Interviewing Major Gift Officer Candidates

How Can You Find the Right Fundraiser?

I get asked by many of our clients seeking great fundraisers: "What questions should I ask?" "How can I find the right one?"

For expert advice contact Campbell & Company's search division, they work on the very high level national searches. What I have found in hiring my own staff members when I was a university vice president, and what has worked with clients are the following ideas.

First, look at that resume for impact statements. Not, I was responsible for the annual fund, but I boosted the annual fund by 25%. Where have they made a difference in terms of results: dollars raised, volunteers recruited, campaign goals achieved.

Conduct a phone interview. Can they market themselves to you over the phone? If not, they won't be able to market your institution.

• Tell me the process of how you secured the largest gift in your fundraising career?
• What was the most disappointing major gift you have worked on and why?
• What process do you use to take a nondonor to major gift status?
• Given the materials we have supplied to you and assuming we are a major gift prospect of $25,000 or more, spend 15 minutes presenting a case for support for our organization.
• What tools do you need to be successful in major gifts fundraising for our institution?
• What skills do you bring from other life experiences that will help make you successful in this job?
• How do you continuously develop your skills as a major gift fundraiser? Be very specific, tell stories of exactly what you have done in the past year.

Tom Wilson
Author, Winning Gifts

Permanent Link: Interviewing Major Gift Officer Candidates

http://majorgiftsguru.com/2008/05/interviewing-major-gift-officer.html

School of Music Naming

Follow Up Article

In an earlier, post, click here, I mentioned the story of the couple who named a School of Music much to the surprise of people who didn't think they looked wealthy.

Carolyn, a friend from Corpus Christi, Texas, related this story to me a few weeks ago. She just sent me a followup link so you can read the full article. Click here to see the rest of the story.

Tom Wilson
Author, Winning Gifts

Permanent Link: School of Music Naming

http://majorgiftsguru.com/2008/05/school-of-music-naming.html

A $50 Million Dollar Miss

Another great story from my recent trip to Texas for AFP and AHP. A doctor and his wife were interested in a university's school. They weren't that impressive looking: quiet, serious, modest attire. The dean was too busy. Several years later this same couple made a $50 million gift to name another school.



The lesson for major gift fundraising, for capital campaign fundraising? Don't judge a book by its cover or a donor by their appearance and behavior. A great gift could be waiting for you.

Photo courtesy pensionriskmatters.com

Tom Wilson
Author, Winning Gifts

Permanent Link: A $50 Million Dollar Miss

http://majorgiftsguru.com/2008/05/50-million-dollar-miss.html

Technology Outsourcing for Support Staff

I have so much fun as I wander the country doing my book tour and coaching sessions. I was in Corpus Christi, Texas last week talking to the AFP Coastal Bend chapter there. One of their leaders, Carolyn, told me about a new technology that is helping out her and her client.

www.GotVMail.com -- this is a voice messaging system that makes your small nonprofit organization look bigtime. Carolyn is using a British accent phone message to add some class to her project. She loves the reports she gets on the messages -- phone numbers and an opportunity to review their messages to get the quality of the yes'es and no's to her upcoming special event. She's using a $50 a month upscale package. It sounds expensive until you realize that's the total cost of her administrative support for this project.

Check it out.

Tom Wilson
Author, Winning Gifts

Permanent Link: Technology Outsourcing for Support Staff

http://majorgiftsguru.com/2008/05/technology-outsourcing-for-support.html

Recent Coaching Sessions

Barry Fowler of Clark Fork Valley Hospital (Plains, Montana) and presented a case history of Barry's capital campaign at a meeting of the Western Montana Fund Raisers Association (WMFRA) in Missoula. This was a warmup to a presentation at the AHP Regional Conference for Rockies & Southwest in San Antonio, Texas.

I will be presenting a summary overview of Winning Gifts, my new book, at AFP Coastal Bend Chapter in Corpus Christi, Texas.

The Win Win Ask coaching session was recently presented to Mid Valley Development Professionals (MVDP) in Albany, Oregon.

These are free presentations that I do as a service to the field as I have time in my consulting schedule. Let me know if I can be of help.

Tom Wilson
Author, Winning Gifts

Permanent Link: Recent Coaching Sessions

http://majorgiftsguru.com/2008/05/recent-coaching-sessions.html

A Wow Impact Story at Shriners Childrens Hospital

One of the reasons many of us love to do major gift fundraising work, is the great nonprofit charities we get to work with. Our firm has just started working with Shriners Childrens Hospitals in Portland and St. Louis to prepare them for major capital campaigns. The staff has been telling me their case stories. I'd heard about the spring prom that they hold for kids each year. I saw the sign inviting teenagers to attend, but the full impact of this case story didn't hit me until I read this newspaper article. It describes the kids with severe disabilities and life challenges having a regular kids night out, a hospital prom.

Here are some highlights from Tom Hallman, Jr.'s powerful story.

"They didn't have to worry about fitting in. Or being understood. Or being accepted. . . . An elevator door opend and Megan Johnson, who just turned 17, stepped into the lobby in a long prom dress. She's been coming to the hospital since she was 5. She's had 24 operations on her face. Her mom noted that she is a straight A student. They came to the prom from Seattle (the Portland hospital serves 5 states and 2 Canadian provinces). 'Tonight, no one will laugh at her. No one will snicker behind her back. Tonight she can just be Megan.'

"Everything — the food, DJ, and decorations — is donated. . . . A girl on crutches dances, standing in one place but swaying to the beat. A boy in a wheelchair dances with her, his wheelchair twisted back and forth by one of the high school volunteers."

"After Eleanor Crawford get her daughter, Ashley, registered, she takes a seat and watches her 17-year -old daughter, who has spina bifida, slowly move to the dance floor on crutches. After 20 major operations, she's at the dance. 'My daughter never had any friends. . . . At last year's dance, Ashley met a girl in a wheelchair. They became friends. Best friends. They now text message each other. That one dance changed my daughter's life. It gave her the confidence to open up to other girls in school. She blossomed.' So much so that she invited one of the girls from school who is autistic to come to this year's Shriners prom."

Share winning gift stories like these with your donors. We sure have great jobs don't we?

For the full story click here.

Tom Wilson
Author, Winning Gifts

Permanent Link: A Wow Impact Story at Shriners Childrens Hospital

http://majorgiftsguru.com/2008/05/wow-impact-story-at-shriners-childrens.html

My Donors Don't Want to Burden Me with Recognition

As part of our ongoing Q&A sessions, here is a response to a question I got from someone who was hearing from her donors not to bother with recognition.

You should remind your current donors that while they may not want the recognition or to burden your time you need visible donors that have named rooms and are honored at events to be role models for “not yet donors.”

And, while they may not want the extras there are some donors that do, so you and your staff need to build strong habits with friends so that new donors who are testing your recognition systems are comfortable. It’s hard to turn recognition on and off. It needs to be on for everyone (of course respecting sensitivities of each donor).

To get an opportunity for a thank you meeting to discover recognition sensitivities, keep your agenda short (10 to 15 minutes), offer flexibility of meeting time and place, and don’t meet too often you won’t be considered a bother. At the end of each meeting, negotiate when you should meet again. Some people welcome these visits while others are okay to see you once a year.

Tom Wilson
Author, Winning Gifts

Permanent Link: My Donors Don't Want to Burden Me with Recognition

http://majorgiftsguru.com/2008/05/my-donors-dont-want-to-burden-me-with.html