Social Entrepreneur blog for the world changers
Jason Dick
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Homepage: http://www.asmallchange.net
Posts by Jason Dick
Waiting In Line
Mar 16th
Meeting with a donor or new potential supporter while buying a cup of coffee or immediately after the meeting has finished is my favorite time. When starting new relationships, so much of the conversation is about superficial things. One person tests the other out. You talk a little about your organization, he or she talks a little about the business. The bulk of the conversation is spent discussing the business of the meeting.
What I love about buying a cup of coffee or waiting in line with a donor is that you have a totally different conversation. You often talk about more personal things that are going on in his or her life. You talk about whatever is most priority– from a new business deal to something with his or her family. It is a time where people are a little bit more honest and willing to talk personally. I think some of it may even have to do with doing an activity together. There is power in a shared experience.
“If you continue to focus on the major gift sale,
You will never move up the relationship scale.”
- Marshall Howard
In the fundraising style referenced in Let’s Have Lunch Together, this would be considered taking time to build a solid relational foundation. Marshall would likely encourage us not to just stop in the coffee line. Make time to personally connect with your donors for an entire meeting or multiple meetings and they will show a deeper interest in you and in the organization.
We all have busy work weeks and are trying to maximize the time that we have in the most efficient way. I’ve found that my favorite part of each meeting is often waiting in line for a cup of coffee. How do you break the ice in a conversation? Have you found waiting in line with a donor to be a good time to learn more about them personally?
Related posts:
Changing Our Terminology
Mar 14th
I’ve skated around this topic in some different capacities in the past. Much of my thinking in the All Donors As Major Donors section connects with the philosophy that every donor has value. Upon reflection, I’m not sure if I’ve taken things far enough. It almost sounds like we need a new mantra–something like “Everyone’s a Potential Partner.”
Do you think it would be valuable for us to change some of our terminology? Do you think the word prospect is dehumanizing? What bothers me about the word is that it places the value of one type of interaction with an individual above all of the rest of the potential interactions. It points to them as a potential gift not as a potential friend and partner of the organization.
Do we need to throw out words like prospect which focus on the contribution side of fundraising? What about words like donor, solicitation, acquisition, and major gifts? Maybe that upsets the coffee cart too much, but I am curious what you think.
Related posts:
What We Say Matters
Mar 9th
Most of the individuals that regularly read my blog are not individuals that I see on a d
aily basis. I had a great conversation with a friend of mine who also happens to be a donor. He also happens to be one of those individuals that knows me personally, professionally, and as a blogger. You can read his guest post earlier this month, “I Am Not A Prospect.”
He really challenged me to think carefully about what our terminology really means and how it impacts our thinking.
I like to think of fundraising as an opportunity for an organization to link with an individual who has similar interests and passions as the organization. Using the word prospect can dehumanize that interaction and make it only transactional, regardless of whether the word is being used publicly or privately. Maybe a better phrase is a “potential partner” to the organization.
I want to promote a conversation around nonprofits doing a better job creating authentic relationships with individuals (and businesses) who care about the issues they believe in. That means that I need to write using terminology that supports that perspective. That also means we, as a Foundation or Development Office, need to increase the kinds of partnerships we can create beyond a simply financial focus. We need to develop advocates, opportunities for in-kind gifts, and take time to engage community members as thinking consultants. A few weeks ago, I brokered a meeting between a vice- president at the hospital where I work and a potential supporter who is an executive at a technology/business intelligence consultant business. The outcome was that this potential supporter will provide perspective on some of the upcoming business intelligence software decisions we are making. This is a great example of engaging potential supporters as partners.
My friend justifiably challenged a perspective that I did not realize I was perpetuating. There is a need for a paradigm shift in the way fundraising and development is approached (fund is in the word fundraising, that’s a great example of how engrained that thinking really is). It is going to take a long time to right the way we think and talk about development. But, it is important that we do.
