Listening During Thank You Calls

Major gift fundraisers have a wonderful listening opportunity when they make thank you calls to donors. It's fun to talk with people when all you want to do is express your thanks.

As you thank the donor, gently probe for some information through three simple questions.

• Question #1 — Why did you start giving to us?
• Question #2 — Why is our organization important to you? The community?
• Question #3 — How are we doing in communicating with you in terms of thanking? Newsletters? What’s your preference email or regular mail?

This thanking and listening phone call can be done by all levels of your staff as well as by faculty members or physicians and board members.

Try it. Let me know what you find out.

Tom Wilson
Author, Winning Gifts

Permanent Link: Listening During Thank You Calls

http://majorgiftsguru.com/2008/03/listening-during-thank-you-calls.html

Hospital Corporate Naming Issues

In an article in The New York Times, several major corporate naming situations were described.

• $5 million from a local retailer to Columbus Children's Hospital
• $50 million from Nationwide Insurance for the Nationwide Children's Hospital
• Mattel Children's Hospital U.C.L.A.
• Hasbro children's Hospital of Rhode Island Hospital

These acceptable namings are compared to the highly controversial $10 million from Abercrombie & Fitch to name a new emergency department and trauma center at a children's hospital in Columbus, Ohio. A coalition of 15 organizations and 80 individuals, the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, is asking the hospital to reconsider acceptance of the gift. "It is troubling that a children's hospital would name its emergency room after a company that routinely relies on highly sexualized marketing to target teens and preteens."

For major gift fundraisers, the lesson is involve your board and volunteers in all naming opportunities to make sure the donor is acceptable to the community.

To see the full article, click here.

Tom Wilson
Author, Winning Gifts

Permanent Link: Hospital Corporate Naming Issues

http://majorgiftsguru.com/2008/03/hospital-corporate-naming-issues.html

Options for Endowment Investment Management

In a recent article in The New York Times author Geraldine Fabrikant described women's roles leading major charitable endowment funds at both universities and foundations. The article is quite interesting.

Of special note to all endowment major gift fundraisers were facts about university endowments. The median annual return for all university endowments was 17.5%. For endowments over $1 billion, the median return was 21.3%.

Several successful endowment managers have gone on to join or found foundation advisory investment firms. They may be worth checking out. They include:

• Botanica, led by Rosalie Wolf who ran the Rockefeller Foundation for 6 years
• Investure, a frim that now invests $6.5 billion for small endowments
• Aetos Capital with managing director Anne Casscells who had been chief investment officer at Stanford Management Company

These kinds of returns may not be possible this year of course (or in the future), but some of these investment firms may be worth checking out as they understand nonprofit values.

To see the full article, click here.

Tom Wilson
Author, Winning Gifts

Permanent Link: Options for Endowment Investment Management

http://majorgiftsguru.com/2008/03/options-for-endowment-investment.html

Kresge Foundation Changes

Campbell & Company is a member of Giving Institute: Leading Consultants to Nonprofits. At our December Giving Institute meeting in Chicago, one of the Kresge Foundation staff members gave us an overview of changes coming at the Foundation.

For a great summary, see my collegaue Jeffrey Bryne's newsletter. Click here to connect to it.

Tom Wilson
Author, Winning Gifts

Permanent Link: Kresge Foundation Changes

http://majorgiftsguru.com/2008/03/kresge-foundation-changes.html

When Should Our Capital Campaign Go Public?

This question comes up a lot. Why is everyone in a rush “to go public?”

People assume that when you go public a lot of donors will respond and make your fundraising life easy. Unfortunately, that’s not usually what happens.

Pareto’s rule — the 80 / 20 rule, is a century old, economic principal that 80% of economic activity will come from 20% of the marketplace. This is true for commercial enterprises (80% of Hewlett Packard’s profits come from ink cartridges) to capital campaigns (80% of the gifts come from 20% of the donors).

Many capital campaigns are finding that major gift donors are providing more than 80% of money — the 90 / 10 rule or 95 / 5 rule is more accurate.

Therefore it isn’t important to inform the 80% of small donors (the public) until you have reached all of your major gift donors (the key 20%). You want to talk to major gift prospects personally, rather than having them read about your campaign in the newspaper and having them send in a couple of thousand dollars rather than the $100,000 you might have gotten through a face to face gift request.

