12 Days of Major Gift Fundraising - Day 5: Qualification

It's day 5 of the 12 Days of Major Gift Fundraising. 

Today Nathan explores the art and science behind qualifying major gift prospects, with a focus on building a structured and efficient program that ensures you're targeting the right individuals.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Qualifying Major Gift Prospects
• 10:41 Qualifying Major Gift Prospects Process
• 18:04 Building Relationships for Major Gifts
• 27:48 Reaching Out for Major Gift Guidance

Transcript

Nathan Ruby: 0:00

I know you probably didn't wake up this morning excited about getting out there and asking your donors for a major gift. I get it. It's hard work. I have something that's going to help you. Every two weeks I put out a quick video packed with game-changing content for executive directors trying to learn major gifts. In these videos you'll get expert tips and proven strategies, practical fundraising hacks, innovative ideas to engage donors, real-world case studies and solutions and, for the first time ever, exclusive access to casual Zoom hangouts with fellow executive directors and me and Tim, who are sticking their toes into the major gift work just like you.

Nathan Ruby: 0:58

Don't miss out on this opportunity to join a community of passionate fundraisers who are committed to excellence in major gift development. Go to nonprofitleaderonline and sign up today to receive your first video newsletter and start transforming your major gift program. I'll see you there. See you there. Welcome to the Practice of Nonprofit Leadership. I'm Nathan Ruby.

Nathan Ruby: 1:34

We are on day five of the 12 days of major gift fundraising and you know we've got all of our prerequisites so that we can clearly and confidently share with donors where the organization is going and how their gift, how the donor's gift, will make real impact. We did that first. We've got a list of 20 to 25 major gift prospects who we think might give a major gift to us. And one of the realities of working in major gifts is that in a mature major gift program you can expect about 10% of your prospects to make a major gift in any given year. Now by mature I mean one where the program has probably oh, I don't know, there's no magic number here, but I would say three, four, five years has been going on, that there's somebody who is defined to be working on major gifts on a daily basis. That could be the executive director. For most smaller organizations they'll mean the executive director, but for some medium-sized organizations you may have a major gift officer. But there's somebody who's actively working on cultivating donors and moving them towards making a gift every day. Now you might be doing the math in your head and saying, nathan, I've got a list of 25 prospects here and 10% is only 2.5. And I'm listening to this podcast series because I need way more than 2.5 major gifts this year. Well, don't worry, we're just getting started. As you learn the process and kind of get a little better at this, you are going to be able to turn up the dial and speed things up. So let's not worry about that right now. We'll get you there. Let's just stick with the process. We'll go through, we'll learn the rest of the process, you can practice on it and then, when you get a little better, you're going to be able to go a little faster, a little quicker and you can speed things up.

Nathan Ruby: 3:44

Okay, so today we're talking about qualifying. Taking our list of 20 or 25 prospects that we did yesterday and we are now going to prioritize them into a list of who is most likely to make a gift, all the way down to of these 25 least likely, and then we're going to start with number one and work our way down. But how do we qualify them? What does it mean? What questions are we asking? By what criteria are we qualifying? Excellent question.

Nathan Ruby: 4:19

When we qualify, we are looking for three primary things. Number one do they have the capacity to give at whatever level you've set as your major gift level? So if you've set a major gift at a thousand dollars, then can they make a thousand dollar gift. If you've set it at 2,500, can they make a $2,500 gift. So first one is do they have capacity to give it that level? That's number one. Number two will they give it to you? Because they could have the capacity to write a $100,000 check and pretty much any organization on the planet $100,000 is going to qualify as a major gift, I don't care who you are. So you could have a prospect that could write a $100,000 check. But if they won't give it to you, well then they're really not a prospect. So we've got to answer that question is will they give it to you? And then number three is how accessible are they? Can you get to them?

