Category: Year-End Fundraising

Magic ‘Moves Management” Steps for Major Gift Success


Moves Management Skills

Perfecting moves management is essential to securing major gifts. David Dunlap is a moves management pioneer. He says the moves concept focuses major gift fundraising on changing people’s attitudes so they want to give.

What are moves?
A cultivation opportunity. Any great way to get to know your prospect better and let them get to know your organization, mission, and programs better. A move must be important enough and passionate enough that the prospect regards this as wonderful giving opportunity to your organization. You must know something about the prospect before this visit. Cultivation must be according to a plan and mission directed. You must know exactly what you want to accomplish.
Examples of cultivation opportunities:
• Behind the scenes tour or your facility
• An invitation to a small special event
• An insider’s newsletter
• An invitation to lunch or dinner with Director of Development, Executive Director, or a member of your Board of Directors
• An invitation to give feedback on latest event or case statement

Cultivation Visits
In order to have a successful cultivation visit, you must have a plan and a clear goal. The visit should be focused and goal oriented.
Here are five things to consider while preparing for your visit:
1. What is the best possible outcome and the minimum acceptable outcome?
2. Review the key points you are going to cover.
3. List a small number of benefits that you believe will appeal to the prospect.
4. Determine what you will ask your donor to do, agree to, or react to.
5. List anticipated questions and your responses. Remember questions are good, you just want to make sure you have a great response.

Here are eight steps to get started:
1. Select 10 – 25 of your best prospects.
2. Gather research on each and every one of them.
3. Identify volunteer board members and staff for each prospect.
4. Consult board members and staff that you think know each donor the best to find out as much as you can about the donor and their motivation.
5. Develop a strategy for each donor with definite gift amounts and opportunities.
6. Plan your next moves based on your strategy.
7. Implement those moves!
8. Review your moves

It is very important to be able to track your moves and your progress. Your database should include a pre-programed moves management system with reporting. If you don’t have access to this, use a calendar software. Just enter the moves you want to make and set a reminder for each.

STEPS AND STAIRWAY TO MAJOR GIFT SUCCESS

You still have time in 2017 to make your major gifts super successful with these 13 steps from the book, Rainmaking: The Fundraisers Guide to Landing Big Gifts. Roy Jones and Andrew Olsen give us great ways to engage and connect with our major gift donors right now.

13 Tips for Major Gift Commitment

It is always great to find new ways to engage and connect with your major gift donors. Roy Jones and Andrew Olsen offer 13 ideas for on how to do just this in their book, Rainmaking: A Fundraisers Guide to Landing Big Gifts.

Tip #1: Meaningful experience

There is no better way to create engagement than giving your donors the opportunity to experience working with you. It will help them understand what you are doing and become more committed.

Tip #2: One-on-One

Spend time with your major donor prospects one-on-one. This will help build a deep meaningful relationship.

Tip #3: Host small group events

Engaging your major donors with small intimate events is a wonderful way to build commitment. Small lunches at the home of a board member is a great way to do this. You will be able to gather great insight into your donors at these events.

Tip #4: Ask for feedback

It is a great idea to ask your major donors for feedback on a program they support or your future plans. Everyone likes it when their opinion is sought after and it will make your prospects feel respected and valuable.

Tip #5: Special event special gathering

For your upcoming events, create special pre- and post-event gatherings that are by invite only. This will give your prospects an opportunity to engage with leadership and with other major donors.

Tip #6: Leadership access

Invite your major donors to meet your board and senior executives. Your major donors expect a certain level of access. Ensuring they have a clear line of communication with your leaders is an important step in building trust

Tip #7: Special communication

Create a special monthly communication from your executive director just for your major donors. This could be email or snail mail. Be clear that this is an exclusive message just for your closest supporters.

Tip #8: Donor club

Establish a major donor club with multiple levels of recognition. This will give your donors an additional incentive to give even more and make them feel special.

Tip #9: Donor feature

Include a “donor feature” in your newsletter where you focus on one of your major donors. This is a great way to honor your most committed donors by asking them to share about themselves and why they give.

Tip #10: Special article

Place an article of appreciation in a trade publication relevant to their business. This will reach your donor’s colleagues outside your organization and share the news of their commitment to your cause.