You want to stay in the quiet phase of your capital campaign for as long as possible to make sure you are cultivating the best prospects in your donor file. And, as you approach the 80% mark and prepare to go public you have a final opportunity to refine your overall campaign goal. For many campaigns, you will confirm the goal. For some, the struggle to 80% has been so hard, that modifying the goal or the timeline makes sense. For a lucky few, the 80% has come and gone with many major prospects still in the pipeline — consider raising the goal.

I had one capital campaign that was 108% of goal when we went public. We ended up raising $10 million on a $4.5 million initial objective. As we went public though, we had to restate our needs to declare the $4.5 million represented just the beginning of the organization’s real needs.

So don’t go public too soon. When you do go public, you need all of your major gift officers in place to respond to people who do become interested by the public announcement.

You must be successful. Don’t go public too early or you may lose momentum as the quick gifts of going public take you from 50% or 60% of goal to 70% (but not 100%).

We have found that going public puts prospective donors on guard. They are less apt to come to cultivation events as they now sense that these events are campaign asking events not informational sessions.


Tom Wilson
Author, Winning Gifts

Permanent Link: When Should Our Capital Campaign Go Public?

http://majorgiftsguru.com/2008/03/when-should-our-capital-campaign-go.html

Q&A Thank You Visits

Question:
For the past several weeks, I have been calling every donor who makes a contribution of $1,000 or more simply to say thank you. Several of these calls have netted some very good information. One thing I took away from today’s conference (the AFP 2/19/08 Listening to Donors webconference) is the need to add a list of questions. I will do that right away.

You mentioned the benefit of having a script. I have done these “off the cuff” to date, but have begun to wonder if I shouldn’t be pressing harder for a meeting. Do you have any type of script you could forward to give me an idea of how you conduct your thank you calls? I am particularly interested in the content of these calls, and when the tone of the call needs to change.

Tom:
I intentionally don’t use a script but rather a set of structured questions to keep things natural. Of course if you want the person to review your case statement or program activity, you can use some key points to make sure your agenda flows smoothly.

If you want a personal meeting, find that excuse for listening. Or, offer a site visit. If you’re just building a relationship, you may want to casually mention on your first thank you call that you will be holding some periodic site visits in the future and if it’s okay you’ll call back to let the person know the schedule. This keeps the first call focused on thanking yet opens the door to a follow-up call.
Just keep reinforcing that you aren’t making the call to ask for money, but rather to thank the donor for giving and to listen to them about their interests in your organization.

Tom Wilson
Author, Winning Gifts

Permanent Link: Q&A Thank You Visits

http://majorgiftsguru.com/2008/03/q-thank-you-visits.html

The MacArthur Foundation — The Rest of the Story

With as much traveling as I do, I get to read many newspapers on airplanes. A recent article in USA Today really got my attention. In the early 1980s in one of my first jobs, I was in charge of foundation and corporate fundraising for the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. I had just started on the job when we got a request from the newly formed MacArthur Foundation to submit a major grant request. They needed to meet their 5% rule and wanted to support the major cultural organizations in town. I really had to scramble to learn the institution and grantwriting at the same time.

The USA Today article reviewed the new book by Nancy Kriplen Eccentric Billionaire: John D. MacArthur — Empire Builder, Reluctant Philanthropist, Relentless Adversary. I learned a lot, mostly somewhat shocking, from the review about MacArthur and his business tactics.

“Surviving the Depression, Kriplen writes, was likely due to John MacArthur’s penchant for scamming [insurance] customers, vendors, and investigators.”

“In 1970, 73-year-old John realized his will ‘was a disaster from a tax and estate planning perspective. . . . The federal government would take most of it in taxes.’”

The Eccentric Billionaire tells how the $6 billion MacArthur Foundation formed from a person who cared not a bit about philanthropy, only avoiding taxes.

Tom Wilson
Author, Winning Gifts

Permanent Link: The MacArthur Foundation — The Rest of the Story

http://majorgiftsguru.com/2008/03/macarthur-foundation-rest-of-story.html

A Question About Taking Notes

Question:
During your experience working with prospective donors have you had anyone take offense to your note-taking during the meeting? If so, how did you respond?

Tom
As you know, I am big on using a notepad to take careful notes during donor meetings. Of course sometimes this is not appropriate if you are at a prestige social club (although I always keep a small notebook in my suit coat pocket to jot down quick thoughts and action item reminders).
In general, the only time I have problems with taking notes during donor interviews and meeting are with attorneys. They may not say anything but they stare at me writing things down. If that happens, I close my notepad and only reopen it if they provide a specific name or we agree on an action step.

