How to Enhance Efficiency of Major Gift Officers (part 4 of a series)
By Tom Wilson Major Gifts Guru
Question: Any particular advice on operations to enhance efficiency of the gift officers and to ensure prospects don’t fall through the cracks?
Why Face to Face Contacts?
The whole point of people-centered philanthropic fundraising is matching a donor’s interests with the needs of your institution. The major gifts officer’s job is to build a fulfilling, lifetime relationship between the prospective donor and the organization.
Relationships are about people. Don’t be efficient through your email, letters, phone calls, be effective through personal visits. You need to pick up clues and cues that can only be obtained through personal interaction.
As I did research for Listen chapter 3 of my book Winning Gifts, I found the chart above indicating that 55% of all communication is nonverbal. Now, this research is quite dated and a research study should be done to retest the information. But, that’s what we have.
And, that’s why email communications are so dangerous. There’s no body language to review. This is why it’s so easy to turn down a request by phone (major gift officers – please don’t make telephone requests).
Use your people skills, your empathy, your smile to build strong, personal relationships with your prospective major gift donors.
So remember this mantra, just as real estate is “location, location, location” – major gifts fundraising is “face to face, face to face, face to face.”
Permanent Link: How to Enhance Efficiency of Major Gift Officers (part 4 of a series)
http://majorgiftsguru.com/2009/08/how-to-enhance-efficiency-of-major-gift_16.html
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