Nathan Ruby: 5:23

And I have sat in conference rooms and across the desk from countless dozens, hundreds of uh of clients who, and inevitably uh, the, the, the thing always comes up. Well, if we could just get you know Oprah, or if we could just get uh Bezos, or if we could just get you know insert the name of you know, if we could just get Elon, whoever, whatever millionaire, a hundred millionaire, billionaire is your person, insert name, you know we wouldn't have, we have it all fixed. You know we wouldn't have to do any of this. Well, trying to get in front of insert mega millionaire name. It could be you could have a board member who is that mega billionaire's uncle? And if that's the case and they can call up mega billionaire and that mega billionaire will answer the phone and your board member can walk you in and sit you down with them. Awesome, they're number one on your list. If not, then they probably aren't gonna go on your list. So we gotta make sure that they're accessible.

Nathan Ruby: 6:34

All right, so we wanna know capacity to give. Will they give it to you? How accessible are they? That's what we're looking for when we're qualifying. So if we know what we're gonna do to qualify, how are we going to do it? All right, four simple ways for you to qualify people. Number one is what are they giving to within your organization? Is there a program or something that they are excited about Now on the giving level, how much are? What is their capacity?

Nathan Ruby: 7:06

We kind of did some pre-work yesterday when we created our list, because I had you go through and take you know, the top the top donors from three-year cumulative, and then we looked at some of the donors who had some one-off gifts in the last three years that you know. Maybe they weren't high enough to reach the the the top list, but for some reason they made a pretty good size gift in there. Somewhere we have them and then we have some wild cards in there. So, by the way we created that list, we kind of pre-qualified most of these people. So say you were, you were working ahead and you didn't even know about it. Uh, but if you're not sure about some on your list or for future reference, here's how you do it. Take donors Now.

Nathan Ruby: 7:51

Remember our best major gift prospects are people who are already giving to us. So if they're already giving to you, a rule of thumb you can use is someone who has given a consistent annual gift and I would say you know two years is probably consistent, three years is better. You know four, five, six. You know the longer it goes the better it is. But I would say two to three years is kind of a a point where you could say, okay, this is consistent giving. If they have given a gift to you consistently two, three years plus, without being asked to face-to-face, so you sent them a direct mail piece and they responded, or they came to your gala, whatever it is, take whatever their annual gift is and 10, exit 10 times. So if they're giving $100, a thousand dollars is is a reasonable ask for them without any further knowledge. If they're giving a thousand dollars, then a $10,000 ask would be reasonable.

Nathan Ruby: 8:54

Now, this is not set in stone, it's just a rule of thumb. It could be higher or lower than that 10, x, it just depends on the individual circumstances. But it's a good way to do a quick qualification of people based on their capacity to give. It's just an easy number to look at, all right. So that's number one is to look within your organization, at their giving within your organization. Number two talk to your board members or other stakeholders.

Nathan Ruby: 9:26

So the question is you know, uh, miss board member, do you know the McIntyres? We're we're kind of going with the McIntyre theme here. I think it's like the third day I've used the, the, the donor, mcintyre family. So where's it going to stick with them? So, do you know the McIntyres? What can you me about them? And then you get into a conversation and then one of the things that we're looking at is do they have the capacity to give at this level? Now I wouldn't recommend you going up to your board member and saying, ms Board Member, do you know the McIntyres? Well, yeah, I do know them. I'm in a social club with them, they're my neighbors, they're whatever. Yeah, I know them. Well, do you think they could give $5,000 to us so they could be part of our major gift program? Well, I wouldn't do it that way and what I would do differently, how I would frame that question is do you think, given the right information, the Macintyres would have the capacity to give a gift within our major gift range, which is $5,000. That's kind of more how I would frame it.

