The Important of Intentionality

Conscious, deliberate, purposeful.  These are all synonyms for the word intentional.  They are what should guide what you do, at least in a work situation.  And yet, too often, we are not intentional. We don’t think why we are doing something.  We don’t consider what we want the outcome to be.  In short, we spin our wheels a lot because we don’t focus on where we want to end up.

Fundraisers are often clear that they want their prospect to make a gift; a donor to make another. They think that everything they are doing is to ensure this end.  But by not being intentional, they go up dead end streets, take the long way around, get where they want to go but not in the way they wanted.

I think this is one reason that major gifts often take unconscionable lengths of time.  We are so busy “cultivating” we have lost the thread.  Every step, every move, needs to be considered.  You must understand why you are doing whatever it is you are doing.

Recently, a client noted happily that he was finally able to meet donors for lunch—and had three lunches planned for the following week.

“What’s the purpose of each of those lunches?” I asked.  We were on the phone, but I imagine he looked at me quizzically.

“I’m building relationships,” he said.  You can imagine me, sighing.

 Yes.  Fundraising is all about building relationships.  But be really clear what that means.  As a staff member, you are not building friendships.  You are creating tighter links with your organization and you are a stand in for the work that your organization does.  I’ve always maintained that fundraisers are a lot like furniture in a hotel lobby—comfortable, dependable, there.  But the odds of someone taking that furniture to their home and making it theirs is slim. 

Before you set a meeting, consider what you want to happen at that meeting.  You should understand the context—in three months I want them to say yes to a large gift—then figure out the building blocks to create the result you want.

Early on in my fundraising career, a prospect reminded me that my job was not to become her friend; my job was to help her make a gift that would benefit my institution and meet her philanthropic needs.  To do that, I needed to understand what those needs were and then to figure out what we needed that would fit her needs.  And oh, I had better be talking about money from the get-go.  “The last thing you want to do,” she said, “is design a gift that I don’t want to make.”

 Question one, therefore, is what is the purpose of this meeting?  It’s not to have lunch—that’s where the meeting will take place.  Is this meeting a move in your cultivation plan (and yes, you must have one that guides what you hope will happen.  It may change as things move forward, but you need to have a map) that gets them closer to the goal?  If so, what is that move?  Is this the meeting where you are sharing with them the gift you are suggesting?  Or are we earlier in our route and this is where you are finding out what they are interested in supporting? 

Above all, consider what you need to know in order to close the gift.  Things like:
·      How are philanthropic decisions made in the family?  It does you no good to cultivate Sandy alone if Cary is part of the decision-making process. Or the decider.  Or if decisions like this are never made without the advice of their CPA.

·      What do they want from their gift?  This could be anything from a naming opportunity to a sense that they are doing something important.

·      How do they want to be communicated with?

·      How do they want to be involved with your organization?  

As you work toward the gift, you do want to know what they love/don’t love about your organization.  What else they give to and where you stand in relation to those other organizations.  Have they considered also making a planned gift?

When I sold insurance, the most successful agent in my firm told me that at every single meeting he asked his potential client for something.  That something might be a follow up meeting; an answer to a difficult question, a recommendation of who else in the prospect’s industry or circle of influence might be interested in what Wayne (the agent) had to offer.  

“I got them used to saying yes,” he would tell me.  “And used to my asking.”  

It was great advice—advice that I carried forward in my fundraising career.  I would ask them to come for a tour; to a performance.  I would ask them to review an appeal that would be going out, or to read an article that was going to appear in our monthly magazine.  I often would ask for advice.  

With each positive answer, our relationship became stronger.  I don’t believe it is all about us giving things to our donors;  I think it is about inviting them inside the work we do.  That is what matters—not the free tickets, or the special parking, and certainly not the flowers or the coffee mug.  It is giving your donors an opportunity to be part of something that matters to them, and to see the impact that their connection has and to understand the importance of their generosity.