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How to ask questions that reveal gift propensity, donor affinity and gift capacity.
45 Plays7 months ago
In this episode Tom discusses the types of questions you should be asking your constituents to confirm wealth screening results and make sure they are the major gift prospects you are looking for.
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Transcript
Podcast Introduction
00:00:05
Speaker
Welcome to the Abundant Vision Fundraising Podcast. Whether you're a seasoned professional or a first-time fundraiser, we have the advice you need to take your next step towards Major Gift Mastery. I'm your host, Tom Dauber, president of Abundant Vision Philanthropic Consulting. We're in the
Wealth Screening: Pros and Cons
00:00:24
Speaker
middle of a four episode podcast two episodes, we've talked about how wealth screening can be helpful to you.
00:00:37
Speaker
and even how wealth screening can't be helpful to you. What I've been saying is wealth screening is a great tool. Can't do everything. There's limitations to it. Nothing
Meeting New Donors
00:00:50
Speaker
is better than getting out in front of your donors and getting to know them. Well, in today's episode,
00:00:56
Speaker
I want to talk a little bit about what you do when you finally get that chance to sit down with someone whom you don't know very well. Maybe you've identified them through a wealth screening. Maybe a peer has referred them to you. Maybe you just ran across them yourself and you're trying to figure out, is this a person likes to give? Are they a philanthropic person? Are they a generous person? Do they have a strong affinity for my organization specifically?
00:01:25
Speaker
And do they have the capacity to give very generously, to give a major gift to my organization? That's what all of us as fundraisers are trying to figure out. Well, if that's what you're trying to do, here's where I'd start.
Expressing Fundraiser Identity
00:01:41
Speaker
Make an introduction. Your introduction is one of the most important things that you can do as a fundraiser. You want to talk about your role, who you are, why you do what you do, and and what it is you're trying to get done in this meeting. We don't want to be afraid to tell our donors that we're fundraisers. We don't want to be afraid to tell them that we're looking for people.
00:02:10
Speaker
Among our donors who might be open to considering larger commitments to move the organization forward so many of us when we get started in the fundraising world were a little embarrassed. We don't want to tell people that hey i'm a fundraiser we're afraid will scare him off right well what i've learned from my mentors. Is that we need to be proud.
00:02:33
Speaker
of what we're doing. And we need to not be embarrassed to talk about why what we're doing is important and and how it changes the world. So if
Transparency and Donor Engagement
00:02:43
Speaker
you're not really centered in those things, it's gonna be hard for you to be successful as a fundraiser. You need to really spend some time asking yourself, why am I doing this job? Why does it matter in this world? Why does it make a difference?
00:03:00
Speaker
Because transparency is your best friend in fundraising. We never want to have hidden agendas. We never want to bait and switch. We want people to know when we're going to ask them for money before we do it. We don't want to surprise people. My goodness, who likes that? So talk about your role as a fundraiser and talk about why you're proud of it.
00:03:24
Speaker
and proud of your organization and the difference it makes in the world, their response to what you say to them will tell you quite a bit about their attitude towards philanthropy without you ever having to ask them to make a gift. And that's what you want. The sooner you can get down to brass tacks,
00:03:43
Speaker
about their interest in giving to your organization, the better off you are. I think one of the worst things in a qualification effort is to kind of beat around the bush and meet with them three or four or five times before you actually figure out if they're philanthropic. Worse than that is maybe when you start out, you're a little nervous about being straightforward and they don't really know why you're there.
00:04:12
Speaker
You know, they maybe you're my buddy from the organization and we get coffee together. I mean, I will never forget. I went into a meeting with someone. I was not clear about why I was there. I spent a long time with them. I listened to all sorts of stories from their time at the school I was representing.
00:04:32
Speaker
um On my way out, I sheepishly handed them a folder and it had a pledge for them in it and stuff. And I'm driving away feeling not real good about the meeting. I didn't really get get to anything. And I got this phone call and he's like, Tom, are you a fundraiser? were Were you here to ask me for money today? And he was like, well, yeah, I am a fundraiser. That's what I do. And he was really upset with me the and let me know it.
