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Bernice Martin Lee Part 3: Recovering and Learning From a Rescinded Verbal Commitment
38 Plays7 months ago
In this episode Bernice Martin Lee, CEO of the Epilepsy Foundation, discusses how she salvaged a relationship with a donor, after they changed their mind regarding a verbal commitment. Lee also discusses the importance of building partnerships with corporations that lead to philanthropy and how a lapsed donor list played an important role in her strategic planning.
For more information on epilepsy, visit https://www.epilepsy.com/
Looking for fundraising coaching or help planning your next campaign?
Check out www.abundantvision.net
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Transcript
Introduction to Abundant Vision Fundraising 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. I'm your host, Tom Dauber, president of Abundant Vision Philanthropic Consulting. Last week's conversation was a blast. I'm so excited to have you with me for this next segment. Let's get back to the show. How about your best solicitation story?
Story of Pharma Partnership Success
00:00:35
Speaker
Wow, I'm actually going through one right now. So at the Epilepsy Foundation, we solicit a lot from corporate, particularly pharma. And sometimes again, we we were partnering with a pharma company and we went out to have a summit with them to really understand how their mission aligned with our mission. And through that, we began to share You know, what we were, what the struggles were for both organizations is what we're trying to accomplish. with And ah ah the CEO, uh, Craig said to me, well, what he was saying to the group, you know, we're really struggling because they have a new product on the market called Val toco. And it is a rescue medication for those looking with epilepsy. And in the, one of the first and nasal form that can be taken really, really exciting. Right. But they were struggling. They didn't want to use the word rescue.
00:01:32
Speaker
and they were using the word acute. And he was like, and he was like, what are your thoughts about that? And I was like, well, when you say acute to me, it's very clinical. And as a patient, as a caregiver, I don't know if I would know what that meant. I don't know if that would really give me urgency because I'm like, well, is this acute? Is this not acute? If you don't have that clinical background, you don't have that vernacular.
00:02:02
Speaker
or that knowledge of what that word would mean. So I said, so why don't you just call it immediate? And I said, just like the EpiPen, I said, you know, my son is a severe asthmatic. And I was like, well, you know, when he was going through training for all of his allergies, one thing the physician kept saying to him is like, you use this immediately. Like the minute you begin to have symptoms, you utilize this immediately. I said, that really resonated for us because as a child, he knew what that meant. And as a parent, I knew what that meant. And Craig turned to me and said, B, we have gone through five years of development, and you literally gave us the word. He was like, and sometimes it's just being too close to it, right? He's like, sometimes you're just too close to it. And so I was laughing because I meet with his sales reps across the country, and they're like, oh, we just had our training on immediate use. Like, we just had our training. But what that allowed us to do by sharing alignment was allowing us to then say, this is how we can support what
00:02:59
Speaker
you are trying to accomplish in the marketplace and how you can support our mission. And so we continue, they're one of our largest sponsors of about overall throughout the network, about $500,000. And we're continuing to expand on that. But that really for me was a solicitation that really was not about the ask, but about
Encouraging Strategic Nonprofit Partnerships
00:03:19
Speaker
the partnership. I see. Yeah. Right. And I tell that story of of because it wasn't about the foundation being in a inferior position, right? We were coming to the table as a partner. Yeah. And my advice is to other nonprofits is that if you can find that opportunity to be a partner, right? Seize that, right? Because then you're not, please help, you know, sometimes we're in that, would you please, could you please, this is charity. Remember that you have something to offer yeah as an, as a nonprofit, right?
00:03:56
Speaker
with some of your partners. And so if you can find an opportunity where you can partner, I believe that makes for the best solicitation. That's excellent, B. That's a great story and a great illustration of how partnership is is goal Well, so we've hit qualification, cultivation, solicitation.
Importance of Post-Donation Stewardship
00:04:15
Speaker
I think you know what's next, stewardship. Yeah, the hard part, right? The fun part.
00:04:22
Speaker
It's the fun part, but it's the hard part because it's the place that you have to intentionally put time and effort. Yeah. Right. Because the metric has been met. Right. The gift has been closed. Yeah. And typically as we're returning portfolios, you're moving on to your next priority in your portfolio. You kind of got to remember to circle back to that donor that you closed your gift with. Right. And I think for some organizations, if you have leaders that don't understand stewardship, that becomes a challenge. Why are you putting resources to a gift that's already closed to an individual who's already made the gift, right? And you and I experienced this when we were working together, right? And I'll use a family here in Columbus who was a steadfast donor to a grant medical center, right?
00:05:21
Speaker
And it was really about, they were not a family that needed a lot of recognition, but it was recognition that was deserved. And sometimes I felt that it was a fight in the organization to spend resources to recognize them appropriately. And I would say as a leader, support your team.
