Seven Secrets of Savvy Fundraising
By: Bridgette O'Connor

As fundraisers, we recognize that all gifts are important to an organization, and the donors of these gifts should be appreciated and treated with the same level of respect, regardless of the size of the gift. After all, gifts both small and large can be critical in meeting the financial requirements of a school. While this is true, we also know the acquisition of major gifts can advance an organization to a new level.

While any organization can solicit major gifts, some are clearly more effective than others. Here are seven secrets to successful fundraising.
 
Secret #1:  Volunteers
Though harvesting the involvement and support of volunteers takes time, effort, and patience, their benefit to fundraising is immeasurable.

Those who secure major gifts recognize that no matter how noble their cause, how articulate their staff, or how well written their case statement, involving volunteers in cultivating and soliciting donors can largely influence the size of the gift. While staff should continue to be advocates for the organization and tell its story well, the influence and credibility a volunteer can bring to the effort is paramount to an organization’s ability to secure major gifts.

It is extremely helpful to organizations when a volunteer uses their influence and good name to open doors and invite friends, colleagues, and associates to join in the mission of the school. After all, that is a key expectation of them in their roles with your organization. Yet, sometimes organizations have prospects whom they are trying to reach, whom they feel have a proclivity for their mission, but with whom they do not have a link or a relationship. Even in cases as these, a volunteer can be a very compelling source in the cultivation and solicitation process, bringing credibility and demonstrating buy-in among the volunteer leadership of the organization.  

In addition to lending their good names to your efforts, volunteers are also prospective donors to your organization. It behooves organizations to consider their volunteer relationships on an equal plane as donor relationships. After all, these volunteers may, in fact, be your future major gift donors, if they are not already. Inviting volunteers to be a part of your mission by seeking their input, providing them with the inside scoop on your strategic plans, and helping them realize they are in partnership with you to conduct your mission will help ensure this loyalty for the long term.

Secret #2:  Cultivation
It cannot be overstated that proper initial and ongoing cultivation is a key factor in an organization’s ability to secure a major gift. Cultivation need not be an arduous or expensive operation. Providing regular communication via monthly memos, newsletters, and personal notes; giving tours; making personal visits; and offering special, personalized attention to prospective and current donors goes a long way in ensuring their support. Your prospects and donors should receive the inside scoop on your school’s happenings and plans. Help them to feel ownership of your organization, that their partnership and their voice—and not just their money—are important to you. Foster their desire to feel special and recognized because of their support of your mission.

In addition to keeping donors informed and feeling appreciated, it is important to learn about each donor’s specific interests in your organization and any personal history they wish to share with you.    

Donors have a choice as to whether and where they make gifts. Most donors want to be a part of your mission, partnering with you to change lives. Treat them as partners, as family of your organization. Their investment will continue, and their love for your organization will never perish.    

Secret #3:  Deferred Gifts and Gifts of Assets
Often when we think of major gifts, we visualize six-figure checks or pledge forms with commitments of 3 to 5 years. Yet if fundraisers only target those with ample cash to give, they limit their prospects considerably. The savvy fundraiser is able to educate these prospective donors on multiple ways they can give to support the organization’s missions that can also provide helpful tax breaks and can even enhance the income of these prospective donors.  Deferred gifts and gifts of assets are two broad sources of gifts that, if accepted by an organization, can provide major support. 

Deferred gifts are gifts that are promised in wills, trusts, annuities, 401(k)s, IRAs, insurance, etc.  Otherwise known as planned gifts, these gifts do not come to fruition in their entirety until the donor has passed away. Most organization’s need for a deferred giving plan can be addressed by accepting bequests of a donor’s estate, 401(k), IRA, or insurance. Other than outright gifts of cash or pledges, the latter are the easiest giving methods for donors and non-profit professionals to understand. Moreover, implementation is relatively simple, as the donor merely needs to list the organization in his or her will by either allocating a percent or dollar amount of the estate to the organization, or as a beneficiary of a 401(K), IRA, or life insurance policy. 

In addition to accepting and soliciting deferred gifts, encouraging gifts of assets from donors (such as properties, land, cars, collections, and art) can provide great tax advantages to them, while allowing them to support your mission, and can provide substantial cash to your organization upon their liquidation. Also, some gifts of assets may provide important resources that your organization can use, especially gifts of land, vehicles, buildings, etc.  Carefully crafted gift acceptance policies should dictate what types of assets the organization will accept in order to protect the organization from receiving gifts that might cost them, such as properties with liens on them or gifts that will be difficult to liquidate or that do not hold much value.

