This series of five articles explains why effective fundraisers must become bilingual, why they must learn the gift conversation from the prospective donor’s side of the coffee table. I suggested that we take time to translate the familiar language of the development/fundraising cycle into the four decisions we want our major donors to make.
In my last article I translated the language of Discovery from the Development Cycle into the first of the four decisions your donors must consider — WHY they might care enough to discuss your nonprofit with you, a fundraiser. This article translates Assessment, the next stage of the Development Cycle, into WHAT, for what purpose those possible donors might consider making a major gift.
The fundraiser wants to assess the potential for a significant gift; the effective fundraiser will go into this stage of the relationship intentionally, with a checklist of things to explore and investigate, including what might best motivate a major gift.
That translates into the possible donors’ mindset, and it’s important to understand that mindset. The couple sitting across the coffee table have decided WHY your nonprofit matters to them; you have done good work leading them here. Now they’re typically thinking about how much they can afford to give, usually from their checkbook. They’re thinking about a gift from income and they’re getting ahead of themselves, although they may not know it.
Your great opportunity here is to steer the conversation toward the topic of how great an impact your prospects might be able to make if you can properly motivate them. This is where you can ask something like, “If money were no object, what at (nonprofit) would you most like to support.”
You should come prepared for this part of the gift conversation. You can provide an explanation of possible gift designations, starting with unrestricted (always the boss’ favorite). You should prepare for a conversation about funding priorities. You could bring a list of donor recognition levels, and a menu of naming opportunites, both for physical spaces and named endowments.
Preparation matters, and is made easier once you understand that, if the relationship goes beyond WHY the prospects might consider giving at all, you must be ready to proactively pursue the next decision about WHAT might motivate the prospects to seriously consider a major gift, to expand their thinking beyond the checkbook or the multi-year pledge and invite them to dream big. Otherwise, you’ll risk the much smaller gift from cash.
My next article in this series will translate Cultivationinto the third of the four decisions in the donors’ language – HOW the donors might best make their gift.