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Tom Dauber: The Art of the Presolicitation Part 1.
54 Plays4 months ago
In this episode, Tom discusses how you can dramatically increase your success as a major gift fundraiser, by learning to ask for permission to have a gift discussion.
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Transcript
Introduction to Abundant Vision Podcast
00:00:05
Speaker
Welcome to the Abundant Vision Fundraising Podcast. Whether you are a seasoned professional or a first-time fundraiser, we have the advice you need to take your next step toward major gift mastery.
Enhancing Gift Closures and Constituent Respect
00:00:18
Speaker
I'm your host, Tom Dauber, president of Abundant Vision Philanthropic Consulting.
00:00:27
Speaker
So how would you like to increase the number of gifts you close dramatically? How would you like to do a better job of making your constituents feel honored and respected? And how would you like to know within a certain amount of accuracy what it is your donors would like to be asked for and even maybe how much before you ask them for the gift.
Pre-solicitation and Donor Interest
00:00:55
Speaker
You can. You can know those things. And today I'm going to talk with you about the power of pre-solicitation.
00:01:03
Speaker
so When I'd like to talk about pre-solicitation, I often try to do it in a way that gives people some context from everyday life, just very simply. Those of you that are in a significant committed relationship, like you're married. Maybe you just lived together, right? Before you entered into that conversation, before you had that question, right? Popped. Do you want to move in? Do you want to get married? Whatever it is that meaningful commitment for you is, you kind of felt things out first, didn't you? I mean, there is that stereotype of
00:01:44
Speaker
and tries to do some sort of dramatic proposal with a girl that isn't expecting it and doesn't want it, right? Those are those really cringy moments that get on YouTube or you might see on TV. Not what you want. Not what you want at all. Well, for most of us, and I know that this was the case for me,
00:02:04
Speaker
Long before I proposed to my wife, we were having serious conversations, hypothetical conversations, about, well, would you be open to this? Could this make sense for us? And until we got to a point of, well, if I were to propose, what type of ring would you like? And then maybe you might even go to the store together looking at rings, right? Well,
00:02:32
Speaker
If you've done all those things, you can be certain that when you do pop the question, they're gonna say yes, typically. Very few people are gonna agree to go ring shopping with you if if they didn't want to be asked.
00:02:51
Speaker
Well, so today I'm gonna talk about the art of the pre-solicitation and how we can go ring shopping with our donors before we ask them for a gift to make sure we're gonna get an outcome that makes everybody happy.
Key Parts of Pre-solicitation
00:03:06
Speaker
So here's kind of the basic parts of a pre-solicitation conversation, right? This is a discussion with a constituent where you ask for permission to ask them for a gift at a later time. The discussion often will include conversations about the range of the gift size they would be willing to consider and the gift purpose they would find most meaningful. Lastly,
00:03:35
Speaker
This conversation should also determine the timing of the solicitation meeting. In some cases though, the conversation may also address who should be involved with making the ask.
00:03:48
Speaker
In this particular case, it can be helpful you know even to point out that you don't want to involve your executive director or the president of your organization if they're going to get shot down by the donor in a way that would be embarrassing to them.
Assumptions and Donor Comfort
00:04:04
Speaker
So here's the assumptions that I operate on when I think about a pre-solicitation. A, people don't like to be blindsided with an ask.
00:04:13
Speaker
right I mean, think back. I don't know if you've seen The Crown, but there's this incredibly awkward moment. And keep in mind, so much of this is fictional. I don't want you to think The Crown is 100% a real story. But there's this part in it where um Dodi Fayed proposes gets down on one knee and proposes to lady die. And you know as a viewer that that is not something she wants or desires. And it's so awkward. You feel just terrible for him, but also for her. I mean, it's terrible, right? She's blindsided.
