How Major Gift Fundraising Is A Lot Like Travel

I am, at the best of times, a reluctant traveler.  Especially if the travel involves planes.  It’s not flying that bothers me—I don’t mind that part at all.  It’s the airports that I loathe.  And being locked into someone else’s schedule.  You would think that after years of work where others do impact when and where I have to be, I’d be used to it.  But as a consultant, I actually have a lot of agency when it comes to when I meet with clients—and I get paid for what I do, instead of paying the airlines for…well, no good will come of that rant.

Still, despite my dislike of travel, I do it.  There are places I do want to visit or revisit.  There are friends and family I want to spend time with.  Sometimes, though not often, it is work related and I do it because I must.  And then, whatever the reason for travel, once I do it, I am (almost) always glad I did.

Hmmm, sounds a lot like fundraising, except more people seem to not to want to fundraise than those who don’t want to travel (mystifying to me, I confess!).

Like with travel, the first thing you must do is figure out where you want to go.  That is the goal you set for how much funds you have to raise.  Your goal should come from your organization’s budget—general operating for how much unrestricted funding is needed and project budgets for those special fundraising efforts.

Once you figure out the difference between your current streams of revenue, you can look at the difference between those and what you need to do what your organization wants to do.  It’s not rocket science but it is important!  And, as you consider unrestricted funds, don’t forget about ensuring you have a robust reserve (3- 6 months of funding should things not go the way you want them to go).

Knowing how much you must raise, the next step is understanding how.  How will you raise these funds?

Look at what you are currently doing.  Can you increase the amount of what those efforts raise?  Sometimes, that simply takes doing a bit more of what you are doing:  writing more grants, asking more corporations for support, adding some new efforts to all your individual fundraising techniques.

No I said “simply” but we all know that simply really won’t cut it.

It will take a lot of work to figure out how to build your fundraising results.  Which is why I am a big fan of incorporating a major gift component to the fundraising you already do.

Many organizations think they already have a major gift fundraising program.  They have a number—anywhere from $500 to $50,000–and when someone gives them a gift at or above from range, they have a major gift.  But as I’ve said many times, if I am giving you a gift of $X every year, and that is at or above your major gift number, it is not a major gift to me.  And if you don’t make an effort to learn what really interests me about your work, you will not only be leaving a lot of money on the table, you are undoubtedly disappointing your donor.  Donors want, more than anything, to make an impact.  Your job is to understand what that means to them.

To learn that, you must connect individually with them.  And while every donor is important, you have just so much time, and your organization has a lot of needs, so you must be thoughtful in who you choose to approach.  It could be someone you know who has great capacity or a terrifically loyal donor.  It may be someone who has already told you about their philanthropic priorities and dreams.

In fundraising, we often focus only on the money.  I would argue that the more important issue is what your donor wants to do with their generosity and then help them to get there, which often means helping them to figure out how a gift can be structured.

That may mean a combined current and deferred gift; one given over a number of years.  It could be a gift made by a family or a group of friends with similar philanthropic interests.  The opportunities are limitless.  But it means taking that first step to discover just what will excite your donor.

In my fundraising career, the largest gift I ever helped to close came because the donor was drowning in appreciated stock and wanted to do something more meaningful to him than paying taxes.  The most meaningful gift I ever helped to close was from a couple who had a passion and made a gift to ensure that my organization would be able to fulfill what they dearly wanted us to be able to do.

The second was a large gift but paled in comparison with the first.  But the joy the couple received from seeing their philanthropic dream come true was amazing.  And I wish for every one of you, both large and amazing gifts that will help your organization to flourish.