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Stop making assumptions about your donors
“Major donors like to give in their backyard.”
I call BS!
One thing I’ve noticed over the years is that many people think that major donors have some rule book that they all follow.
In other words, you get to a certain level of giving and all of those donors think the same way about things.
Some of the things I’ve heard over the years are that all major donors…
- Want to see financials
- Only give to physical projects
- Need to be asked by a peer
- Can’t be asked on a first visit
- Only like to give to an organization for 3-5 years
The truth:
SOME DONORS THINK THESE THINGS.
You saw it happen with one particular donor or that’s the way you think.
That doesn’t mean everyone thinks the same thing.
Major donors are PEOPLE.
If you haven’t noticed, people are incredibly different.
Saying something like major donors like to give in their backyard is just as silly as saying something like major donors like pineapple pizza.
Stop assuming things about the donor you’re working with because some “genius” told you a major donor secret.
JUST ASK THEM!
Kevin Fitzpatrick is the owner of One Visit Away, a consulting business helping leaders of nonprofits schedule more and better visits with their benefactors. Kevin’s goal is to help fundraising professionals constantly seek to deepen their relationships with their benefactors. After all, you’re just One Visit Away from growing your mission and your impact.
Related Resources:
- “One Visit Away” podcast
- Webinar: Scheduling Visits is Scary…but it doesn’t have to be that way.
- At last, the Not-So-Secret Formula for Raising Major Gifts
- 3 Simple Ways to Start Major Donor Conversations Off on the Right Foot
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Feeling like your job is getting harder because donor expectations have changed and competition for the charitable dollar is growing?
Finding that the old orthodoxies and conventions espoused by so-called experts in online echo-chambers and at conferences don’t work anymore?
Want to help more people make impact by facilitating their acts of philanthropy but feel like too many obstacles keep getting in your way?
Then this book is for you.
Engagement Fundraising was developed from the perspective of a donor who discovered firsthand that the impersonal, spray-and-pray approaches of his beloved charity were not only offensive but also wasteful and ineffective. So he took action. And now, you can too.
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