Most people thank you for listening carefully enough to write down what they are telling you.

Try it.

Tom Wilson
Author, Winning Gifts

Permanent Link: A Question About Taking Notes

http://majorgiftsguru.com/2008/03/question-about-taking-notes.html

Recent Training Evaluations

I’ve recently completed a round of training programs for major gift officers, boards of directors, and an international webconference for AFP (108 sites and nearly 1,000 attendees). Here are some of the comments.

“Your Winning Gifts seminar was the best 4-hour training I’ve ever attended. Outstanding. ”
Greg, Vancouver (Washington)

“I really enjoyed the session: great reminders of what’s important in our jobs. Thanks for being so enthusiastic and inspiring.”
Tricia, Portland (Oregon)

“Many thanks for providing a wonderfully stimulating day. The session was accessible, thought provoking, and conversational for a wide audience. The ratings were very, very high.”
Kathy, healthcare

“I was pleased to be involved in this afternoon’s conference, Listening to Donors. It was great to pick up some new tips, and very affirming to hear many of your suggestions are exactly what we’ve been doing.”
Vanessa, Cincinnati

“Thanks for all the great tips and suggestions.”
Mary Lou, Cleveland

For information on Tom’s training topics click here.

Tom Wilson
Author, Winning Gifts

Permanent Link: Recent Training Evaluations

http://majorgiftsguru.com/2008/03/recent-training-evaluations.html

Q&A Board on Giving

Question:
I have several Board members who do not contribute financially to our annual program or to our legacy program (planned estate gifts). Any advice?

Tom:
Ever board should be aware that when you make a grant request of a foundation many will ask about board giving. What is the percentage of participation in your annual fundraising program? How much has the board supported the project you are asking the foundation to fund? Experienced individual donors will ask the same type of questions. If people closest to the organization who understand the situation the best aren’t willing to give, why should strangers and outsiders support the project?

Your organization and board leadership should decide if there is a set dollar requirement for board giving or just participation. I have worked with several boards that decided to adopt “rules of engagement” about what it means to be a board member in terms of attendance, annual giving, legacy giving, special event attendance, and participation in fundraising. You can certainly grandfather & grandmother existing board members but apply the new rules to all new board members. This alerts board members that times are changing. Decide what level of giving the board should be at in 5 years and set that as a future benchmark for recruiting new board members now.

The same concept applies for your legacy club. Not every board member has to join, but everyone needs to have a serious discussion with staff. A simple, 2-line codicil to their will makes them a legacy member. If every board would agree to give 5% or 10% of their estates, you will be in great shape for the future. If there are special issues (an adult disabled child), you can certainly exempt the board member from participation (or ask them for a token 1% of their estate).Your board really won’t understand fundraising for operations or how planned estate giving works until they have gone through the process of considering significant gifts to both.

Tom Wilson
Author, Winning Gifts

Permanent Link: Q&A Board on Giving

http://majorgiftsguru.com/2008/03/q-board-on-giving.html

Major Donor Interview

Mary Ellen Collins interviewed Alan D. Solomont, chair of Solomont-Bailis Ventures in Massachusetts, in a recent Advancing Philanthropy magazine. In addition to the article there is a great Q&A with him. You can click here to learn more about Advancing Philanthropy (unfortunately the entire article is not available online). Mr. Solomont chairs the board of Hebrew Senior Life (Boston), vice chair of Boston Medical Center, and serves on the boards of the Jewish Fund for Justice, Cradles to Crayons, Heller School at Brandeis University, the New Israel Fund, WGEH Educational Foundation, Tufts University, and the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library.

“My father grew up quite poor, but he was passionate about tzedakah (the Jewish notion righteous giving). No matter how little he had, he was taught to give and to provide for those less fortunate.”

• “I learned that those of us who are more fortunate have a responsibility to those who are less so.”


• “The most satisfying philanthropy is when I’m engaged with both time and effort.”


• “I’m very frustrated with anonymous giving . . . . Anonymous giving misses an opportunity to set an example for others.”


• “I hope it’s [my philanthropy] going to motivate other people.”

Tom Wilson
Author, Winning Gifts

Permanent Link: Major Donor Interview

http://majorgiftsguru.com/2008/03/major-donor-interview.html