Moves Management: Cultivating Donor Relationships Desirae DavisMaryEllen Dickey Principal ConsultantSr. Vice President of Advancement Gobel Group Diakon Lutheran Social Ministries 1

How Does Fundraising Impact Your Organization? $$$$$$$$$$ Organization Awareness in the Community Relationship Development…Partnerships with individuals & businesses that are different from those you serve 2

How do you, a professional fundraiser, calculate success? Total $ raised Increased new donors Campaign goals achieved Increased # of CGA’s written – More Legacy donors (planned gifts) 3

How does your organization calculate your success ? Total cash received…aka…revenue Work within your budget ROI 4

Times are a changing…get on board! Fundraising is no longer a “Grip and Grin” process It is a professional business Donors are smarter and well informed They expect you to be prepared Your board expects statistics… Proof of Success 5

How do we better prepare for your donor interactions? Do your research Make a donor plan Determine how you will "move” your donor towards a gift with every step 6

Identifying the Prospect How do you identify suspects and prospects? – History of Giving – Research Wealth-screening Data Analytics – Faculty / Staff – Volunteers Peer Review 7

Setting the Appointment Goals: – Secure a visit – Or, ask for annual gift Pre-Call Checklist – Review notes and background material Database Giving history Preliminary research – Preference for Date and time for the appointment The Conversation 8

Qualifying the Prospect Goals: – Build rapport and credibility – Determine interest and capacity – Identify next step or ask for annual gift Pre-Visit Checklist – How long is the appointment? – Who will be at the meeting? (spouse, child, etc.) – What leave behinds need to be brought to the appointment? – What is the agenda for the meeting? – What next steps could you potentially align the prospect to? 9

Qualifying the Prospect Conversation – Preliminary pleasantries – Introductory statements Who are you What is your role What do you want – Information collection Experience Background/History 10

Cultivating to Identify Interest Goals: – Take information the prospect has already shared and ask more questions to further define interest – Use this information to make connection to institutional priorities – Align prospect for next visit or ask for annual gift Pre-Visit Checklist – Same as previous meeting Confirmation?, Location?, How long?, Who will be there?, and Agenda? 11

Cultivating to Identify Interest Conversation – Further determine areas of interest Moving Forward – Ask for a next visit Will likely include someone who can articulate a case for support – Ask for a leadership annual gift If the prospect says no, reassign to annual gift fund 12

Articulate Case for Support Goals: – Connect prospect’s interests to priorities – Articulate a case for support – If ready, soft ask for gift Pre-Visit Checklist – Same as previous meeting Confirmation?, Location?, How long?, Who will be there?, and Agenda? 13

Articulate Case for Support Conversation – Elevate the conversation and make case for support – Summarize past discussions – Opportunity to have impact on the future Moving Forward – If ready, soft Ask: Open to beginning a conversation about a gift – If not, continue cultivation 14

Making the Ask Goals: – At this point the question is not whether the prospect will give, but how much they will give Pre-Visit Checklist What are you asking for? How much are you asking for? What recognition will you provide the donor? Any compromise on lower gift? If you close, what questions do you need to ask concerning stewardship of the gift 15

Making the Ask Conversation – Reaffirm the prospects interests and thank them for considering a gift – Ask for the gift – Wait for a response from donor Likely responses: – Sounds great, lets do it – Sounds interesting; let me talk to my family and get back to you. – I would like to help but money is tight or not the best time for me. – Prospect says no – ask for annual gift 16

Making the Ask If it appears that the prospect is not going to make a major gift at this time: – Ask for a leadership-level unrestricted gift or multi- year pledge – Ask for a leadership-level restricted gift or multi-year pledge – Defer any ask and wait for a better time to renew discussion 17

Closing the Gift Goals: – Working out the details of the gift: How much For what purpose Terms of payment – Working out details of Stewardship 18

Closing the Gift Conversation Reiterate the ask and ask if they had a chance to talk to their family about the gift Make sure the donor understands their options: – Payment options – Types of assets that can be used for gift – Acknowledgement and recognition 19

Stewardship Best prospects are past donors! – Yet gift officers spend very little time or effort on stewardship Four aspects to stewardship a gift officer needs to consider: – Gift Information – Acknowledgement – Recognition – Next Steps 20

How do you provide your leadership with proof of success? Statistics Benchmarks Metrics 21

Metrics Having metrics will create a stronger relationship between development and finance –Talk the same language You will be able to show ROI & trends –Total giving to expenses –Revenue to expenses Metrics for the department and each officer creates a professional environment for goal setting and evaluation 22

What does Diakon do? We create goals on total giving, not just cash Each development officer has a total giving goal of at least 3x his/her total cost Each officers goal includes separate goals for major gifts, endowments & CGA’s We benchmark against ourselves from year to year and best of last 3 years All activity is reviewed monthly Development pipelines are held monthly –Currently working with Gobel 23

Diakon’s Officers' Activity Metrics 8 face to face visits/wk Of those 5 moves visits, 2 stewardship visits, 1 COI visit Make 2 asks for funding/wk Manage approx. 150 prospects/donors in pipeline…must always be moving them 24

Questions? Desirae DavisMaryEllen Dickey Principal ConsultantSr. Vice President of Advancement Gobel Group Diakon Lutheran Social Ministries