00:05:46
Speaker
when they tell you it's necessary to support those type of efforts, whether it be sending succulents in a rare Corvette, right? Whether it be making sure that there is a special tour for a family when, you know, a dedication is happening or ensuring that if they want to bring a family member in that wasn't available during that time,
00:06:15
Speaker
that they're able to do that at a later date. And also remembering anniversaries, like when they made that gift, are you reaching out? Are you helping them to recognize that, hey, today was the day that you made a change in someone's life. Thank you so much. My team does a lot of that. And that's probably what I'm most proud of is that they are really, really good at remembering special moments for the donors. Or like, hey, I understood that you received your freedom last year, congratulations, three years, you know, because it's, so again, we talked about earlier, and I think it's now becoming a theme of this podcast is those small moments matter, in developing the relationship and keeping donors close. Because right now what I'm facing is I have about 110 individuals in my, in my CRM that are high capacity, high affinity.
Leveraging CRM for Donor Identification
00:07:10
Speaker
that have capacity of about 51 to $91 million that we have not stewarded it properly, right? They made a gift and we said, thank you. And then we haven't reached back up. So if you want to put it in a numerical, go into your CRM and pull out that live up report and understand what dollars you're missing in your organization because you haven't properly stewarded.
00:07:37
Speaker
a donor. That's gotta be tough to see those, those, those numbers there be. It was tough, but you know what? I am a big proponent that data can help you drive decision. Yeah. Right. And so what it was able to help. One thing about, I told my, my fundraisers and my new CDA, the great part is you don't have to do identification. It's already here, right? Yeah.
00:08:03
Speaker
You have 110 people that we know have the affinity and have the capacity. So you're done with that. Now you can move straight into cultivation. So it was actually, it ended up actually being a gift for us, but it was disheartening to see initially because those are relationships that now have to be rebuilt as opposed to expanded. Wow. Well, that's, that sounds like again, just a tremendous opportunity for your organization.
00:08:29
Speaker
When I talked about $10 million philanthropic growth plan, that's really what it's based off. I see. Is that discovery work we did within our CRM to understand what potential we had there. the 10 million is conservative to what we know the capacity and affinity is available, but also I'm really big on why I believe in stretch goals. I don't believe in setting people up for failure. That's right. 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.
00:09:17
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
00:09:42
Speaker
Now, back to the show. Boy, if let me just make a comment to my listeners right now. What is doing here is wonderful. So she's got the goal, but she's got the data to support that the goal can be done. At the same time, she's not pushing it so far that there's no way that they can actually do it. It's a realistic goal. In fact, I would bet dollars to Donuts B that you're going to blow your goal out of the water.
00:10:06
Speaker
That's the goal. And because also remember going back to the early part of our conversation, I know that my team needs training. Yeah. Right. So I believe in five years, you know, that'll be closer to 20 million.
Optimizing Fundraising through Training
00:10:21
Speaker
Yeah. Right. But we need to take that first year just to train. Yeah. I think that's so important. Fundraisers need professional development, right? As we know, we see those moves all the time about what fundraisers do. Like we just go out and talk to people and it's just, you know,
00:10:36
Speaker
It's easy. How many times have you heard in your career, Oh, this is easy. It's easy, right? It's not easy. There is a science to it. And, you know, so we, we made a commitment that for, you know, for the first year, the goal was set fairly low because we know we need time to train. And then also our, our fundraisers need, need to, need to fill success in that first year to build the confidence to make those larger,
00:11:06
Speaker
ask as well. And quite frankly, we had to redo our portfolios. Yeah. Yeah. You my team will tell you, I'm all about focus, right? If we have 110 people, let's focus on those 110, right? We know that's where our greatest potential is. I don't need you to carry a portfolio of 125. Yeah. Yeah. I need you to carry a portfolio of 30 people in this team, in this group that would allow us to focus.
00:11:33
Speaker
and have the biggest return on investment. So the CRM work, I would tell any leader it's money well spent to do the CRM work. Yeah. Oh, for sure. I think that's where people sometimes don't want to put their money because it's like, it's almost like, you know, when you're doing a renovation, you don't want to spend money on the things you can't see. Yeah, yeah right.
00:11:57
Speaker
But I find it's the most important work because it really does allow your fundraisers to be as successful as possible when they know exactly who they should be cultivating as opposed to you shooting in the dark. Oh man, that's definitely the case. So the last question I've got for you, this could be the funnest one. Tell me about the most awkward moment you've had with a donor and how did it resolve?
Handling Donor Retractions and Relationship Management
00:12:25
Speaker
Well, Tom, you were there for it. I had a donor who had verbally committed to a seven-figure gift and then retracted that verbal commitment. Awkward. Awkward for me, awkward for them, awkward for the organization, right? But recognizing you still had to continue with the relationship, right? You still had to continue with the relationship And, you know, after I kind of licked my wounds and, you know, I just reached back out. I was like, it's okay. Let's start over. Like, where are we at? But it was very, very awkward. It was very awkward. And it was the first time I had experienced that. It was the first time I had experienced someone who had made a verbal commitment and then retracted it. Okay. You know, typically I had prodded myself on like,
00:13:24
Speaker
The gift agreement is just the administrative work. I have built a relationship and we have built trust that when you make that verbal commitment to me that I know and you know that we have done the work to get to that point. And so so I was i had never dealt with that before. But what I did learn, what I learned is that, again, I was questioning, well, why did they retract it?