Nathan Ruby: 10:41

Now it is okay to you may be feeling a little icky at this moment. It's like well, I don't want to ask somebody else, one of my board members, about one of my donors. That's not, that doesn't feel right, that doesn't feel good. Well, it's okay to have those conversations because you and your board member are working together to move the mission of your organization forward. You have people that are depending on you. Whoever the end user is of your organization, they are depending on you to provide those programs. And if you don't have revenue in the bank, if your checkbook says zero, there's no program that's going to be happening. So you are having these conversations to be able to better prepare, to talk to donors, to help the donors support your organization, so that you can produce the outcomes that your organization, the vision and mission that your organization does. So these conversations are not to be icky. They're not to be. You know I'm prying into somebody's personal life. It is you and the board member working together to try to identify who are our best prospects, our best people to have these conversations with.

Nathan Ruby: 12:03

And I think on the board member side, you could find some reluctance from the board member to have these conversations because they may, just like you, may feel it's yucky. They may feel that it's yucky as well. And a lot of the times when a board member is reluctant to talk about a donor that they know, it's not that they're not willing to do it, it's more that they simply don't know. I've, I've, yo, I, I'm in the same, I'm in the same country club as they are. So I know them socially, but I don't know what their ability to give is. Um, so that's some reluctance. And another set of reluctance a lot of time is the board member doesn't want to go on the record as saying, yes, they could, they'll be able to do that, and then it turns out that it's wrong and they can't. So board members, board members don't want to go on the record on the wrong side of the issue.

Nathan Ruby: 13:08

So my suggestion to you in this is this is talking to board members, other donors, stakeholders about your major gift list is a really great way to qualify donors. Really great way to qualify donors. You just have to do it tactfully and you have to don't pin your board member down and say, can the McIntyres make a $5,000 gift? Because they won't know. The question is, do you think if they had the right information, they would have the capacity or the potential to make a gift of that size? So just make it more general and then you'll see that your board members will have a more open to that discussion.

Nathan Ruby: 13:47

Okay, so number one is how your donors are giving internally to your organization. Number two talking to board members or other donors or stakeholders about individual major gift prospects. Number three online research. And I would just go online. I do this all the time. Google the name, google the McIntyres, google them as if they're married as a couple. If they're not married individually. Even if they are married, I do individually as well, because things will pop up as individuals.

Nathan Ruby: 14:22

So is there? What you're looking for is is their name popping up at other organizations? So a lot of organizations will publish giving lists, or at least a. You know they're not going to say the McIntyres wrote a $5,000 check to the theater, but they will publish their gold level donors and their silver level donors and their bronze level. So if the McIntyres pop up as gold level donors at the theater, well then I'm going to find out. I'm going to go to someone else on the list who I know and say, hey, what is a? What is a gold level, uh, donor at the theater? How, what size gift is that? Well then, now you know what the McIntyres are giving at to the theater. So there's a clue as to capacity.

Nathan Ruby: 15:13

Um, so, online research, are they giving to organizations, uh, that are the same as yours? So that goes. Now, that doesn't mean that they're going to give to you, but it does say, if you run are running a children's, an organization that serves children, and they're giving to other organizations that serve children, okay, that's a clue that I'm in the right. I'm in the right sector. So there's a higher probability that they're going to give to us. So that's awesome.

Nathan Ruby: 15:46

But they may also be giving to other organizations and I want to know that as well. So if I'm a children's organization and I look at the McIntyre's giving and it's all uh, what would be an example? They're all environmental. They're on like 10 different uh annual reports for organizations and they're all environmental organizations. Well, that's a clue as to where their passion is, and they may not be. They may give you a hundred dollar check but they may not be willing to give you a $5,000 check because you're just not a passion of theirs. And I've had that with donors before. I've had donors with capacity out the Yazoo. They had so much capacity but they just were not interested in the nonprofit sector that my organization was in and you know they just weren't a prospect. Um, so it was a bummer, but um, you know, sometimes it goes that way.

