The Best Major Gift Ask Isn’t a Pitch

Most fundraisers I know, even the excellent ones, focus on pitching. Many do this poorly, talking a lot more than listening and not even asking donors open-ended questions to unlock more about their personal interests, preferences, values and history. Some do it well, often eliciting their asked-for-action response.

But how much money was left on the table?

Very rarely do I see folks engage in a truly balanced dialogue where the donor is invited to offer as much input as the solicitor. And maybe, in the process, prompting their own, much better, action response!

Think about what could happen if you incorporated active listening and asking into your fundraising offer. Think about how amazingly freeing that would be for the person being pitched. They would not only feel drawn to connect with you; they’d also feel open to imagining possibilities. They’d feel invited to co-create!

I feel you are getting defensive. You fear:

• Having a donor run roughshod over your organization by starting to take things off on a complete tangent.
• Being taken outside the realm of what you prepared.
• Having your broader mission eclipsed because the temptation to accept a multi-million-dollar gift was too great.

Note: These undesirable outcomes don’t happen a lot, but I’ve seen these scenarios rear their ugly heads. A small liberal arts college I worked with was approached by a donor who wanted to give them a huge tract of land to turn into a nature preserve. The project would’ve been bigger than the college’s total budget, and the time and resources it would have needed to pour into it (not to mention the operating expenses to maintain the project into the future) would have taken away from its core mission. It would have become BIG, for sure.

But to what end?

Thankfully, cooler heads prevailed. And that’s the point.

Listening conversations can create bad and good outcomes — as long as you come prepared.

Why to Avoid the Pitch Problem

Sometimes, the donor’s imagination is more expansive than yours. That can be a very good thing.

For example, I know of a donor who was approached for an unrestricted $100,000 gift and ended up giving a $1,000,000 gift. This happened at a hospital foundation where the major gifts officer engaged in multiple conversations with the donor. He began by pitching a specific project. But when the donor wanted to know more about the larger context, he started to ask the donor to daydream a little. He took out a piece of paper and began to diagram.

He asked the donor to imagine how their gift might be used in these specific areas. Guess what happened? The donor started to brainstorm how their money might make a real impact. Together with the major gift officer (MGO), ideas were jotted down on paper and fleshed out. Things got narrowed down to two areas, and the MGO offered to come back with specific proposal options. By now, the donor was excited by the possibilities and loathed to give up on any of them. Hence, the ultimate million-dollar gift — split between the two programs!

OK, I hear you asking, “How do I prepare for an asking conversation, not a pitch that’s more about me/us than about the donor — and potentially even better outcomes than I envisioned?

How to Avoid the Pitch Problem

If you look at a major gift ask as a pitch, that’s not a conversation. It’s a monologue.

If all you prepare for is the delivery of a script with everything you know about your organization, how great it is, how pressing the need is, how you know this is what the donor cares about, and then drop this bomb into your donor’s lap, you’ll leave them feeling they didn’t have a chance to get a word in and/or they’ll be a “bad” person if they don’t respond as you suggest. This doesn’t make them feel good about giving. It depresses donation size, fails to build a relationship, and ultimately leads to fewer gifts.

Plan ahead to engage in a manner that makes the donor feel good by preparing three open-ended questions.

Consider what you want to come away knowing; for me, it’s usually:

• A bit more about the donor than I knew before; something upon which I can continue to build the relationship.
• More about the donor’s philanthropic interests and priorities as they relate to what my organization does; this way, I can talk with them about the issues nearest to their heart.
• Whether the donor is interested in making a passionate investment in one or more of the areas we’ve covered in our discussion; this way, I can prepare a proposal, and we can talk about the nitty gritty next time.

Now, write down three open-ended questions that will move you toward your goal. Open-ended questions keep the conversation open and flowing. The donor can’t respond with a curt “yes/no,” which will absolutely close the conversation.

The Pitch Is One-Way

You deliver a monologue about what you want, assuming that’s what the donor wants, too. Maybe they’ll give, but it won’t be at their most passionate level. Nor will they necessarily feel good about it. The transaction will be just that. One-time. Nothing learned. No relationship built. No sense of being on a joyful and transformational journey where the donor feels greater connection and community over time.

When you pitch, you treat donors almost as objects. This doesn’t feel so good.

The Ask Conversation Is Two-Way

You ease into it by showing genuine interest in the other person. You use traditional reporter’s questions of “what” and “how.”

“How are you doing with what’s going on in the world this week?”

“What’s keeping you awake at night?”

“If you could leave your community a legacy, what would it be?”

Try to avoid “why” questions, as they can make people defensive. As they connect with their personal passion, the donor promises to make a gift to accomplish something near and dear to their heart. They feel inspired, not coerced; you promise to put that gift to work effectively and report on what their philanthropy accomplished to the donor.

When you make a promise, you treat donors as you would want to be treated. You think about what they need. You promise to meet that need. And then you follow through.

The preceding blog was provided by an individual unaffiliated with NonProfit PRO. The views expressed within do not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of NonProfit PRO.