00:05:02
Speaker
because I wasn't clear about why I was there. And it's embarrassing to have to say that i I did that, but it was such an important lesson for me to always be clear what I do and to always be proud of it. So that's what you want to do is right off the bat, introduce yourself, make sure they know that your ultimate goal is to bring money into that organization to make a difference in the world. And you're proud of it. Dagnabbit.
00:05:30
Speaker
You love it. You love meeting with donors. You love helping them change the world. So that's that's the first thing. Be clear in your introduction. But the second one, because it's not about you. The meeting is not about you and your goals, right? Meeting's about your donor. You're there to encourage the donor, to represent your organization well, to share with them interesting things that they didn't know, to help them feel more engaged with the organization.
00:06:00
Speaker
In some cases, maybe even give them a certain sense of pride that the organization cares enough about them to come visit them. A lot of good things that you do when you visit donors, but you want to spend your time not talking, but listening. You want to ask
Understanding Donor Backgrounds
00:06:17
Speaker
them questions like, tell me about yourself, learn about their family background, learn about how they ended up in their current career. Maybe you'll find that the the business that they run has been in their family for five generations.
00:06:30
Speaker
Well, that tells you something important, doesn't it? you Starting a business takes a lot of money. And if if someone is leading a business that their grandfather did all the work for to get started up. They've got a significant leg up. the They've avoided all that expensive startup expense. and so And so, you know, there's probably some family money involved too. Maybe there's a family foundation. You don't know. But it gives you clues that there might be something there. You know, maybe you learn about the family background and you find out that you mom and dad were both physicians. Or one person I spoke to,
00:07:13
Speaker
They had the first company in their entire country in their particular sector going back to the 1700s, right? Big deal, real big deal. So learning about that family background is really crucial in understanding a particular constituents context.
00:07:33
Speaker
Another great question, really important one to ask is how do you spend your time when you aren't working? You want to pay attention for details that reflect very expensive tastes. Do they fly planes? Do they have a fleet of Cessnas? Where do they like to go on vacation? And when they do go on vacation, where do they stay? Are they renting? They do in the Airbnb? Are they staying in a hotel? Or do they have a home in a really exclusive area?
00:08:02
Speaker
Those are the sorts of questions that you wanna ask. Now keep in mind that sometimes really expensive tastes can indicate that they don't have much money because they're spending it all on those expensive hobbies or recreations, what they've chosen to do with their life. It could also indicate a lot of debt. We don't know. So you can't take too much from that, but it is something to consider. Tom Dauber here for Abundant Vision Philanthropic Consulting.
00:08:31
Speaker
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.
00:08:50
Speaker
For 25 years, I've been helping nonprofits analyze the challenges, discover new ways forward, and develop clear plans that lead to greater fundraising back to the show.
00:09:17
Speaker
You also wanna be sure to thank them for their giving.
Gratitude and Donor Motivations
00:09:22
Speaker
You wanna ask them why they made the gift they did, even if it's a small one. That still matters. And how their giving experience with your organization compares to other charities they support. Because most people support more than one charity. So we wanna know about that. And we also wanna be ready for some critical feedback that could be very helpful.
00:09:47
Speaker
You might hear from them that, well, the other charity I support does a really good job of helping me know how they're spending my money, and you don't tell me at all. Well, that's fair criticism. And if that's the case, well, get with it. Listen to them. Show them that you're serious about taking feedback from them. That's going to win you their support in the long run.
00:10:11
Speaker
But at the same time, they may say, hey, you're doing a great job. I love giving to you guys. You are such good stewards of my gift. Well, that may be an indicator that it's time to have a bigger conversation about their giving. Regardless, always be saying thank you. Now back to that other point I made about asking them why they made their gift. Understanding the rationale for gift giving for any donor is huge. It's so important. It may be that someone gave a gift because they were a recipient themselves, maybe even from your organization. I have a relative that always supports the charity newsies because when they were a kid, their family was poor and they got clothes from the charity newsies. And so whenever they see the charity newsies, they make a gift, right? Well, that really matters. That tells you a lot about their affinity and
00:11:06
Speaker
their love for the organization. I can think about other people who made a gift because they were in need in other ways and the organization helped them. Well, the other thing you want to be asking along those same lines is what are what are the philosophies What are the underlying values that shape the way you think about giving? That's also gonna tell you a lot of things you need to know as a fundraiser. and And many people are happy to share those things. Some of them may have never thought about it before. And having this conversation with you may be really shaping for them as a person. Many people
Values Influencing Donor Giving
00:11:48
Speaker
might say, well, you know, I've never really thought about that before. And then you can maybe ask some additional questions to help pull that out.
