Tailoring a Donor-Centric Fundraising Work Day for Planned and Major Gifts

1. Tailoring a Donor-Centric Fundraising Work Day for Planned and Major Gifts Chris Hochstetler MPA Director of Fund Development Missionary Society of St. Columban

2. Session Objectives • Achieve a focus on measures that can be employed daily to increase major gifts yield • Highlight basic prospect research utilizing free available tools • An understanding of the use of social media to enhance donor relationships

3. Questions for Colleagues • What is the most important “thing” that you do every day in your calling as a fundraiser? • What percentage of your day do you spend doing that “thing”? • What is it that keeps you from doing more of that “thing”? • How did fundraisers raise major gifts or planned gifts before a CRM? Before Wealth Engine? Before a database? Before phones?

4. What does your fundraising day look like? • Administrative duties? • Responding to e-mails? • Sending letters? • Telephone calls? • Personal visits with benefactors? • Prospect research?

5. Building a Major Gift/Planned Giving Relationship • Each benefactor is different and has different tolerance and preferences for contact • Rule of thumb, every major gift prospect should be met with personally at least annually, preferably more frequently • Every major gift prospect should have some meaningful personal contact during the building phase at least every 90 days

6. Building a Major Gift/Planned Giving Relationship • Take meticulous and accurate notes • Remember birthdays, anniversaries, children’s names, grandchildren’s names, death anniversaries, special occurrences etc. • keep your “radar on” for opportunities to connect based on mission affinity as well as your growing personal knowledge of the benefactor

7. Analysis of “quality” contact (placeholder slide) • Review of three actual major givers/major gift prospect profiles with redacted name, address and phone numbers

8. Know your benefactors • Utilize Google, annual reports, Zwillo, Truilla, Forbes, Corporate Wiki … • Find the time for prospect research, but do not let it consume your day • Set a Google alert on every major gift prospect • Utilize your organization’s Facebook , Twitter and other social media outlets for dialogue, but also to fully understand your benefactors

9. Examples (placeholder slide) • Briefly visit Facebook site as well as conduct a precursory Google search of a prospect and set a Google alert

10. Recommendations • Assign major gift/planned giving prospects to a development officer for “special handling” • Try to keep a development officer’s portfolio of “special handling” prospects to 150 benefactors • Conduct an average of 5 – 8 face to face personal visits per week • Build a relationship; this work is not done solely through letters, e-mails or telephone, but rather is supported by them

11. Recommendations cont. • Carry a fundraiser’s “kit” at all times • Case for support • Mission related stories • Cards • Thank you • Birthday • Sympathy • Get well • Post cards

12. Recommendations cont. • Have phone numbers and benefactor profiles with you at all times • Each benefactor has a personal “development plan” with an end state in mind • Know the “next step” in every benefactor’s development plan that is assigned to you • When in doubt, pick up the phone and call a benefactor; it is where the fun begins!

13. Questions?