On a recent phone call with my colleague and friend Chad Brown, he used these four words to describe a great development officer, especially a great major gifts officer. And Chad would know, he’s been doing major gifts work for years and is currently a Donor Consultant, Major Gifts Officer with the Greater Twin Cities United Way in Minneapolis, MN.

Priest. Someone who listens with discretion. It’s important when talking with people about money that information learned be held close to the vest due to all the important and private things that may be shared.

CEO. The person with the vision who creates an amazing plan. In this case it’s the annual development plan. This is the take-charge attitude. Development officers exhibiting CEO-type behavior motivate others to help them reach the agency fundraising goals.

Entrepreneur.  Great development officers are self motivated with a drive for results. They don’t need someone looking over their shoulder to meet their goals and often exceed by using new, outside the box strategies.

Ringmaster.  This one is really important. They get in the limelight when it’s important to do so. And then they take themselves out of the limelight to shine the light on others: donors, staff & volunteers.

As Chad explained to me, awesome development officers are all of these at some point in their day. And sometimes they are all of these in the same meeting. Which are you today?  

Social media. A conversation that’s happening at the speed of light these days on the internet.

I attended an awesome seminar last week with @ChrisBrogan, author and marketing & Twitter guru at Best Buy HQ in Bloomington, MN. I found Chris Brogan is as quick witted and entertaining in person as he is on Twitter.  And I found him to be a fountain of knowledge about how best to use social media. One of the most powerful things he shared with us: The three main ingredients of social media are Listening, Connecting & Publishing. With a big emphasis on the listening.

What social media offers for nonprofits is a way to listen to your community. Whether using Facebook, Twitter, a website that’s interactive or sending email with a call to action, the whole point is about more deeply engaging your community. The very best way to deeply engage others is by hearing what they have to say. And not just about you. Listen to what gets them frustrated, or excited or causes them to feel great about anything and build on that.  

The power of social media is that it CAN be helpful. If you don’t think so, take a look at how much money was raised in text messages in a few days following the Haiti earthquake. Millions of dollars. $10 at a time. By millions of people all over the world.

Being helpful is key. One of the best ways to use social media is in support of your fundraising and marketing efforts. How? Share startling statistics, answer FAQs, share the cost of serving one client, send followers to helpful resources at other people’s websites. The more helpful you are using your chosen method of social media, the more “followers, friends and engaged listeners” you’ll generate.

On May 6, my membership webinar topic will be Social Marketing for Social Profits. Guest speaker is national social media guru: Amy Sample Ward.  In a recent blog post @amysampleward talks about the Effects of Joining the Conversation.

Amy says: “People are talking online and the best way to influence what they are saying or how they are thinking about issues is to talk with them.

Amy reminds us that being an active member of the conversation…whatever the conversation is…pays off. But I say: First you have to join the conversation.

I’ve been asked questions like this often, but recently received this specific question and it seemed like a good one to share at the beginning of the year when you are making plans about your development efforts for the year:

“The organization that I work for has a great base of donors but the top of our pyramid only has 3 donors that we heavily rely on for support. How can we move some of our donors up the donor pyramid?” – from Sacha.

The easy answer is: Ask. Ask more of your donors to increase their gift size at in person meetings AFTER you have spent time with them one-on-one to learn more about WHY they give in the first place.

And, there is more to it than that.

Getting donors to give MORE once they start supporting and investing in your organization is part of what I call the “fun” of development work. Here are a few suggestions on how to create a system to always be working on this:

1. Take a look at your donor list and identify who has given faithfully over a few years, at a significant level, which might be $100 for some organizations or $500 in others and even $1000+ in others. Choose a group of 15 or 20 to start with.

2. Review this list with key leadership (board & staff and even former board members). Identify who would be the very best person to approach each donor to get to know them more deeply and engage them in the work of your organization.

3. Do some donor research next. Either use a firm who handles this or use this list of sites that I identified awhile back to help you dig around and learn more about capacity to give and their interests. Digging For Gold

4. Armed with that data and information, set a goal for what size give you want to invite from each person on the list.

5. Simultaneously, make sure the written messages on your newsletter, website and print materials is very, very clear about what you need the money for…and why more dollars are needed. Don’t ask, but share the facts about cost of your services, waiting lists, and so on.

6. Begin to set visits or phone calls with those identified on your list. Most important in those meetings is to LISTEN to them. Learn more about them. Learn what it is about your work that gets them excited and feeling connected.

7. I’m a big fan of letting the person know that I’d like to ask them to increase their gift, but that I believe they are not ready to do that yet, so I’ll be asking them to do that later, when we’ve spent some time together and I’m certain they ARE ready.

8. Always, on each visit, phone call, email and thank you letter or note, let them know about the waiting list for your services or what you are not able to do today due to limited resources.

9. Keep in touch with these special people gently, so as not to annoy them. Have a board member put a personal note on their thank you letter for their next contribution. Have someone phone them personally to invite them to see the graduation ceremony of your students or volunteers. Expect that only 20-25% will ever attend such functions, but that the phone call alone is doing the work to keep this person connected and engaged.

10. When you KNOW for certain that this person really does love your organization and has the means to say yes to what you want them to do: ASK. But WHO asks is key. It must be the very person they can’t say no to. That could be a client, a former board member, a friend of theirs or you.

11. When they do say yes, for whatever amount they agree to, acknowledge them quickly and personally. AND keep in touch all year long after the gift is given. Don’t forget them and ignore their investment.

This is a short list with lots more I could share about moving people up the donor pyramid. Check out these books for more great tips and strategies about both retaining donors and inviting gifts:

Donor Centered Fundraising, Penelope Burk
Yours For the Asking, Reginald Levy
Asking: A 59 Minute Guide, Jerold Panas

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