Last fall I met with a donor with a modest giving history, donations of $100/year for 25 years. While there were no indications of wealth during our conversation, their consistent annual giving suggested they were a good prospect for planned giving. They had also made a one-off gift to a specific fund that currently has a capital project that I’m fundraising for. The donor agreed to receive information on planned giving and the capital project and have me follow up in six weeks. When we met again, they had reviewed the information on the capital project and wanted to make a gift of $100,000!
Obviously, this is not the usual outcome from an initial discovery visit, but it’s also not an outlier.
Earlier in my career, I began a new role that had lofty goals and no existing donor portfolio. I was given no direction from my new boss, but saw it as freedom and autonomy.
Counterintuitively, outreach to donors is often not the focus of fundraisers (something that I am guilty of on a weekly basis). So, I have a question written on a sticky note on my computer monitor that I ask myself everyday: “What is the one thing I can do right now to raise money?”
In that new role (and still more often than not), I decided the one thing I could do would be to proactively build a portfolio by reaching out to donors and asking for discovery meetings to begin building relationships with those who wish to be engaged.
Since then, I’ve sent thousands of meeting requests, met with hundreds of donors, and raised millions of dollars.
Here are a few of my favourite examples of the results of this work:
Donor #1 - Lapsed but not lost
This donor had long history of donating $100 a year but their giving had lapsed for several years. Over coffee, they shared that they had received a scholarship as a student and asked if it was active. I reported back after the meeting, and their interest was rekindled. They became a $10,000 annual donor to that scholarship.
Donor #2 - The Reviver
This donor made gifts every year at odd amounts ($119.50, $152, $54, etc..) When we met, they explained that their law firm split its giving equally between causes important to their client. After asking a few exploratory questions, they revealed that their father had been a faculty member and an award in his memory was established when he died. When I reported back that the fund was depleted and barely active, the donor made a gift of $2,500/year to keep the award going and increase the impact.
Donor #3 - Compounding giving
While visiting their city, I met with a donor who had made one $1,000 gift several years earlier. By asking some simple questions and listening, this donor pledged to give $100 monthly ($1,200/year) and through thoughtful stewardship established a student award and has since donated $50,000+ to the fund.
These gifts are the result of focusing on the simple act of inviting donors to meet, and then to genuinely attempt to build a relationship—the only things within our control.
While our sector exists because of scarcity, and philanthropy is not the solution to wealth distribution and inequality, practicing an abundance mindset allows us to notice and foster generosity. Our donors want to do more and, in many cases, can do more and are waiting for us to invite them in a meaningful way. We can look beyond prospect research and wealth ratings and focus on the donors we already have before chasing new ones.
In part 2, I explore how to secure meetings and gifts, digging into the strategies and systems that can make connecting with donors our main focus.
Eli Clarke (he/him) is a working dad, Director of Development, Major Gifts at the University of Waterloo, and creator of Essential Consulting. Eli works to make planned giving accessible to all fundraisers and charities by challenging the status quo to simplify it. Contact Eli, eli@essentialconsulting.ca.