00:04:53
Speaker
by the proposal and it's awful. And you don't want to do that to your donor. I'll never forget it was at the AFP International Convention, the ICON convention. I want to say it was maybe 07 that I went a long time ago down in New Orleans. But I sat in on this class about a major gift negotiations. And I'll never forget one of the most important rules in soliciting a gift or any negotiation is to make sure that the person you're negotiating with feels very comfortable at all times. You know, you don't want surprises. You don't want things that could put them ill at ease. You want comfort. You want predictability. You want no
Purpose of Donor Meetings
00:05:42
Speaker
surprises. Well, if you're out there blindsiding people with solicitations when they don't expect it,
00:05:49
Speaker
you're not gonna get the optimal response. Maybe you will get a gift, um but you may not get the gift that you want. Another assumption that I have in this is that people like to know why a meeting's being set up. So that relates to that first one, right? I can think of a donor that I knew once And the organization had met with this donor a number of times. Their lead people had all been paraded in front of this person. And they talked about all sorts of things, but they could never really get to a place of making an ask. And it was really hard. People were frustrated because this was an individual who clearly had affinity, had made sizable gifts in the past.
00:06:40
Speaker
but had significant capacity to do more and no one could get him to talk about it. And um anyway, finally, we made sure that this individual knew that we wanted to have a gift conversation, an actual conversation about a gift. And um they asked the permission ah to do that. And of course, the individual said yes.
00:07:10
Speaker
that they would like to but to have that conversation. Anyway, and so when the solicitation meeting finally happened, this person was just like laser focused on talking about the gift, talking about how much and when and how and all those things. Night and day from the five or six other meetings that they had with this individual, primarily because the individual was prepared, was appropriately prepared for the conversation.
Clarity in Fundraising Intentions
00:07:42
Speaker
They knew what was going on, they knew what was happening, and it when and went wonderfully. Tom Dauber here for Abundant Vision Philanthropic Consulting. Fundraising can be hard work and it can be hard to mentally get into the place you need to be in order to see new opportunities. Everyone struggles with it. We are like the fish in the fishbowl who just can't see the water they're swimming in. That's when having outside expertise comes in handy.
00:08:11
Speaker
For 25 years, I've been helping nonprofits analyze their challenges, discover new ways forward, and develop clear plans that lead to greater fundraising
00:08:38
Speaker
So, again, people like to know why a meeting is being set up. I think Brene Brown as it has a saying. um She likes to say, clarity is kindness. That holds true in fundraising. Being very clear about your intentions, being very clear about who you are and what you do for a living, right, is so helpful. And I've covered this before as a fundraiser, but you want to be proud. You want to be clear.
00:09:04
Speaker
You're proud of what you do. You're not a beggar. There's nothing to be ashamed of here. Nonprofits do wonderful work. Your nonprofit's making a massive difference, I hope, something that you're proud to be a part of, and shout that from the rooftops. Be very clear with people that you are a fundraiser and you are there to do whatever it is that you intend on doing that day. Don't surprise them.
00:09:30
Speaker
not being clear with your purpose is not being kind. And we would never be unkind to a donor right or any constituent. you know
Unwanted Solicitations and Donor Reactions
00:09:38
Speaker
and And here's the thing. And this is another one of my assumptions for the pre-solicitation. When you solicit someone who doesn't want to be solicited, right it makes everyone uncomfortable. Back to that example with with the crown. right Don't put your donors in that position.
00:09:57
Speaker
They're not going to like that um and you're not going to like it either because they're going to be surprised. I mean, I think I may have shared before on this show about the time that I ah caused a donor to spit coffee out all over the place. And it wasn't because I hadn't pre solicited. I actually had.
00:10:15
Speaker
I had talked with the husband, and I, of course, presumed that the husband would was in communication with the wife, and he was not. And so she was surprised. He was not surprised, but she was. And she literally spit the coffee out of her mouth when I asked them, when I thanked them for meeting with me to talk about a significant seven-figure gift.
00:10:41
Speaker
which was you know not beyond their means, but certainly beyond what they had a history of doing. so So anyway, we don't want to make people uncomfortable. We want people to be comfortable. Now, here's the other part of that, is not only not only does that pre-solicitation, it keeps people comfortable, but it also helps disqualify people much
Disqualifying Uninterested Donors
00:11:05
Speaker
more quickly.
