Friday, December 19, 2008

What Becomes a Major Gifts Officer Most?


Friends:

When I was in college riding the subways in New York City in the early 70s there was a series of advertisements that stood out from the rest. Stark, black and white posters regaled a famous Hollywood or New York icon draped in a Blackglama mink coat--with the caption: "What Becomes a Legend Most?" Stars such as Judy Garland, Sophia Loren, Lauren Bacall, Marlene Dietrich, Leontyne Price, now animal rights activist Bridget Bardot, and even Luciano Pavarotti posed shamelessly. But it was their slogan that always stuck with me (it's also a song title by Lou Reed). And now, in homage to that great ad campaign, I offer some thoughts and observations on the qualities I think are essential to being a great major giving professional: "What Becomes a Major Gifts Officer Most?"

Put the donor first - Despite what we all know to be true, validated by the groundbreaking work of Penelope Burk (Donor-Centered Fundraising), so many fundraisers ignore the donors' interest and barely spend any time trying to determine their philanthropic impulses. So many organizations set up barriers between their own fundraising goals and the donors' wishes. Remember, it's the donor who decides how much to give and for what cause. The more attention you pay to your donors, the more they will tell you about themselves--what excites and motivates them, and even how much to ask for.

Make your CEO the hero - The CEO is the architect and true spokesperson for the nonprofit. He or she should be comfortable interacting with CEOs and other powerful people in your community. The more visible and respected your CEO is, the more successful your major gift efforts become. Your CEO's time is valuable; use it wisely. If your CEO is reticent or uncomfortable interacting with major donors, then coaching, training, and consulting may be helpful. Major giving success will be extremely limited if your CEO remains a socio-phobe.

Know that you don’t own the donor relationship - You are the steward of what hopefully is a long relationship the donor has with the institution you represent. When you move on to your next position, if you have performed your work properly and ethically, that relationship will continue. There is a difficult fine line a gift officer must be aware of between enjoying time during social functions and developing a personal friendship with donors. If a friendship becomes too strong, perhaps it is time for someone else at your organization to assume the fundraising relationship with that donor.

Ask For Money!!! - Don't be afraid, it's what the donor expects. I'm amazed at how many major giving officers spend their days not only not fundraising, but constructing elaborate ways not to fundraise. Many of them have become experts on fundraising and can write treatises on the subject, many have received advanced certification and speak at conferences. But, for the most part, they are just pushing paper and managing direct mail programs. There are tools that can make you more efficient, help you identify your best prospects and track your donor interactions, but they are largely worthless unless you are willing to make the ask. If you can't bring yourself to ask someone for money for your worthy institution, then you don't belong in this profession. Period.

Follow a system -- such as Moves Management -- to organize your time - Many development organizations have a slap-shot approach to their efforts. An organized, systematic method is the "science" of fundraising that will enable you to grow the "artistic" part of the work. It enables you to develop attainable revenue and contact goals and eliminates the chaos. And it facilitates good reporting and dialogue between you and your boss. The best major gifts officers plan their donor calendars and interactions and are able to forecast what donors will give. To paraphrase the Cheshire Cat: "be careful of not knowing where you're going, because you might get there."

Become an expert listener - Always listen to the donor and know that your agenda comes second. I'm not suggesting that your donor visits should be purposeless, but donors will give you vital information that will assist you in ascertaining their financial situation as well as their receptiveness to your projects. You'll learn more about them, about life, and about yourself.

These are just some of the qualities I find that answer the question "What Becomes a Major Gifts Officer Most?" Are there qualities I've omitted? Please share your thoughts about this with the subscribers of MGTalk* or in the comments of this blog!

Talk to you soon!

Bob


*this posting is copied from the MajorGiving.com discussion forum on major gifts, MGTalk. You're welcome to join in and subscribe!

Monday, October 27, 2008

Wordle Version of Last Post


Friends:

I thought it would be fun to see what my last post looked like as a "wordle" cloud. Here's the result.

Click Here.

Talk to you soon!

Bob

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Remainderman of the Day


Friends,

Amidst the roller-coaster ride of the stock market, along with great skepticism and uncertainty about the federal government's bailout of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, banks, homeowners--you name it--philanthropy seems to be holding its own for the time being. On the MajorGiving.com listserv this past week we've been discussing the fact that many nonprofits are leaving money on the table by not having in place at least a rudimentary planned giving program in place.

