Donor Relationship Management

I have been tracking the journey of a donor, who is no longer with us, who gave a very sizable gift of more than $800 million to a nonprofit before he passed away. How can I be tracking the journey of a donor who has passed away? Because this donor not only gave the organization more than $800 million, he also left an estate of equal size to his kids, wife and grandchildren as well. And all of this wonderful giving has been managed by the nonprofit in a manner that is, well, amazing to behold...

If your board needs a spark, a stoking of the embers to get the fire roaring again, I have some ideas for you. They come under the headings of inspiring, exciting and directing your board. If you can do these three things with your board of directors, good things will come to your major gift program and organization...

You can’t consume them in five minutes. Yet all too often nonprofits treat their donors exactly like a gumball dispensed from a machine. Chew it up. Spit it out. Done. Oh yeah, maybe you send a quick "thanks" to whomever gave you the change to buy the gum. But that’s as far as your gratitude takes you. You’re over it...

The annual appeal concept is one that holds to the idea that donors give one time, once a year, hence the words “annual gift” or the question, “Has the donor made their annual gift yet?” Fundraising programs built on this philosophy look to secure that one gift once a year, and then the work is finished. There are several things wrong with this concept...

The last of the three articles on the roles in soliciting, this week I take up the role that many people see as the sum total of the ask: the individual that actually does the asking. I call it the “rainmaker.” What does the rainmaker do? In fundraising, the rainmaker makes things happen...

The last election provides a prime example of what I consider to be the loss of science in today’s fundraising campaigns. On any given day, I probably received 20 emails from the same organization. Its “strategy” amounted to nothing more than throwing spaghetti noodles against the wall to see what stuck. There was no conversation, and there was no appreciation of my past giving habits...

Last week, I kicked off this series of unpacking the roles solicitors must assume when they seek a gift. They are: bag carrier, authenticator and rainmaker. The second soliciting role is the authenticator. The name says it. Essential qualities of the authenticator are a passion for the cause being pitched and a thorough, almost innate knowledge of the organization...

Donor retention is abysmal as they take advantage of the revolving door we unintentionally have built with our poor service—or had built by other nonprofit organizations whose unethical practices have tainted all of us in the minds of some would-be donors. These days, we have to give our donors a reason to talk positively about our organization to others. Here is my six-step plan to help that become a reality...

We conduct feasibility studies to provide the research on what we will face in a campaign. It is invaluable. When it comes to someone’s potential, life happens and other commitments and priorities are in play. Someone may have a health or family situation that no one knows about that is impacting their giving. They may be in a very different position in a few months or a few years. Let’s keep honoring our donors and prospective donors, and building long-term relationships that transcend campaign timeframes...

We were sitting in the main conference room high above the city doing some major gift training with a fantastic group of major gift officers. The training was about asking for the gift—a session we regularly conduct with our clients. The MGOs sitting around the table were a mixture of seasoned professionals and employees newer to major gifts. Part of our session had been the day before, where we were dealing with the reasons MGOs do not ask donors for what they could give.