Joan Garry has some superb questions to ask those interviewing with you for a fundraising job, as well as what types of answers you should hope they provide.
I particularly liked Joan’s questions on their approach to philanthropy and how they would work with a board.
One of the truisms of fundraising, corroborated by expert fundraisers across nearly every type of nonprofit is that meeting in-person with donors almost always provides the best way to upgrade a donor to a more significant level of giving.
Which begs the question, where do you meet with them?
Rather than rushing ahead to the answer, start by reminding yourself: why are you meeting with them?
In general, you’re meeting with them to:
Given those goals, the major area of concern would be if the location is not sufficiently private for people to feel comfortable discussing their values or their money. Likewise, the venue shouldn’t be so noisy that it interferes with the flow of the conversation.
So in order of priority, I’d suggest asking them if they’d like to meet at their home or place of business.
You can say something like: “I’d be happy to meet you at your home or work if that’s convenient to you, or we can figure out some other option.”
If they leave you the choice, opt for the home.
If they say they are interseted in another option, my next recommendation would be if you have some location that demonstrates the value of your work. This could be a mini-tour. But only if there’s a quiet place to talk and sit down while doing so.
If nothing like that fits the bill, I’d then suggest your office. But that’s only if your office meets standards of professionalism that will match up with a donors’ expectations.
Lastly, if that’s not feasible, suggest a coffee shop or restaurant. A public location is least likely to be conducive to the conversaion and most likely to offer up distractions. With that said, it’s sometimes the right choice. While you want to go somewhere good, prioritize places you know are usually not busy. The last thing you want is for you and the donor to show up at a coffee shop where there’s no place to sit.
I was recently asked why I felt called to service. As it was asked, the question related specifically to my career’s focus on helping nonprofit organizations, either by working for them directly or as a contractor.
After reflecting a bit, I gave an answer that surprised even me.
I think my call to service was informed by reading a lot of science fiction growing up.
The science fiction I read growing up alternatively presented really positive, uplifting, exciting views of the future, or really dark, negative, challenging views of the future.
Most importantly, the books often focused on pivot points where things either went from “good” to “bad” or “bad” to “good.” And the characters in the books often played a key role in these pivot points.
I think this taught me two lessons in particular.
First, the future won’t necessarily look like the present. Change is possible, if not inevitable.
Second, individuals can have a real impact on what change happens.
Both are key to the mindset of someone who “fights the good fight” for social change.
If you don’t believe the future can be a lot different from today, you’ll be resigned to just let things be.
And if you don’t believe individuals can have an impact, why get involved?
So if you’re a parent who wants their child to become involved in social change work over the long run, pick out some good science fiction books and give them to your child.
Next step for me: work on a blog post outlining which science fiction books most impacted me.
Was there a science fiction book that had a big impact on you?
When I’m asked what are the most important attributes for an effective major donor fundraiser, I often say: “nothing beats being naturally curious.” Because a good fundraiser doesn’t talk at a prospect, he or she has a conversation and comes away learning a great deal about the donor/prospect. For people who’re naturally curious, this comes easily as they’re full of questions.
Of course, not everyone is naturally curious. Others need to be more conscious of the power of asking good questions and think ahead of time about potential questions to ask.
Good questions accomplish a variety of goals within a major donor meeting.
Here are some examples of questions that accomplish these goals.
What do you love about your work?
Why did you first get interested in X? (X could be their career, their volunteer work, a cause, a hobby, etc.)
Why does our cause matter to you?
Which of our programs are most appealing to you?
What’s the best gift you ever made?
What are your top philanthropic priorities?
The list could, of course, be much longer. And perhaps importantly, you should prime yourself to ask follow-up questions as people answer these in ways that generate more questions in your mind.
What’s the biggest barrier to organizations launching an effective major donor program?
My three nominees are:
• Lack of connections
• Lack of time
• Lack of skills
Let’s discuss each in turn.
