How to make major donor fundraising work for your charity · •Job titles . Mr Thanking •Close...
Transcript of How to make major donor fundraising work for your charity · •Job titles . Mr Thanking •Close...
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How to make major donor
fundraising work for your charity
Mike Bartlett
Director of Fundraising, DEBRA
Why Major Donors?
Sporting Societies
Donor Marketing
Major Donors
Community Fundraising
Corporate Fundraising
Dinners
Legacies
Challenge Events
High ROI
Low ROI Digital
Short
Timescale
Long
Timescale
Trusts and Foundations
Why Major Donors? Net Income
Unrestricted
Income
Restricted
Income
Events +
Challenge Events
Individual Donors
and Appeals
Trusts
Community
Fundraising
Corporate
Legacies
????
Return on Investment
Why Major Donors? Net Income
Unrestricted
Income
Restricted
Income
Events +
Challenge Events
Individual Donors
and Appeals
Community
Fundraising
Corporate
Legacies
Return on Investment
Trusts Major Donors
Why Major Donors?
Annual funding Capital funding Endowment
funding
Driver Budget-driven to
sustain
operations
Opportunity-driven
to fund
special projects
and programmes
Vision-driven to
secure
the future
Example Projects Project staff
Programme
facilities
Campaigns
Emergencies
Buildings
Medical research
Poverty
Research
Fundraising
Income Sources
(some overlap)
Events
Small donations
Community
Legacies
Digital
Appeals
Mid-level donors
Trusts
Corporate
Major Donors
(£5k+)
Trusts
Expectations!
Courtesy of Veritus Group
Models of Major Donor Fundraising
Event Giving
121s
Peer to Peer
(x8!)
Appeal Board
Subscription
(Club)
An Art and a Science
An Art and a Science
Vision
Mission
Projects
Organisational Commitment
Donors
(Partners)
Essentials
To implement a successful major donor programme you must have:
1. A genuine programme plan (how are you going to address the
need, with specific outcomes and costs)
2. Donor-centric culture (meeting the needs of donors)
3. A leadership culture that understands major gifts
4. Sound and accessible financial project information
5. Sound donor process (IT, data, record keeping, thanking)
6. Measurable outcomes (what impact will you tell your donor that
their gift made?)
The Journey
Third Sector Major Donor Report
Starting Out with Donors
Mr Flagging
• New £300+
• Coutts cheques
• CAF Accounts
• Sir/Lady/The Hon
• Google map postcodes
• Patterns of giving
• Job titles
Mr Thanking
• Close eye on Mr Flagging
• Quick research
• Personalised thank you
• Logged on database
• Logged on prospect list
• Next steps
• Account manager
Gems in your fundraising
• Do your research before events
• Allocate roles – events staff will be running the event
• Collect data
• Know the history and relationships of your key prospects
• Decide best contact to hold the relationship and get them
involved early
• Have a next step in mind when talking to supporters
• Personalise follow up
Qualify and Disqualify
Which donor would you focus on first?
1. Donor with a net worth of 200 million who made a £100 gift three years ago.
2. Influential community leader and philanthropist who has never given to you.
3. Donor with a net worth of £5 million who gave £5,000 to our most recent appeal.
Qualify and Disqualify
1. Size of gift – the bigger the better
2. Recency of gift
3. Pattern of giving – multiple gifts/upgrading
4. Capacity – the more the better
5. Linkage – the more connected the better
6. Interest – preference for restricted gifts
Start to Plan
• Gather a manageable list of names
• Know all you can about the donor
• Who is going to approach?
• How are you going to approach?
• What do you want to know?
• What are your next steps?
• What is your ultimate aim for that donor?
• Do you have senior level buy in?
• Listen – you need to know if they are genuinely
interested and what in.
Who gives the love?
Who gives the love?
Who gives the love?
Who gives the love?
• Senior Level involvement is essential!!
• Draft letters and emails from your CEO,
Programme Director, Services Manager,
Researcher, Doctor, etc
• Get them to follow up with a call or email
• You want meetings – increase your chances
• Face to face is your aim
• Must have next two steps in mind
Reviewing Progress
Engaging Donors
• If you had £500,000 to give away….
• What would you want to know?
• Who would you want to meet?
• What would you expect in return?
From Engaging to Asking
Essential criteria behind giving decisions of the rich donors:
1. Who asks – More than two-thirds (69%) will listen to a request that comes from someone they know and respect; less than a third (31%) respond to requests from fundraisers.
2. Impact - “Even if the cause is one which the donor supports in principle, the determining factor is their conviction that the gift will make a difference.”
3. Most donors donate to causes they have some connection to, and feel passionate about (not the neediest causes).
Dr Beth Breeze, Director, Centre for Philanthropy, University of Kent
The Ask
A major donor fundraising ask is not just about fundraisers talking about an emotive cause.
A powerful fundraising proposition requires:
• Clear vision and goals
• Clarity on the problem
• Proposed solutions with benefits and evidence
• Urgency
• Action Plan
• Reporting of outputs, outcomes and impact
The Ask
• When?
• Where?
• Who?
• What for?
• How much?
The Ask
• Right Time
• Right Place
• Right Person
• Right Project
• Right Amount
It works, honest!
Case Study - Scottish donor
• Cold research
• Link via a trust
• More research
• Invitation from a researcher
• Follow up
• Project engagement
• Face to face
• Ask - £85,000 gift
• Close
It really works, honest!
Case Study - Golfer
• Identified through event gifts
• Warm research
• Account management
• ‘Discovery’ conversations
• Meeting with Researcher
• Projects discussed
• Peer to peer giving agreed
• Lunch with researcher and peers
• £100,000 annual contribution agreed for 3 years
I told you it works!
Case Study – Hedge Fund Manager
• Suggested by golf supporter
• Cold research
• Email introduction by supporter
• Invited to events – always too busy
• Regular email communication
• Face to face meeting – eventually!
• ‘Discovery’ conversations
• Proposal emailed over
• Follow up meeting with CEO
• £65,000 donation (likely to repeat for 3 years)
More Knowledge
• Veritus Group blog and whitepapers (US) www.veritusgroup.com
• ‘It’s Not JUST About the Money’ Richard Perry and Jeff Schreifels
• Dr Beth Breeze, Director, Centre for Philanthropy, University of Kent
www.kent.ac.uk/sspssr/philanthropy
• Directory of Social Change www.dsc.org.uk
• Third Sector Major Donor Report
• Institute of Fundraising Major Donor Special Interest Group
• High Value Specialist Consultancies