I find this not only shocking, but reckless.

In a recent posting on the Planned Giving Design Center website, Robert F. Sharpe, Jr. discusses the economic impact on giving and advises us that right now donors--particularly older people--might be looking for gifts that provide income to themselves or to loved ones in the present or near future (charitable remainder trusts, charitable gift annuities) or that provide future income benefits and security to a loved one (charitable lead trusts, charitable remainder trusts with wealth replacement). Sharpe further tells us that "all roads now seem to lead to gift plans [that] ... should be structured so as to possess as many of the following attributes as possible:
  • enables a client to make a large gift in relation to his means in a way that addresses a personal financial or economic challenge that would otherwise preclude the gift;
  • provides maximum benefits to the charitable recipient within a reasonable period of time;
  • places no undue investment risk on either the donor or the charitable recipient; and
  • affords the donor with maximum tax savings and other economic benefits.
The not-for-profits and advisors who master the incredible flexibility and power of these planning tools, as well as the tax savings, asset management, predictability and other advantages they bring, will find no shortage of eager donors and clients.
The impulse towards a bunker mentality right now is understandable among nonprofit managers who fear the unknown and are risk-averse (and wary of making a financial investment). And, while it would have been better for most of them to have launched planned giving programs when times were good, it's still not too late. With donors now keeping an ever more watchful eye on how their philanthropic dollars are being spent and on ways for their dollars to have maximum value for both the institutions they support and for their own economic well-being, it seems unconscionable not to roll out or expand your planned giving program now.

Talk to you soon!

Bob

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

False Dichotomy


Friends,

I was listening to one of several local public radio stations yesterday morning, and I was struck by the urgent tone of their fund drive. Shades of the old days...when on-air fundraising constituted begging and haranguing and creating the false dichotomy of "send us money or we'll shut down this station." It always reminded me of this great National Lampoon cover (believe it or not, I recently mentioned it to a bright, young professional, and she said, "I didn't know that National Lampoon had a magazine").

Fundraisers are more than ever being swept up into the urgency of meeting financial goals, so much so that good principals are being ignored. The desperation I heard yesterday as this station was struggling half-way into an hour of Morning Edition and needed to raise $800 to meet a $1300 goal made me shudder and switch over to music on my i pod. While I don't think that anyone could have forecast the current state of our economy at the beginning of the year, the hopeless frenzy of their tone led me to doubt the fiscal soundness of their organization.

While we're all watching the stock market in disbelief, and while this may be the most dire financial crisis we've seen in a long time, philanthropy should hold its own--historically it has during other major financial setbacks. The last thing nonprofits should do is suggest that their own financial underpinnings are too weak to hold. Why would any donor invest in a sinking ship?

I certainly wouldn't sugar-coat the messages; being clear about your need for financial support in order to provide your service to the community can be a powerful and compelling message in itself without the histrionics and hand-wringing.

I'm a fan of marketing whiz Seth Godin, who recently posted in his blog:

Inc. magazine reports that a huge percentage of companies in this year's Inc. 500 were founded within months of 9/11. Talk about uncertain times.

But uncertain times, frozen liquidity, political change and poor astrological forecasts (not to mention chicken entrails) all lead to less competition, more available talent and a do-or-die attitude that causes real change to happen.

If I wasn't already running my own business, today is the day I'd start one.

Challenging times require innovation and an eye towards opportunity. This applies equally to the nonprofit sector as it does to for-profits.

Talk to you soon!

Bob

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Major Giving Begins with Your Board!


An Early Commitment Stimulates Community Giving.

Nothing arms a major giving effort better than having an early, generous commitment from the board. It communicates the leadership is committed to institutional success and the value of philanthropy. As an ongoing practice, once it becomes enculturated, early board giving establishes a standard that leaves little doubt about the expectations of board members. At the early stage there might be some board attrition, but often this is because these board members never felt fully committed to the institution.


A Board Goal Helps to Balance Diversity of Income within the Board.

Every board needs representatives from a variety of constituencies being served by the institution. This obviously includes racial, ethnic and gender diversity, but a board is also enriched by professional diversity. For example, if your nonprofit serves pre-school children, then a board representative from a child services agency can provide valuable advocacy and perspective. Similarly, an educator should always be part of the mix of a balanced community nonprofit board.