00:11:06
Speaker
Wouldn't you rather just know upfront if someone had an interest in giving to your organization? Wouldn't you rather know upfront before you ask that they're going to say no, so don't even bother? Well, when you ask someone for permission to have a gift conversation with them, to begin a dialogue, you might say,
00:11:29
Speaker
So how would you like to be in a spot where you didn't have to ask because you already knew in advance that the person was gonna say, no, wouldn't that save you a lot of time? Wouldn't it save you a lot of discomfort and that fear of rejection that everybody runs into? Well, you can do that.
00:11:48
Speaker
A pre-solicitation is great because it lets you find out in advance whether the person even wants to have a conversation about giving. And I'll tell you a secret. If you're just clear about who you are and what you do and why you're proud of it, most people will tell you right up front if that's something they're interested in. I can't tell you how many times I've said, hey, my name is Tom Dauber. I represent X organization. and And it's my privilege to be able to raise money to help so-and-so and to improve the world by doing such and such. I love it. I get to work with all sorts of constituents who who love giving and supporting our students and making the world a better place.
00:12:35
Speaker
This often, in people that are not generous, and that's about probably 50% of the population, um this is going to elicit a response oftentimes that will tell you what they're really thinking about your organization and if they'd want to give to it. I can't tell you how many times I've had people say, oh my gosh, well, good for you, but that's just not something that I could be a part of. I don't believe in that. I don't like that organization.
00:13:04
Speaker
I think kids should just provide for themselves. They don't need help. They need to come up the hard way like I did. Or I don't like that organization or any number of things. But other times people feel like, wow, that sounds really great. Tell me more about it. So that's kind of but a yellow light to proceed right there.
Understanding Donor Preferences
00:13:24
Speaker
What I'm saying, though, is if you're clear with who you are and what you do,
00:13:30
Speaker
you can know up front and then you can just know this isn't going to be a conversation we're going to have at this point, right? Maybe later, you know, maybe there's ways to engage those folks down the road that could get them more involved, maybe through, maybe if you have an alumni society where it's not philanthropically based or some events to get to know the organization better. But you know, almost immediately, this is not someone I want to invest a ton of time into. Now,
00:13:57
Speaker
Now let's say they do say, oh man, that's a great idea. Well, what would you do next? Well, I would say that this is a great time to kind of suss out what what sort of gift would they want to even give? You shouldn't make assumptions in fundraising. That's always a bad place to start. And I would be honest with that. I would say, well, I wouldn't dare make assumptions about how you'd like to give or where you'd like to give. Tell me about that. Do you like endowments? Do you hate endowments? Do you like current use gifts?
00:14:32
Speaker
You know, do you like to give in cash? Do you like to give stock instead to save yourself some money? You know, all sorts of things, all sorts of ways, you know, you can ask questions to find those things out. And, you know, one conversation I had with a donor, I said to the individual, Hey, I, I don't know if you're the sort of person that, you know, trusts the organization and would want to give in a discretionary way to the general fund to just help with whatever our leadership thinks is best. Or if you would really want to just target your money towards a specific project we're working on.
00:15:09
Speaker
And I've been very pleasantly surprised to hear how many donors will actually say to you, yeah, I really trust the executive director. I really trust your organization. I'd be happy. And you can be clear with them. You can tell them, hey, the best thing for us from our perspective is always going to be discretionary. However, if you're somebody that really wants to target it in a specific way, we do have some ways you can do that. But what you don't want to do, again, is to make assumptions.
00:15:37
Speaker
that this is an individual that can only be solicited for a very specific project in a very specific way. Ask the question. Find out what they think. Don't leave anything to chance.
Conclusion and Call to Action
00:15:48
Speaker
Don't make assumptions.
00:15:56
Speaker
That's all the time we have today, but be sure to tune in next week to hear the next part of this exciting conversation. Now, if you've enjoyed this podcast, please be sure to subscribe and give us a five-star rating on your podcast provider. I'm your host, Tom Daubert. Thank you for joining me as we journey together towards Major Gift Mastery on the Abundant Vision Fundraising Podcast.