Connections: Most people I talk to feel their biggest barrier is lack of connections. In my experience, this is not the case. When run through an exercise to identify who they have as acquaintances, nearly everyone I’ve worked with discovers major donor prospects ($1,000+) in their midst. More importantly, if conceived of as a program and not a one-time effort, everyone knows people who, in turn, know major donor prospects at even higher levels of potential. Part of an effective major donor program is identifying the “connectors” you know, securing their donations (even if at lower dollar levels), and then enlisting them in the effort.
Skills: Others come to me feeling their biggest barrier is lack of skills. This is, of course, a real barrier. Partly because lack of skills can lead you to use the wrong approach to meetings, leading to fewer and smaller gifts. And partly because the lack of skills can sap you of the confidence necessary to build an effective program. The good news: there are techniques anyone can use that will allow them to improve their success rate when talking to prospects.
Time: Lack of time is, in the end, the barrier that I find leads many organizations to fare poorly when it comes to launching an effective major donor fundraising program. It takes time. Especially at the start. You can’t launch a major donor program with a stable staff without clearly identifying what you’re going to do less of because time is going into major donor cultivation and solicitation. Even if you’re adding staff who will take the lead with major donors, you need to still identify the time needed by others in the organization and account for how it will be allocated — especially for Executive Directors who are essential to major donor fundraising.
Time is also a big challenge for programs that aim to take advantage of the board’s connections and passion. The best board member on paper isn’t all that helpful if he or she lacks the time to commit to helping an organization. This should be a major part of the conversation with potential board members in recruitment and organizations should overstate rather than understate the time requirements of serving on the board so as to maximize the number of new board members who can truly fulfill their role.
Guest blog by Liz Banse of Resource Media.
Thought Leadership: More than just a TED talk and, yes, more than just a fad
Have you ever dreamed of giving a TED talk and selling your big idea to the same folks who gobbled up Bill Gates big vision of innovating to zero, learned that gaming can be good, or how schools kill creativity?
What you were dreaming about was becoming a world-famous thought leader. If there was a word or phrase of the year in the communications industry for 2014, it would be “thought leadership.” Finally, a new phrase has pushed “storytelling” to the side as the “it” thing.
At Resource Media, we have heard a lot of you articulate your dreams of getting your bold vision out to a wider circle. There’s nothing we love more than working with visionaries – who wouldn’t?!
But, with all the ideas and excitement about thought leadership, what is it really?
First of all, it’s disruptive. Take any current notion of how things can or should be done and offer a completely different approach to solving whatever problem you have identified, and you are well on your way to becoming your industry’s thought leader.
Thought leaders tend to upend the status quo with a bold vision.
Thought leadership is not about being the most knowledgeable person on your issue.
If you’ve checked this box, great. But, before you go out and make your mark on the world, make sure that your organization’s brand is strong, too.
As the leader of an organization, your thought leadership should come around to benefit your organization. And, vice versa. If you know your organization’s brand is strong, it can help catapult you to the forefront. If it is weak, work on that first, before you work on your thought leadership plan.
Check. Now, you are ready to go forth and conquer the world. Package your thought leadership with an interesting life story (trust us, everyone has one). People have thought leadership, not organizations.
Create a video or some other vehicle that will carry your idea to others when you are not able to do it in-person. Attend events and conferences with audiences who can help you test out your idea and hone it even further. Actively pursue media interviews with journalists who can help spread your ideas among other influencers. Play an active role on social media, engaging in conversations with other leaders.
Watch your influence meter rise.
Guest Blog by Liz Banse of Resource Media
When was the last time you went to the doctor for a check-up? Hopefully, it was in the past year. But, what about your organization? Have you given it a check-up recently? Specifically, have you checked on the health of your organization’s brand?
Aw, we’re fine, you say. I know how to articulate my organization’s mission statement without even referring to the cheat sheet by my phone. But, do you know what other people are saying about you? And does that match how you describe who you are, what you do, and what makes you so unique?
At Resource Media, we like to say that your brand is what people say about you once you leave the room. If there is any sort of gap between how you describe yourself and how others describe you when you aren’t around, you have a brand disconnect. And a brand disconnect means you are not fulfilling your brand promise to your supporters.
That’s when you want to get back into alignment. A branding refresh is all about redefining and getting clear on what sets you apart from others in your field. It’s about finding the right words to communicate the value of the work that you do to the people who need to hear it most – whether they be donors, elected officials or community leaders, other organizational partners or anyone else you need on your side to realize your goals.