By establishing a board goal, one that is both dollar and percentage based, you are able to take into account the different financial capacities of your board members. More affluent ones should be able to balance the more limited financial capacities of other board members.


Board Visits Should be Well-Planned and Should Team the CEO with the Board Chair.

This annual practice is time-consuming, but it also sets the pace for all board activity and provides the donor/board member with the courtesy that should be accorded all donors—a respectful face-to-face meeting. There is no harm in telescoping your intention of asking for money in advance of the meeting, but it is equally important to say that the meeting is an opportunity for each board member to ask questions, comment and offer insights that he or she might feel constrained to do within a board meeting. Because the primary purpose of the meeting is to make a request for money, any contentious issues should be tabled for a follow-up conversation.


Calculate Your Goal and Make it Attainable.

Suppose your board is comprised of 20 members and their total giving is $50,000. Analyze each board member’s gift potential and structure the campaign on the basis of reasonable giving growth for each person. One board member might be able to jump from $5,000 to $10,000, while another might find it a stretch to go from $250 to $360. Once you have made your calculation, set a percentage goal that is slightly less than the projected dollar goal, as you want to be sure that you can declare victory.


Rehearse Your Key Talking Points.

Ease of communication and an obviously strong rapport are essential to communicating effectively with your board. Make sure you are clear in your objectives and draft talking points for each visit. Base your approach on who has the stronger relationship with a particular donor, and let that person take the lead.


Fine Tuning

This approach will take training, practice and fine tuning. It is most successful when it becomes a codified agreement between the board chair and the CEO, and after several years, your board will no longer consider it novel, but, rather, a standard operating procedure that facilitates a better and more open exchange between the board and its leadership and the management of your nonprofit.


Talk to you Soon!


Bob


Monday, March 24, 2008

Person to Person Philanthropy


Friends,

A couple of weeks ago my wife told me that a colleague of hers (they're university professors) wanted to start a small, local fundraising effort among faculty and students to provide relief to a student who recently lost everything in a fire. He circulated an email asking for $25 or $30 donations, or whatever people could afford. Another professor (an ordained minister) wrote back to him and suggested that he should try to run the fund through the university's development office so that contributions would be tax deductible.

It's amazing that we've become so inured to people's personal hardships and accustomed to bureaucratic systems for handling our philanthropic activities that we assume we have to adhere to formal constructs just to get money to people in need. Thankfully, in this case, sanity prevailed and they proceeded with their small collection effort.

In an interesting article in February on one of the Chronicle of Higher Education's blogs, Face Value, an alumnus from Williams College is advocating for the college to permit alumni to fund requests from students and student groups directly on-line and to have personal interactions with them. The donor feels, "the College wants to control the money. It does not trust students to ask for reasonable things. It does not trust alumni to refrain from funding unreasonable requests. It worries that student awkwardness will harm its relationships with alumni donors.”

I believe that we are just seeing the tip of the iceberg here. It has been hard enough for nonprofits to accept that their major donors want accountability and the opportunity to designate where their dollars go and how they are spent. Now lower-level gifts (which are in decline because of the economy) may become even harder to generate for general unrestricted operating support. Being able to give on-line has brought a new level of immediacy to philanthropy for younger people, and institutions are going to have to be creative in their approach rather than refuse gifts from motivated donors who want some ownership of the projects they help to fund.

Talk to you soon!

Bob

Friday, February 29, 2008

Tell Your Story

Friends,

One of the pleasures of writing a blog is that you start paying attention to other blogs. I've been watching one for a while--Don't Tell the Donor.org, which is one of the most irreverent sites I've found in the nonprofit blogosphere. The site's conceit is that the author maintains anonymity because he/she works for a nonprofit and risks being fired if the opinions expressed go a bit too far. The author doesn't blanch at being a social critic of the practices and excesses of the nonprofit world, and the posts are insightful and supportive of those of us who work for or with nonprofits.

A recent one, entitled, The best fundraisers are those who can tell a story, features a video of Professor Brian Sturm from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: "He describes storytelling as a way of organizing information, conveying emotions, and building community."

At our 2007 conference--MajorGiving: The Conference 2007, we held two breakout sessions all about telling your institutional story. While everyone's story-telling ability varies, it's clear that being able to talk about your organization in the most compelling fashion is a sure-fire way to gain attention and audience.

