Last week I had the opportunity to speak at the Women’s International Zionist Organization (WIZO) Conference, and one of the participants asked me, “When do you know that you have asked someone for a donation enough times? When should you stop approaching the person, even though you know she has the ability to make a significant contribution?” Today let’s look at the right time to ask for a donation from a potential or current donor. There are two aspects to this issue: knowing when it is the right time to solicit a contribution and knowing when it is the right time to stop asking for a donation. Unfortunately, there are no simple, hard and fast guidelines that can be given to you as a professional or volunteer solicitor. The best way to approach this issue is through the lens of the … [Read more...]

Last week’s posting generated a comment from a reader who said, “Cultivating donors is not really a problem and I find that volunteer and professional solicitors know how to do it. The problem I see is that they never seem to move beyond the cultivation stage and get to ‘The Ask.’” All of us would agree that the most important part of soliciting the donor is the request for the contribution and for some people it is the most difficult part of the solicitation process. Let’s break it down to three questions, “Why, When and How?” Although donors tend to be generous people it is the rare donor who calls up the organization and says, “I have not made my contribution for the year and I want to let you know that I will be happy to donate__________.” It is even more unusual for a … [Read more...]

How about: Having accumulated many years of experience in the Jewish professional world, particularly with cultivating and maintaining donors relations, clients often seek out my advice. What I’ve noticed is that there is often little, if any, understanding of the connection between the solicitation process and the nature of the relationship with the donor. There is also a lack of understanding that an agency’s purpose and programs are not enough to guarantee the closing of a gift. Although we would like to think that all nonprofit organizations are essential to the building of a strong society this does not mean that presenting the organization to the donor is the only thing that has to be done to secure a gift. In fact, the unending telemarketing phone calls everyone receives and the piles … [Read more...]

by Deborah Kaplan Polivy The Donor Lifecycle Map, created by Sarah Clifton, is a terrific tool to use in creating a strategic fund raising plan. The focus of the Map is determining where a donor lies in terms of his/her lifetime giving to an organization, not on the size of any individual contribution or amount of personal assets. The Donor Lifecycle Map emphasizes relationship building as opposed to transactions and on moving a donor along from first gift to endowment. It can be used along with data about the size of any gift, but its major advantage, in my mind, is that it helps to organize the strategic plan according to the “next step” for the donor or category of donors. The question for staff and volunteers then becomes what must we do or what resources should we expend on this … [Read more...]

by Michael Steiner “I have someone I would like you to meet. She is a great person, but is not yet engaged with our organization "- says your CEO. In our line of business often we receive leads about people to engage with. It may come from our trustees, board members, from our supervisor, CEO, colleagues in the organization or from another donor. What typically follows next is the “first meeting” followed by our efforts to turn a person who knows little about our organization and is neither a supporter nor a believer to a supporter and believer who sees the great things our organization has to offer. While we don’t typically think about this first meeting as an opportunity for different wherewithal, we often try to leave a strong impression which would lead into a long and lasting … [Read more...]