Tip #11: Exclusive web access

Create a special secure access portion of your website just for your donors. Here you can share behind the scenes videos, updates, and reports. Give them information they need to be sure their gifts are being used effectively.

Tip #12: Personalized video messages

Your donors will love to receive a personalized video message on social media. Make sure to personalize it specifically to each donor by calling them by name
Go for it and ask for another gift! It is human nature to want to be needed and major donors love to know they are needed and wanted. They will appreciate being asked even if they can’t say yes every time.

 

Tip #13:  ASK AGAIN

Segmentation Steps for Year-End Success

The only way to great year-end results is to go over your database carefully and segment your donors into specific groups in order to direct specific communications they really want to see, hear or read. You need to know how to reach them and segmentation is the answer!

Donor Segmentation for maximum fundraising results

First things first: What is segmentation?
Segmentation is the act of dividing your donors into groups based on specific criteria. It is critical that you are able to segment your donors. A donor database with CRM (customer relationship management) technology will help you do this.

So how should you segment your donors?
There are hundreds of ways you can segment your donors: by zip code, gift size, age, and even (if you’ve kept very careful data) what day of the week they have made a donation. Here are some of the most useful methods of donor segmentation.

AFFILIATION AND INTEREST
Segment on how your donors are affiliated based on your mission, organizational structure and community involvement. Which programs and causes is this donor interested in? This will tell you what to focus on in your appeal letter to get the best results.

ENTITY TYPE
What type of entity is this donor? This type of segmentation is critical in creating a strategic plan and forecasting so you can plan for gifts coming from individuals, corporations, government, and foundations.

GIVING CHANNEL
How is your donor making their gift? You want to make sure you are offering your donors the opportunity to make a gift in the manner that is most convenient for them. Know when to use mail and when to use email or social media.

GIVING LEVEL
Segmenting by the annual giving level will help you know what gift amount you should be suggesting to your donor. Make sure you are ethical and courteous but you must also be careful not to insult or disrespect the donor’s ability or capacity. Remember it is imperative not to ask for too much or too little.

GIVING STATUS
Another important segment to look for is giving status. An appeal to a new donor should have a different focus and message than one to a lapsed donors. Retained donors can be segmented too – ones who have increased gifts, decreased gifts, or stayed the same.

Final thoughts
Segmentation gives you creative, intentional ways to engage your donors. It helps you craft your message in a way that your donor will find appealing and personalized. And we all know that the more your donor feels cared for and connected, the more likely they are to make another donation for your cause!

POWERFUL DONOR LANGUAGE

Empowering Language

We all want to grab our donor’s attention, persuade them to read our message, and inspire them to make a gift. A fantastic way to do this is by using empowering language. Statements that excite the reader or that paint a picture will do wonders to help your message stand out. Here are some examples of regular language versus empowering language

PLAIN LANGUAGE EMPOWERING LANGUAGE
Make a contribution or Donate Now!
Click here to donate or Make a difference today
Give what you can or No donation is too small
Please we need your help or Be a hero to someone in need
We can’t do it without you or Donors like you make this possible
Every dollar helps or Donate $5 now

Empowering language makes a huge difference in how your message is received. Dazzle your donors with the language you use and they’ll dazzle you with their gifts in return!

Craft Awesome Annual Appeals With These Tips

As you are preparing now to craft your very best annual appeal possible, blockbuster reviews a ‘best-of-the-best’ appeal it received this summer from Oregon Humane Society. You won’t believe how perfect it is so, watch now and borrow some fabulous tips!

Keep Your New Donors With This New Donor Welcome Kit

As nonprofits, we know how many new donors and first time donors get away! We lose them folks, 70% never show up again! We need to welcome them with open arms immediately and turn them into interested, cared-for donors! Here are proven strategies and examples that work wonders!

How Will Hurricanes Harvey & Irma Change Your Year-End Fundraising?

https://youtu.be/FPR6q-njEyA

How Will Hurricanes Harvey & Irma Change Your Year-End Fundraising?
We are devastated by the destruction and horrendous wake of loss for so many caused by Hurricanes Harvey & Irma. So many are giving and helping and we may all be wondering if these horrible natural disasters will affect our year-end giving! What can a Development Director do now that would be right to advocate for their mission yet taking note of what we all face now to rebuild in the U.S?
http://www.theagitator.net/
http://donortrends.com
blockbusterfundraising.com