Related posts:
Let’s Have Lunch Together
Mar 7th
I just finished reading, Let’s Have Lunch Together: How to Reach Out and Build More Powerful Relationships
The book has some really great and easy-to-use tips on how to build solid relationships with your volunteers, donors, and other stakeholders. The focus is about taking time to make a personal connection and to recognize that the relationship should be more important than the money. The connections that many of our major donors bring into an organization and their long-term partnerships are more valuable than monetary contributions. If a strong relationship is built, then a byproduct is often money and relationships.
The core mantra of the book is…
- Be more curious
- Put the other person first, your needs second
- Uncover common interests, values, and goals
I am a big fan of checklists that I need to do to be successful. Marshall has done a great job creating some great checklists with tools we can use to build relationships. As I was reading this book I thought it fit really well with the theme this month of putting the donor first.
“If you want to be shocked, amazed, and aghast,
look at a stakeholder as a person at last.”
Marshall Howard
I would love to leave you with more of Marshall’s tips and tell you more about the story between Oscar & Victoria. But I know I’ll be quoting it in some future posts and will use it as an inspiration for much of what I will be focusing on over the next couple of weeks… plus, I don’t want to spoil the excitement of reading it yourself. Howard thank you for a great book!
Related posts:
- Waiting In Line
- A New Kind of Philanthropy
- Subtlety and Reading Between the Lines
- Building Allies
- A Donor’s Heart
In-Person Meetings
Feb 28th
Talking on the phone or over email has its limitations. In both situations you are unable to read a person’s facial expressions or you may miss nonverbal communication cues. People are a lot harder to read on the phone than in-person. You can learn a lot more about someone when you are face-to-face with him or her. There are certain rules that apply to in-person conversations that do not apply to phone conversations. You have to give someone more of your complete attention. The conversation is expected to continue for a certain period of time. People will often say more about themselves or offer up information they would not have otherwise offered if you were on the phone.
It is important for any fundraiser to have a good story and be able to clearly articulate what an organization does. It is also foundational to be able to show donors where their money is going and why that is valuable to the organization. Another key factor that motivates giving is if donors know the development staff. People who are making a major gift like giving to other people. They will even make a gift because they trust and like the staff member.
Not every meeting needs to be in-person, and many people are not willing to meet in-person for their first meeting. Meeting in-person is a great tool to engage internal and external people. Know the value of talking with someone face-to-face.
Related posts:
- Letters or In-Person Solicitations
- Connection Meetings
- Question: Managing Meetings
- Who Likes Meetings?
- Ask and You Shall Receive
Connection Meetings
Feb 23rd
I have been truly amazed what a meeting can mean for an organization. People really do give to people, and once you have sat across from someone and heard his or her story, the possibility of receiving a gift from that person increases exponentially. I completely understand the reasons behind cold calls and meetings “just to talk” because they do result in hard dollars.
One of the biggest challenges I’ve faced is framing a connecting meeting. Sales and business development people are willing and understand the value of just connecting. But, business owners, CEO’s, and senior managers don’t really see the point. Under what pretense do you meet and introduce people to your organization? In my initial meetings I almost never talk about money. But, money seems to be what everyone expects us to talk about.
How do you frame a connecting meeting with someone new? Under what pretense do you ask to meet with them? How do you ask them to meet with you and what do you ask to meet about? What do you say when they ask for an agenda?
Related posts:
- Question: Managing Meetings
- Who Likes Meetings?
- In-Person Meetings
- Organizing Your Acquisition
- Question: Who’s a Good Prospect?
Relationships
Feb 21st
Too often, we don’t ask the hard questions and share our real challenges, joys, and struggles. We do this because we are afraid of letting people into our worlds and of what they might think if they really knew who we are. What if people saw our weaknesses, understood our motivations, and witnessed our actions? How we build and manage relationships personally (and professionally) is often not all that different from how we manage our organizations.
Too many organizations are afraid of sharing actual struggles with their constituents. We have become really good at framing our weaknesses as strengths and focusing stakeholders’ attention on successful areas. This can be a valuable skill, but if it is all we do we miss a key opportunity to grow relationships with our donors.