A couple of weeks ago, my wife and I held a "buzz party" for the Contemporary American Theater Festival (CATF), on whose board I serve, and one of whose stories (a rather compelling one about their courage to produce a controversial work over the objections of a couple of board members) I told at the major giving conference. Because we live in Winchester, Virginia, which is about 40 minutes from CATF's home in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, we wanted to introduce the theater company to our community. We rented the local arts council, hired a local 15 year old jazz sax prodigy, and slaved to do the hors d'oeuvres ourselves. About seventy people attended, and for all of our efforts, what mattered the most was the mesmerizing and compelling story of the theater and its upcoming season that was presented by CATF's Producing Director. There's a certain evangelical quality about him, and I began to appreciate how this man lives and breathes the mission of his organization. The audience at the party was spell-bound, and I was told by at least a dozen of them that they were planning on attending this season.

I think we do a disservice to the organizations we serve when we don't communicate our mission and service in an exciting way. Humans respond to narratives, and, just as all books, plays and movies are, in essence, variations on the same myths that have been told for thousands of years, making our institutional stories new and relevant is central to our ability to win the hearts and minds of our donors.

Keep messages about your organization fresh and exciting and donors will respond!

Talk to you soon!

Bob

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

One Bloated Incentive Per Donor

Friends,

OK, I fell for it. The incentives offered by One Laptop Per Child (OLPC), appealed to my lust for new technology and a deal that was almost too good to be true--for $400 I would provide a poor child in a developing country with a laptop, add to the trove of technology in my home, and receive $400 worth of T-Mobile internet hotspot access. Seduced by the Maharishi of M.I.T., who spun this latest romp into venture philanthropy, I skipped the math, ignored my blogger/critic curmudgeonly spirit and nearly tripped over myself to take advantage of this offer.

As you may know, I have been critical of gimmicks in fundraising. I believe that the best fundraising practices--barring emergency appeals for tsunamis and hurricanes and the like--are about relationship building rather than mass marketing. OLPC is a classic example of incentive-based fundraising that does little to engender a long term relationship with the donor. And this project is one where their vaulting ambition o'er leaped itself, as the pitch was even more about the technology than the mission or the communities being served. OLPC's website is clever, but it seems to promote the toys rather than the outcomes. Even its wiki is light on stories involving communities being transformed by the technology--and you have to work hard to go beyond the hype.

So what have I learned?
  • Shame on me for bobbing for the bauble--I should know better.
  • The world would be better if all children had access to this type of technology, but after reading about numerous shipping delays (interesting article on the Boston Globe website), I'm skeptical that this foundation has the ability to deliver. Furthermore, they have failed in their efforts to collaborate with a variety of important manufacturers (including Microsoft) and countries that have their own manufacturers and requirements.
  • Perform more due diligence about any nonprofit before donating. Not only is the delivery mechanism suspect, but the technology itself is controversial, and it has been harshly criticized (OLPC seems to be reeling from a stinging article in The Economist).
  • Be wary of promises and examine each nonprofit's track record.
  • If you're a startup nonprofit with a great idea, don't forsake the donor. The nature of the emails I received from OLPC was presumptuous. The marketing hype promoted the enlightened self-interest of the donor, but I found the follow-up messages about the delays to be fatuous and downright insulting. Over the course of a month, all they did was reinforce my fears that the organization was run by arrogant messianic geeks who were contemptuous of anyone who didn't drink their Kool-Aid.
  • Don't make a gift in order to receive something in return. Give because you believe in the mission, vision, and values--and the track-record--of the organization.
I give to many nonprofits--more to those with which I have a personal interest. This is the first time since my first few gifts to public broadcasting where the "thank you"incentive helped draw me in. And it has left a sour taste--about the organization and about my all-too-human response to succumb to the hype. I'm not putting the hex on OLPC, and I wish them good luck. I ponder, however, over how successful new venture philanthropy will ever be. When people ignore Santayana's advise--in this case as it relates to a long, illustrious tradition of institutional advancement--they risk not only repeating the mistakes of the past but creating new, monumental blunders.

Talk to you soon!