Nathan Ruby: 16:45

So another thing on online research and this is important too is most donors are giving to multiple organizations, uh, and typically, um uh, you know, three to five is pretty typical of organizations that donors give to. You know, some are less, some are more, but kind of mid range, three, four, five is pretty common. So the question you have to answer is where am I, where's my organization, if they're giving to me because they're on the this list that we're working, because they have given to you, am I number one or am I number five and you want to know that because typically number one gets the most and number five gets the least. So if I'm number five, I need to figure out how to get to number three. But you need to know where you stand so that you can qualify them in the right place. Okay, so qualifying, so we've done. Number one, which is how are they giving internally to your organization? Number two is just asking people, asking board members, asking stakeholders, asking volunteers some questions about the McIntyres. Number three we've gone online, we've done our research. We see where they're giving, where they're not giving, what levels, so we're kind of getting a clearer picture here. So I saved the best way to last. This is number four.

Nathan Ruby: 18:04

The best way to qualify your donor to, whether they're a number one major gift prospect or a number 25 major donor prospect, is to go talk to them and ask them. Yes, you heard me right Go talk to your donor and ask them. Now, this implies that you have some relationship with these people. If they're your number one donor, number two donor, number three, four, five, you probably have had some interaction with them. If not, you may not be able to have this conversation the first time you meet them, but I'm going to assume, for the sake of this episode, that you've at least met them a couple of times. They come to some events. You've got a basic level of. If they saw you in the grocery store, they would at least know who you are. All right, that's my, that's our, our assumption here for this episode.

Nathan Ruby: 19:10

So if that's the case, what I would do is I would call up the McIntyres and I would take them to coffee. That's what I would do. I would go to coffee, you know, for an afternoon pie, somewhere whatever. I would take them to a restaurant, somewhere neutral, sit down with them. And here's the conversation Number one thank them for their past giving. You've made such a tremendous difference with our organization and thank you so much for everything that you do for us. That'd be number one.

Nathan Ruby: 19:40

Number two I would tell a quick story about a how your organization is impacting lives. One story doesn't have to be very long. I'd make that story two, three minutes, four minutes. You know, hey, you know, mr Miss McIntyre, I just wanted to share a story that happened recently about one of our blank. Whether you're helping children or whatever it is that your organization does, I just wanted to share this story with you and you tell them the story about not outputs not, we did this, we did this, we did this but outcomes. This person went through our process and when they came out the other side, this is how their life had changed. Whatever that is, you tell a story Number three. Then you get into Mr and Mrs McIntyre, one of the reasons I brought you here today.

Nathan Ruby: 20:29

Oh, by the way, I'm not asking for money today. This is not a fundraising visit, but I did want to let you know that we are getting ready to start a defined, a major gift program and we're going to be working especially with a select group of donors in order for them to support us at an even more meaningful level. And currently our plan is to work with donors who have the capacity to give $5,000, $10,000, $20,000, insert your level and above, and I'm not asking, you know 5,000, 10,000, 20,000, insert your level and above, and you know I'm not asking you today. But is this, is this the size of gift that that would be a possibility for you? Um, sometime in the future? That's how. That's how I would phrase it, and then I would just sit and wait and be quiet and let them answer. That's how I would do it. Now, no donor.

Nathan Ruby: 21:25

I've been doing this for decades plural and I've had this conversation hundreds and hundreds of times with donors. Not one, not a single one, has ever gotten upset or mad at me for asking too much when I say is this a level of gift that you could see yourself doing someday? I've never had anybody get angry at that. I've had a few people laugh at me and say you must think I'm made of money, you must think I own a money tree. You must think I own a bank, you must think I. You know, whatever their joke is, I've had people laugh at me and it was kind of funny because some of those people that laughed at me were actually turned out to be some of the largest donors I've ever worked with. But anyway, they're not going to get mad at you.

Nathan Ruby: 22:19

The other thing I would say is don't beat around the bush. Don't use fancy terms that your donor doesn't understand. Don't play on words. They know, they know you're the executive director of this organization. They know your job is to raise funds. They know they have funds. They know, they know how this goes. So don't don't I guess don't minimize the interaction by not being direct. You know, mr and Mrs McIntyre, we're starting this program. We're looking for donors who have a capacity to give at this level, at X level.

