Asking for a *gasp* Major Gift
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Major gift fundraising can be very intimidating for so many small organizations. Oftentimes we think we don't know anyone who can give, or we think of a major gift as a hundred thousand dollars where very often it can be 500 or a thousand dollars for your organization. But I think the most intimidating part of major gift fundraising is the idea of a face-to-face ask that gets people running and hiding. I think that is truly the number one thing that many people think of as the worst part of fundraising.
In today’s podcast, Rhea Wong, experienced nonprofit consultant and coach, will talk about how you can make bigger asks for bigger gifts to fully fund your small nonprofit’s vision and mission.
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Myths that Rhea wants us to walk away from:
You can ask anyone to give. Building a relationship with donors is a process. To determine whether they align with your organization’s mission, you must first identify and understand the type of person you are approaching, their capacity to give and know their values and interests.
Only rich people have the capacity to give. Rhea suggests that the best way to know whether someone is inclined to give to you is to simply ask. Just because someone has a hundred million dollars doesn't mean they're going to give you a hundred million dollars. These donors could give you a thousand or five hundred dollars if your mission does not resonate with them.
Rhea’s thoughts around major gift fundraising
Fundraising is just a math problem. It's asks minus no’s equal yeses. The more asks you put out, the more nos you're going to get, but the more yeses you're going to get. Fundraisers are so nervous about the no's, they will do anything to try to avoid it, which includes doing massive amounts of research that nobody looks at. It includes never actually setting a time, complaining like your board isn't setting up meetings for you, tweaking the annual report and your donor page versus getting out there and ask. You just need to ask and the more nos you get the more you learn. You're going to screw up, but that's how you get better.
Learn to listen. In conversations with donors, remember the 75:25 ratio, where 75% donors talking and 25% you listening. People who are nervous about money, about people who have money, about the conversation, they overtalk, they create a deck as a crutch but there's no substitute for being present and being vulnerable and asking really good questions to people.
Give value. Every time you talk to someone and you're asking them for something, you're probably not going to get callbacks. But you can cultivate a relationship where you are also offering value and that could be in the form of companionship, giving information, opportunity to get more engaged or involved in a meaningful volunteer experience. Every meeting should be about engaging further, but that engaging further, it doesn't have to be about them giving it can also be about you giving.
Favorite Quotes from Today’s Episode
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“ I build a whole business around major gift fundraising training, and I'm like, here's the big secret you guys, I'm training you to have a conversation. That's the secret. Like, it's not like some deck, it's not magical words. It's not like anything other than like, can I as a human being have, sit with you and understand who you are as a human being. And see if the thing that you care about is the thing that we're doing. And if so, can we build something together? Like, that's it, that's the big secret, right?”
“At the end of the day, fundraising is just a math problem. It's just a math problem. It's asks minus nos equals yeses. The more asks you put out, the more nos you're going to get, but the more yeses you're going to get. I feel like fundraisers are so nervous about the no's they will do anything to try to avoid it, which includes doing massive amounts of research that nobody looks at. It includes never actually setting a time to me. It includes, uh, dating forever and just going on a bajillion site visits, like no one wants to go on that many site visits. It looks like complaining like your board isn't setting up meetings for you. It looks like, tweaking the annual report and your donor page versus getting out there and ask like, you just need to ask and the more no’s you get the more you learn, right. You're going to screw up. I've screwed up asks, right? I'm sure you have, but that's how you get better. ”
Resources from this Episode