Bob

Sunday, February 24, 2008

No Laptops in Sight


Friends,

I have been a big fan of Nicholas Negroponte ever since my latent inner geek became unchained when I read Stewart Brand’s 1988 book about him, The Media Lab: Inventing the Future at M. I. T. Over the years, his think tank and laboratory has been the leading edge in all things digital, and his own writings in Wired, many of which appear in his 1995 book, Being Digital, provide historical perspective, prognostication, and peroration.

I was not surprised when he turned his attention to the developing world and created the One Laptop Per Child project (OLPC). It's a great idea--at a low cost distribute special laptops to third-world children that can function in the harshest environments and network together wirelessly, and package it as a "gimme" for American donors. Here's the pitch: for $400 you give one and you get one. Even better, OLPC managed to get T-Mobile to provide all "donors" with a free year subscription to their internet hot spots at Starbucks and airports around the country--a $400 value. Everybody wins with this deal!

Well, I was excited and made my “contribution” of $400 in mid-December, understanding, of course, that I might not receive my laptop until right after Christmas—this was made clear in my thank you letter on December 20th. On January 6th and 10th I received identical emails thanking me for my gift and advising me of my order reference number. Then, on January 20th, they sent me an email message to tell me that my laptop was in the queue for shipment and that I would receive another email on the 23rd to tell me when I could expect it to arrive.

I found this strange, and I wondered whether there was a supply/demand problem that would affect third-world children from receiving their laptops--after all, that's what this program is all about.

On the 24th my email from them advised me that they were awaiting the arrival of new inventory and that I would hear from them in a couple of days. On the 31st, they finally acknowledged a problem and advised that I would receive my laptop within 45 to 60 days, and that a dedicated phone line was set up to handle refund requests from those who want to reconsider their "contribution." They also finally touched on the mission side of the equation:

In the meanwhile, please know that laptops are in the process of going to Mongolia, Cambodia, Afghanistan, Rwanda and Haiti as part of the "give one" side of the equation. Fortunately, OLPC's mission of getting laptops to the children in these countries has not been delayed. In Mongolia , the children are already enjoying themselves and learning new things with their XO laptops. Please see: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Ulaanbaatar.

A week went by and I finally decided to ask for a refund. I called their number, and it took twenty minutes for the person on the other end to locate my gift, perhaps because my reference number was different in three of the emails. Upon finding it, she asked if I would accept a $200 refund so that a laptop would still be provided to a child in a developing country. I explained that they failed to gain my confidence in their ability to deliver on anything and that I would rather re-direct the funds to a philanthropy in which I felt confident. She said she would pass my comments and I would receive a refund on my credit card within seven business days. Three weeks later, there’s been no credit to my account.

Why am I not surprised?

In my next post, I’ll share some lessons learned from this experience as well as general observations of incentive-based philanthropy.

Talk to you soon!

Bob


Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Find Your Muse


Friends,

I can't believe a month has passed since I posted to this blog. First there were the holidays, then the post-holidays. The most time-consuming thing, however, was my group's second annual get together--MajorGiving: The Conference 2008, which we held in Baltimore on January 17th and 18th. A modest "boutique" gathering of about 75 professionals, the event featured a half-day plenary session by Robert F. Hartsook titled after his book Nobody Wants to Give Money Away. The essence of his presentation was that donors want to change lives and invest in causes that have enormous impact, rather than "give" money away to unrestricted funds. Whenever I or another presenter discuss the disconnect between large-gift philanthropy and restricted projects, I feel a palpable discomfort within the audience. And yet, this is a message that all consultants and presenters bring to conferences.

I was marveling with my group after the conference about how many "superstar" author/presenters we have connected with over the years--last year it was Jerold Panas, this year Bob Hartsook, and in the past we have intersected with Kay Sprinkel Grace, Judith Nichols, and Marianne Briscoe. All of them are wonderful presenters who share important messages.

However, they all essentially say the same thing.

So why do we present them at our conferences? I think we finally realized the answer: everyone has his or her own muse. You may hear the same message a thousand times, but one day a new voice might be the catalyst for you. For me it was in the late 80s and the presenter was David Dunlop at Cornell University--one of the inventors of Moves Management
® . I also benefited from mentoring from several key people, including Dunlop.

So we keep trying to make the same message new and fresh and relevant to audiences. I don't know who will be the headline presenter next year, but I'm optimistic that he or she will be the catalyst for one of our attendees.

In the meantime...go out there and find your muse.

Talk to you soon!

Bob