Think HOW Before How Much: A Donor-Participatory Approach to Solicitation

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Description

Studies show that most wealth is held in assets, not in cash. Yet too many fundraising professionals, when deciding to ask for a gift, ask for a dollar amount, with little thought to where that amount might come from. This transactional solicitation invites the donor to think, “How big a check can I write?” It’s fine to start a donor relationship with some target amount in mind - if you earn the right to ask for it. It’s better to invite a detailed conversation about HOW that donor might make her best gift, for both your nonprofit and the donor.

Contributors

Dan Shephard

Dan Shephard is Principal of The Shephard Group, which provides training and coaching services focused on the intersection of major gifts and planned gifts, based on the philosophy that, from the donor’s perspective, they’re the same. Dan has taught conversational gift planning to hundreds of fundraising professionals at such institutions as Columbia University, the Smithsonian Institution, Florida International University, Rochester Institute of Technology, the World Wildlife Fund, and many others.

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Description

Contributors

Dan Shephard