Nathan Ruby: 23:03

Is this something that you see yourself doing at some point in the future? It's a very simple conversation or a very simple question. You're asking them a question and then letting them answer it. So there you go. That's how you do it, and I think if you don't want to talk to you know, number two was talking to your board members and other stakeholders. If you're not comfortable doing that, totally understand that. Just go to number four. Just go to your donor. Take them to coffee, sit them down, have a conversation, thank them for their giving, tell them a story about the great things that you're doing and ask them if they could ever see themselves giving at a level that would put them into your major gift program. All right, now you may be asking okay, that sounds like a lot of work, that sounds like a lot of time. Who is it exactly that is supposed to be doing this work? Well, tag you're it.

Nathan Ruby: 24:06

You really can't delegate this, especially in the beginning, as you're starting your major gift program. It is all you. They're going to want to talk to you. They're going to want to talk to the executive director. They're not going to want to talk to a board member. They're not going to want to talk to somebody you've delegated to. It's going to have to be you. Now, as your program grows and matures, maybe a year or two years or three years down the line, then yeah, you could probably hire a part-time major gift officer or a part-time fundraiser to start having some of those conversations.

Nathan Ruby: 24:42

But to get started, it is all you. You can't delegate it Now. That's not to say that you can't take somebody with you. You can take, I would. I would take no more than one other person. So you call up the, the McIntyres, you ask the to meet them for coffee and you say you know, I'd like to invite you to coffee and you know, one of our board members, our board president, our board vice president, one of our board members would like to come and be with us, and so it's okay to have one other person there with you. I wouldn't do more than one other. I wouldn't have three of you or four of you. That's too many. Then it looks like a negotiation. But if you want to take somebody with you. That's totally fine, totally okay to do that.

Nathan Ruby: 25:33

So how long does this take? Well, it could take a while. It could take to get your list together, to qualify everybody on that list. It could take days, weeks, even months to get this all done. It doesn't necessarily happen overnight. It can happen overnight. I mean you could call up the McIntyres, go to coffee, sit down with them and say you know, mr McIntyre, you know, do you see yourself giving you know at this level at some time in the future? And they could say, yeah, absolutely we could. We could give it that level, tell me more. And that absolutely happens. And so it could move pretty quick. But there's also other donors where you know it's taken me a couple months to figure out okay, is this the right person I should be talking to or not? So it could go quick, but not necessarily it could take a little longer.

Nathan Ruby: 26:31

Where are we on our major gift process checklist? Okay, we've done our prerequisites Check. We've got that done. We've got our list of prospects Check. Our prospects are now prioritized. We now know which ones uh we're going to go talk to first. Uh, based on the, the three key things that were you were that we were looking for. So check, we've got that. So what's next? Well, next, I this is one of my favorite parts. So if you, uh, if you like working on jigsaw puzzles uh, in general in any puzzles or if you love solving mysteries, if you're watching a mystery show on TV and you're actually trying to at about the 30-minute mark, you're already trying to figure out who the guilty person is then you're going to love the next step in the major gift process, because tomorrow we are going to love the next step in the major gift process, because tomorrow we are going to be talking about cultivation, and in cultivation, this is where you start moving your donor down the path to making an impactful gift. It is good stuff.

Nathan Ruby: 27:48

Now, like I said yesterday, if you're struggling with this, if you, I'm giving you a ton of information really fast. If you're struggling and you're not quite sure what to do here, I don't, I don't want you to be lost. Reach out to me. In the show notes is my email address. Email me, I'll email you back. We can have a, uh, just some email exchange on things. Ask me questions, I'll answer questions and then, if you, it'll be up to you. If you want to, if you want more? You want to hop on a quick phone call with me? Happy to do that, uh. But if you're if you're struggling with this, I don't want you to struggle Send me an email, reach out to me, ask me a question. I'll answer it, um, and so we can get you back on, back on track and moving down towards a thriving major gift program. So, all right, I'll see you tomorrow for a cultivation, and that's all for today, until next time.