00:11:56
Speaker
What do you hope to accomplish with your life? When you look back on your life and you think about the things that mattered, what would those things be? Would it be making a difference you know for for the environment?
00:12:10
Speaker
Would it be making your community a better place? Would it be contributing financially to help cure cancer? What would those things be? Because that's going to show you the path forward to future gift conversations potentially. And lastly, if you've if you've gotten positive feedback thus far, and this is your first time meeting them, it's a qualification meeting, right?
00:12:35
Speaker
It may be the right time because you've already said, hopefully, maybe, that you're looking for donors that might be open to larger commitments to move the organization forward.
00:12:49
Speaker
so if you put that out there and you've gotten positive sorts of things, this might be the time to have a pre-solicitation conversation, not a solicitation. You're not making an ask. And I think it's really important to even point that out in the conversation, right? You could ask them hypothetically, you know, after you're done talking about the organization's needs, if they could ever see themselves taking part in a campaign. know And if they say, yes,
00:13:18
Speaker
and And you can do this even if they don't say yes, but you might just even throw that as a kind of an interruption. you knowd Say, well, you know I'm not here to ask you for a gift today, but I would love to know you would if I could have your permission and in our next meeting to begin a conversation about your giving goals with our organization. And if they say yes, you know this would be a great place to begin to explore what they'd like to talk about.
Pre-solicitation Discussions
00:13:47
Speaker
Like if you have different segments of your campaign, but you could talk with them about that. And you could even begin to get a sense of, well, you know, I could bring you a seven, I could share with you all sorts of different things we're trying to do. I could talk with you about what a seven-figure gift would do for our organization. I could talk with you about what a six-figure gift could do for our organization. I could talk with you about what a five-figure gift could do for our organization.
00:14:12
Speaker
Where do you see yourself there with that continuum of gift sizes? What types of opportunities and impacts are you most interested in in, say, a five-year pledge? And they'll tell you. They'll say, well, I'm not in a place to consider anything that's seven figures, Tom, but we can look at five figures. And so if they do that, well, your next meeting, you bring them an opportunity at $99,000 and see what happens. But be prepared with a 50, maybe even a 25.
00:14:42
Speaker
What I'm saying is this is the time to find out from them. Hey, you know what I do? I know that you like your organization. Could we have a conversation about what it would look like for you down the road with your giving? If you can get them to say yes to that,
00:14:59
Speaker
you're going to be golden. Now, they may say no. They may say this isn't the right time. That's fine. At least you know. And then you don't have to worry about it for a while. Stay in loose touch. Don't bring them into prospect management. Disqualify them for now in your system. But touch touch base with them. You don't know what's going to happen. um I can't tell you how many times I've inherited donors from my predecessors in a role or maybe I've had a boss that handed down someone to me that they just didn't want to work with anymore. And then I
Donor Readiness for Contributions
00:15:31
Speaker
ended up closing the gift when they couldn't wasn't because I was a better fundraiser than that other person. It was I was in the right place at the right time. And the donor had gone through the psychological transition they needed to to be ready to make a gift. I mean, I think of one donor specifically in a heart attack between the time
00:15:51
Speaker
my boss was managing him and when he became my donor. And I think he realized, oh, I want to say thank you to the organizations that have helped me because I'm running out of time. And and sure enough, he made a great gift to us. So but anyway, asking these questions is so important. Getting in front of the donors is crucial and qualifying. Well, that's all the time we have today.
00:16:35
Speaker
be sure to subscribe and give the Abundant Vision Fundraising Podcast a five-star rating on your podcast provider. Thanks for joining me, Tom Dauber, as we journey together towards Major Gift Mastery on the Abundant Vision Fundraising Podcast.