Donor Cultivation: Treat them like Humans!
You know where I see millions of dollars left on the table every year? Yep, millions.
Transactional fundraising. I know, we hear it a lot. There are 3 specific instances that make my hair on the back of my neck stand up!
👨👩👦 Family Foundations.
There are REAL PEOPLE making the decisions behind a Family Foundation. Yes, I know some don’t want to talk to you. But, guess what? Some do. My client just grew a gift by 5X by picking up the phone and calling them and acting like a human. Literally, they gave a gift from their foundation and then gave ANOTHER gift from their foundation and then gave a gift from their DAF! Which brings us to the next bullet . . .
🏦 Donor-advised Funds
There are REAL PEOPLE making the decisions where to invest their DAF. You don’t go on the hunt for DAFs. You build relationships with successful people. You do the things that attract them.
💼 Private Businesses
There are REAL PEOPLE making the decisions where to invest their money. Have you tried to form a relationship with the owner of the business? Or are you just copying them on your standard sponsorship package?
In these instances . . . please treat them like real people and not banks. These are all investment-level donors and investment-level opportunities. Treat them like that.
I'm coming at you with really practical advice today. But, honestly, this is one of the biggest problems I see with fundraising teams. This type of stuff is on auto-pilot.
When my clients commit to investing in their teams to learn how make these shifts once and for all, they grow substantially.
Whenever you’re ready, here are THREE things you can do next:
👣 Follow me on LinkedIn where I give away insider info every week - the same lessons I teach my clients about attracting larger gen-ops dollars and adding 7-figures + to their bottom line.
🍎 Read my GUIDE! THE TRUTH ABOUT GIVE/GETS :: Top 5 Reasons Your Board’s Give/Get Is Leaving Thousands (Sometimes Millions) on the Table. See how limiting board members to the Give/Get model restricts gifts in so many ways and keeps your staff from reaching their full fundraising potential. Here to get it.
📈 Work with me to fund your organization’s Strategic Plan and scale your budget by 2 - 5X // If you’re a business-minded CEO already raising MILLIONS but still need more general-operating revenue from individuals and family foundations to invest in growth, you can apply to work with me here.