Take time to really get to know your donors. Ask them who they are and why your organization is important to them. Share with them what challenges you are facing as well as the exciting things that are happening at your nonprofit. Elevator pitches are great if you only have a minute. But even more valuable is the ability to share honestly about what your experience with the organization is and why that is meaningful to you and those that you serve. When we take too much time to frame a response, we often lose the urgency and personal part of the message.
Related posts:
Handwritten Notes
Feb 14th
When was the last time you received a handwritten note? I can count on one hand the number of handwritten notes that I’ve received in the last six months. If you eliminate holiday cards and birthday cards that just have a signature on it, then it’s even less. Another remarkable thing about the handwritten notes I’ve received over the last six months is that I can tell you who they were from and what they said. Have you ever received a handwritten note that you didn’t read?
How many emails have you received in the last six days? Can you remember even half of them or who sent them? One of the advantages of a handwritten note sent during today’s digital world is that they are so rare. Emails and even phone messages will often be immediately deleted or forgotten. How many letters and emails do you get that you never even read?
Handwritten notes are a great way to say thank you. You can say the same thing (or even less) in a handwritten note than in an email and it often means more because you took the time to write it yourself. The thank you will often be kept and read again if it is in paper form, whereas in email it will just be archived or deleted.
Another great use for handwritten notes is to make an introduction. If I receive the same note in email and handwritten form, there is a better chance I will follow up with the handwritten note. Notes are a great way to invite a VIP on a tour or for an introduction meeting. Mention that you are going to follow up with a phone call.
Related posts:
- Mental Follow-up Games
- Get on the Phone
- The Immediate Thank You Call
- Obama Crowned Direct Mail King
- Pick Up the Phone
Feasibility Study or Principal Gift
Feb 7th
In capital campaign fundraising, a feasibility study can really set you up for success. It helps you to figure out who some of your key givers really are going to be and what kind of top gift you can really expect. However, you can figure out your fundraising capacity by taking a close look at your top donors. Do you have someone close to you from whom you believe you can get a $1 million gift? $3 million? This is going to be your top gift, and you can build a gift chart from there.
There is a strong value in raising a specific amount of money for a specific task, but if you do not have the donors to accomplish that project you will not be successful no matter how important the project is. If your organization only has one prospect who can stretch to give $1 million, you can probably raise around $5 or $6 million but will struggle a great deal to raise $10 million. Do not convince yourself that you can raise more money than the capacity of your donors.
If you have a need to raise more money than your organization has the capacity to raise, see what you can do to postpone that project or segment it into smaller pieces. Run a campaign for the first part of the campaign. Each campaign will grow your fundraising capacity. If you are successful in raising money for the first segment, then you will bring in new major gift donors and pull existing donors closer to the organization. It will be easier to go back to them in the future.
Related posts:
- The Multi-Year Gift
- The Pre-Emptive Gift
- How to ASSURE a Gift
- Success Breeds Success
- To Measure or Not to Measure
Being A Gracious Person
Feb 2nd
I received an award a couple of months back for some of my volunteer work with Northwest Development Officers Association (NDOA), our local fundraising association. I had no idea that I was receiving the award. A couple of my friends strategized together to bring me to the event, and during the announcement I was shocked. It so happened that one of the board members at the foundation where I work was at the event and she sent a covert email to my boss. As a result my co-workers surprised me with an acknowledgement and I received congratulations throughout the week from other board members and executives at the hospital. It was a great honor and I really appreciate NDOA and all of my friends and colleagues’ acknowledgement.
I realized that I am not as gracious a person as I thought I might be. I was dumbfounded as to how to be appropriately thankful for the respect and commendations from so many people. So I thought I’d put it out to you.
What do you do to thank people in a gracious way? What kinds of actions do you take to show your appreciation? What kinds of things do you say to the people acknowledging you?
Related posts:
- Get Involved in AFP
- Fund Development Job Websites
- Informing Your Volunteers
- Would You Like Fries With That?
- Barometer or Board Member
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