How does a typical branding process flow? Start with a discovery process where you interview people within the organization as well as those who interface with it from the outside (supporters, funders, policy makers, partner organizations, and others). Ideally, these interviews are conducted by a neutral third party with communications expertise so that you’re receiving candid views instead of people telling you what you want to hear. These in-depth interviews will give you the first clues as to the health of the brand.
Next, have someone outside of your organization review your organization’s materials – online and offline and write up what they perceive as your brand. Does their write up match what you had intended to convey?
You may also at this point want to do a broader online survey of organizational supporters.
Pull all the research generated together and hold a “workshop” at which you hopefully will generate some “a-ha” moments. The outcome of the workshop should be refreshed language about your organization’s core identity and some tactics for how to better communicate it.
Then, don’t forget to make sure everyone on staff (and possibly the board) is trained and any stock materials are overhauled. The result: Staff, volunteers, and those outside the organization will speak in one voice on how and what you do and, most importantly, why the work you do is important and unique.
I was recently asked by a nonprofit leader whether there are certain words or phrases that the organization should be sure to utilize in major donor fundraising because they tend to be particularly effective.
The leader (at the urging of a board member) was thinking about major donor fundraising as a marketing exercise in which certain words hold special power, particularly if repeated over and over.
In my view, major donor fundraising is more analogous to sales if one wishes to make an analogy to business. While I have no doubt some words are particularly effective in sales, my experience is effective salespersons think more about what stories and themes to tell than what specific words to use.
I responded to the leader accordingly. Don’t focus on what words to use. Focus on what themes should show up in the stories you tell donors.
I highlighted three themes to her.
First, it’s critically important to focus any donor conversation first on values and only secondarily on the work of an organization, statistics, or public policy. Connect with people emotionally by sharing your personal story and by speaking in values terms that resonate with them. Ask their story to understand what values motivate them. Only then are you likely to engage them in a conversation about your organization’s strategy and details in a way most likely to lead to major gifts.
Second, it’s very important that you both demonstrate there is a problem the donor wants to help you address and that they should have hope that your organization can be part of the solution. Don’t assume potential donors already get the problem and rush into talking about your programmatic work (which tends to be your solutions).
But that doesn’t mean the conversation can end with the problem. If all you demonstrate to donors is you’re working to address a problem, they are unlikely to dig deep. You need stories that demonstrate your capacity as an organization (and sometimes as an individual leading the organization) to address the problem. You need to leave them hopeful.
Third, donors increasingly need to simultaneously understand that your organization is uniquely positioned to make a difference and that it’s also not a “Lone Ranger.” This can be a quandary. On the one hand, you need to stand out from the crowd. On the other hand, donors increasingly prize organizations that collaborate and who can articulate how their work dovetails with others. You should be able to tell the story of your work that navigates this challenge.
Do these themes match up with your own experience as a major donor fundraiser? Are there other themes of equal relevance?
Public service announcement: A goal is not an activity, it’s an outcome.
The activity of educating people is not a goal.
More educated people could be a goal, with educating people (or more specifically classes, workshops, publications, etc.) the strategy achieve it.
Another example: Advocacy/lobbying is not a goal. Better public policies could be a goal, with advocacy/lobbying being the strategy to achieve it.
It shocks me sometimes how often people confuse the outcome they are seeking (the goal) with the activity to get there (the strategy).
End of PSA/rant.
Learning to say no is one of the most important skiils for any organizatonal leader or organization.
Oliver Bremerton recently wrote and illustrated a compelling explanation for how this plays at an individual level when it comes to following your personal dreams.
“Our brains behave like a beachball filled with bees. Hundreds of conflicting impulses, pushing us in different directions.”
Successful individuals (leaders, organizations, etc.) learn how to put aside the conflicing impulses and focus on the one, overriding “dream.”
Or in Bremerton’s words, “If you want to follow your dreams, you have to say no to all the alternatives.“
Content © Copyright 2010-2013 • Jonathan Poisner Strategic Consulting LLC. All rights reserved.
