing for the same donors. We’re seeing a lot of donor fatigue.” ...

One of the best gifts you can give a donor is a photo of the people their gift is impacting. For donors, we would often frame a photo as a thank-you gift. More often than not, when we would make a follow-up visit to the donor’s office, we would see that framed photo proudly displayed...

Effective major gifts work is, at its essence, serving the interests and passions of a donor. This may sound formulaic—it may sound basic and boring. But, just do this (and do it well) and you will be wildly successful. Don’t ever search for a replacement to a tried-and-true formula for doing anything. Instead, use the formula or approach and innovate within it...

Have a fundraising challenge you want to crack? Weary of doing the same old, same old yet hoping for different outcomes? Do you want the over-the-top results that come from superior strategy? Email me with your particular problem, and I’ll arrange a quick consultation offering you a practical solution you can implement. I may even…

The conventional fundraising wisdom is if we only have the right map coordinates and secret handshake, we’re in. And so, our fundraising challenges will miraculously evaporate. Countless webinars, short courses and workshops claim to offer this treasure map. Well I’m here to tell you this tale is half right. It’s not the half you imagine, however...