Secret #4:  Follow Up
We must always remember that it is never the donor’s responsibility to follow up. Even in cases where a donor tells us they will be in touch soon, the savvy fundraiser will ask if he or she can contact the donor in the next couple of weeks to answer any questions the donor may have and then flag his or her calendar to follow up by said date. While some donors may be annoyed with follow-up calls, many welcome this attention that lets them know how important their support to the organization is—how important they are to the lives you touch.

The inability to close gifts is what keeps many organizations from succeeding in their fundraising. Following up is communication, and the savvy fundraiser knows that communication is the essence of appreciation. If we have asked for a gift and we never return for an answer, we risk communicating that we have moved on to bigger and better things. 

Secret #5:  Face-to-Face Solicitations
While a letter or phone call might be a perfectly fine way of securing $25, $50, or $100 gifts, it is not an appropriate method for soliciting major gifts. While the size of a major gift can be relative to an organization, a good rule of thumb for most organizations is to make personal contact, ideally via a face-to-face visit, for any solicitation greater than $1,000. 

The thinking behind this rule is that major gift donors deserve the respectful gesture shown when you take the time and make the effort to arrive at their office, their home, or to lunch with a planned approach and a volunteer who believes in your organization at your side, informing them of how they can partner with you to benefit those you serve. 

Secret #6:  Do Your Homework
Certainly, not all of our major gift prospects are millionaires, though many are and, yet, we may not recognize them at first glance.  Also, many major gift prospects fit the description of what most of us view as the prototypical high net-worth individual, yet they are not necessarily able to make the same level of gift as someone with greater wealth. 

What this reveals to us is the importance of determining our prospective donors’ capacity to give before making a request. Solicitations should always reflect the donor’s greatest capacity to give and doing your homework helps ensure money is not left on the table.

Savvy fundraisers in some organizations find this task simple as they have access to costly prospect research and wealth search engines.  Yet, the rest do their homework relying on good old-fashioned round-table and one-on-one discussions with the organization and community’s “usual suspects” who may have information about a particular donor’s giving history and capacity. Researching donors’ past gifts to your organizations can also help assess a suitable request to make. 

Secret #7:  The Truth
When it comes to major gift fundraising, the truth is there really are no secrets, only strategies and hard work that, when combined together, result in successful fundraising and friend-raising.  The savvy fundraiser understands that fundraising need not be a complex matrix only navigated successfully by those who know its secrets. Rather, the savvy fundraiser knows that some fairly simple practices and methods, when implemented and not overanalyzed, will result not only in fundraising success but in new life breathed into your organization as you invite others to join you in service to others.

Bridgette O'Connor is vice president of Hartsook Companies, Inc., a national full-service fundraising consulting firm, www.hartsookcompanies.com.

Product Roundup

School Spirit Coffee
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Here-4-You Consulting
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Christian Flower Network
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Gift Bricks
Why not try a Gift Bricks engraved brick fundraising program? Backed with more than 22 years of successful fundraising projects for thousands, Gift Bricks offers engraved bricks, tiles and other media, including marble, granite, slate, glass, and bronze for donor recognition and fundraising. Gift Brick epoxy-filled or Laser-blasted engraving adds clarity to the lettering and protects the material from chipping, cracking or filling with debris. Gift Bricks engraving process allows the capability to engrave copy, artwork, logos and signatures. www.giftbricks.com

Gold Medal Products
Make 70% to 80% profits at your next fundraiser with popcorn, cotton candy, caramel corn, nachos, pretzels, games and more. Gold Medal Products Co. is here to help you make the most money for your school or organization with the greatest ease. They are the one-stop shop for machines and supplies that have low food costs and great appeal. Plus, they are easy to use and take up minimal space.
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GoodSearch.com
Thousands of schools across the country are taking advantage of two new fundraising tools that allow students, teachers and parents to financially help out without spending money of their own. GoodSearch.com is a Yahoo-powered search engine that makes a donation for every search, and GoodShop.com is an online shopping mall of more than 700 leading retailers that directs a percentage of every sale to the user's favorite charity. Lack of funding causes schools to get creative, turning to these services to raise funds without asking their supporters for money.
www.GoodSearch.com