00:13:51
Speaker
What did I do? What misstep did I make? And what I discovered was that I didn't consider all of the influencers in that gift. And while I had spoke with who I thought was the primary person, there were other influencers that when he went back and had this conversation with them about his intention, they were not in agreement. I see. And I did not consider them. Yeah. I did not consider them. That was a lesson that was hard to learn, but I'm glad I learned it because I now ask the question, even in the verbal commitment, is there anyone else that you need to talk with before we move forward? Or is there anyone else that you would like me to talk with before we move forward? Because I did not ask that question and there absolutely was someone else that was a major influencer that changed his decision.
00:14:45
Speaker
Wow. As you reengaged with that donor, because I'm sure there's a lot of leaders out there that might just maybe write the relationship off and move on or maybe they're embarrassed and so they just don't want to talk to them anymore. Did you find that you were able to get the relationship back to a place of normality where you guys were were good and engaged or did that change things permanently? No, it it actually, we we got back to our relationship fairly quickly. And I think that it was because I made the decision not to make it a big deal. Tell Tell tell me about that. Like how do you, if someone does that, it changes their mind about a gift after verbally committing. What sort of language would you use to say to them, Hey, that's okay. Actually, it's just that. it You know, in that conversation, I said, you know, you've been such an amazing supporter to the organization. I understand if this is not the right time for you to make that gift.
00:15:42
Speaker
Yeah. Let's continue to have the conversation and find the appropriate gift level and time for you to make the impact that you desire, right? And I think the key word was time, right? I'm not going to pressure you. I'm not going to hound you. I want to let you take your time, right? Again, recognizing now there's an influencer that is not on board. And I don't know if we'll ever get that person completely on board, but I need to obviously give you more information and arm you with the appropriate information that you feel comfortable challenging this influencer's decision, that you're absolutely sure that this is what you want to do. But it was just like, you okay, well, it's not the appropriate time and that's okay. Let's talk about
00:16:40
Speaker
how we continue to move forward into a place where you feel comfortable with any gift level that you choose. right choose. right And that was important. like I'm not gonna continue to ask you for the seven figure gift. that's off the table, then let's start talking about what is on the table. And we got back to normal pretty quickly and I think they just appreciated it not being a big deal. I made sure that our administration didn't bring it up.
00:17:07
Speaker
that it wasn't something that soured his relationship with anyone else in the organization, that it the organization was had a still very positive view of him. And that meant, in a lot of ways, taking the blame. I see. Right, protecting the donor and taking the blame. This was my fault. I didn't do the work. i Even though I felt like I had, I had to say, you know what? yeah yeah I walked away with that with a verbal agreement.
00:17:32
Speaker
But yes, I should have made sure I should have, you know, so that he wouldn't feel that from anyone else in the organization. Wow. That takes a lot of humility to, to, to do that. It was, it was a hard, it was a hard pill as well. Like I said, I had never been through anything like that before.
Navigating Challenging Donor Situations
00:17:50
Speaker
And honestly didn't know what it was going to mean for my career, yeah frankly. Right. But I knew that this donor always had the best intention towards the organization.
00:18:01
Speaker
you know, and had proven that time and time again. This just wasn't the opportunity. This just wasn't the right opportunity for them at this time. Yeah. Wow. A lot of good learnings in that story, B. I appreciate you sharing it. You know, we've, we've reached the end of our time and, and our questions, but before we go, is there anything else that you'd like to share with our listeners? Well, Tom, I really appreciate this opportunity to come and talk with you today.
Raising Epilepsy Awareness and Support
00:18:28
Speaker
And more importantly, to be able to raise awareness around epilepsy. You know, it's not a well-known disease state in our country, but it affects one out of every 26 individuals. It's a staggering number of individuals face facing epilepsy. And just as you started today's conversation with knowing a family member, there's not many people I talk to who don't have a family member, a loved one, a friend.
00:18:56
Speaker
that is living with epilepsy. So one, just thank you for allowing me to talk with your listeners about what we're doing at the foundation and how we're supporting individuals living with epilepsy. And if they should know anyone that is seeking resources and support, they can reach us at epilepsy .com. And again, we are always here to support those living with epilepsy because again, no one should face epilepsy alone.
00:19:24
Speaker
Wow, that's fantastic. Thank you so much, B. It's been a pleasure having you on the show. I wish you yeah the very best and can't wait to hear ah how your fundraising journey goes with the Epilepsy Foundation. Check it back with three years. I'll let you know. Awesome. Have a great day. Oh, you as well.
00:19:41
Speaker
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 Dauber. Thank you for joining me as we journey together towards Major Gift Mastery on the Abundant Vision Fundraising Podcast.