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06/09/2011 Bullington & Ludwig 1

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HOW TO ASK FOR THAT NEXT GIFT?

Page Bullington, M.P.A

andKristin Ludwig, PhD


• Common Terms

• Annual Fund Best Practices

• Major and Planned Giving Tips and Tricks

• Prospect Research 101

• Toolbox Review

AGENDA


COMMONS TERMS


DEVELOPMENT CYCLE


TERMS AND DEFINITIONS:

• Contact – a face to face visit (also known as a “Primary Move”);

significant phone call conversation with forward movement in the

relationship (also a Primary Move); one-to-one email exchange that

leads to forward movement .

• Actions – are recorded in the “Action Tab” in RE and are considered

“Secondary Moves” which may include a phone call to set up or

confirm an appointment, or a chance meeting where you had a

conversation.

• Visit – a face to face visit

• Suspects – constituents who have been identified by Research as

possible major gift prospects for assignment to gift officer prospect

pools. Once assigned to a portfolio these are called “Prospects”.



• Prospects – individuals who have been assigned to a gift officer to

be qualified and moved into cultivation and then forward.

• Qualification – occurs during the “Assessment” stage. Includes

review of data and visiting with individual to determine if he/she is a

valid candidate for solicitation at the major gift level. In this stage an

individual is either “qualified” and moved into “cultivation” or

removed from the portfolio. An “action” should be filed in either

case. A “Solicitation Plan” should be filed within 60 days of having

qualified the prospect. (see below)



• Move – a strategic and substantial personalized interaction with a

prospect which directly and tangibly advances that prospect

towards an ask or a close. It can be a personal meeting or visit

(preferred), telephone conversation, email or letter. It is not casual

interaction at an event or a casual update meeting, phone call or

email.

• Solicitation Plan – filed in proposal notes in RE, this should

include a description of the purpose of the gift, the dollar amount

(“Expected Ask”) and an approximate deadline for making the ask

(“Ask Date”). The solicitation plan may be modified or edited as

needed going forward with explanatory information entered in

“Notes” on the Solicitation Plan.

• Pipeline – the concept of moving a constituent through various

stages to an ultimate closing of a gift and post-gift stewardship.



“Pipeline Movement” includes:

• ID Suspect

• ID Prospect

• Assessment

• Cultivation

• Solicitation

• Gift closure

• Post-gift stewardship


PROCESS FLOWIdentification

Prospect is identified for further research

ASSESSEMENT

The prospect is being qualified as a major gift prospect.

This results in the prospect being QUALIFIED (an action is filed to

reflect this) and moved into CULTIVATION or REMOVED

from the portfolio.

CULTIVATION

During this stage, a solicitation plan is

created and entered into RE7.

REMOVED

Prospect indicates no interest or financial capacity

to make a major gift. Removed from portfolio.

SOLICITATION

The ask is made.

The ask is rejected, the

proposal will be

re-evaluated and the

prospect is put back into

CULITVATION

SUCCESS

The prospect agrees to the

proposal and

makes a gift or pledge.

STEWARDSHIP

The prospect is moved into stewardship. After a time, it

may be determined that the prospect is ready to move

back into CULTIVATION to start the process over with a

new proposal.


ANNUAL FUND


ANNUAL FUND

• RFM is a method used for analyzing behavior and defining market.

It is commonly used in database marketing and direct marketing.

RFM analysis can work in tandem with reporting you already do.

• RFM stands for

• Recency - When was the donation?

• Frequency - How many donations have been made?

• Monetary Value - What is the value of donations?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_segment

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database_marketing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_marketing


ANNUAL FUND

• To create an RFM analysis, create categories for each attribute.

• Example:

• Recency attribute might be broken into three categories:

• Donors with donations within the last fiscal year

• Donors with donations last two fiscal years

• Donors with donations last three fiscal years

• Frequency might be broken into two categories:

• Donors with monthly gifts

• Donors with yearly gifts

• Value can be segmented at many levels:

• $1-$50

• $51-$100

• $101-$250, etc.


ANNUAL FUND

• Once each of the attributes has appropriate categories defined,

segments are created from the intersection of the values.

• If there were three categories for each attribute, then the resulting

matrix would have twenty-seven possible combinations

• We may also decide to collapse certain sub-segments. If the

gradations appear too small to be useful.

• The resulting segments can be ordered from most valuable (highest

recency, frequency, and value) to least valuable (lowest recency,

frequency, and marketing).

• It is highly recommended that secondary data be applied when

looking at RFM analysis.


ANNUAL FUND TO MAJOR

• One of the best tools will be trend analysis

• Review trends that occur in several ways

• Pull data on $25 donors –

• Look for common constituency codes

• Look for events occurring before gifts

• Monitor successful solicitation

• Pull data on specific constituency codes

• Do all alumni typically give a $25 gift first or is it $50

• Reviewing data in this manner can help with both major and annual

gifts

• Establish “trigger” amounts or events that can help move individuals

into major gift cultivation and / or research


MAJOR GIV ING


METRICS FOR EVALUATION

• The level of activity and success are the best indicators of the

value of major gift officers.

• Activity may be assessed in terms of visits, solicitations,

qualifications, active movement of all portfolio prospects.

• Success is assessed in terms of movement within a portfolio. As

suspects are qualified and moved down the pipeline to closing of a

major gift. All prospects should be moved forward within 90-120

days (3-6 months) of receipt into the portfolio



• Initial qualification of suspect pool may take about 90-120 days and

a clear move forward should occur every 3 months for each

prospect. Once the qualified prospect pool is determined, active

cultivation and solicitation are the next steps.

• Number of qualified prospects in a portfolio may range from 30-50;

the entire portfolio (including those being qualified) may range from

100-125



• Reasonable Goals include:

• A minimum of 12 visits per month for assessment and/or

cultivation (130 annually) (This factors in vacation, holidays,

etc.)

• Add five new prospects to the portfolio through officer

discovery and identification

• Remove unqualified prospects each month through

assessment.

• Contact reports should be filed within 5 business days of the

contact. The 15th of the month is the deadline for the previous

month’s contact reports


RESOURCES TO SUPPORT THE MGO

• Prospect Research Team – brief, profiles, wealth analysis, gift

capacity ratings, prospect screenings, prospect identification,

prospect management reports and moves management training

CRM

• Database Team – query support and training; biographical data

updating; targeted mailing lists

• Director of Development – strategic portfolio planning; trouble

shooting and coordination of multiple contact situations; monthly

review of portfolio activity

• Executive Director – strategic planning and solutions with

operational perspective to ensure adequate infrastructure support

and compliance with policies and procedures.


PROSPECT MANAGEMENT MEETINGS

• Meeting length

• Optimum is 60 minutes

• No good work happens after 90 minutes

• Frequency

• Depends on need for new prospects

• When demand is high, meet weekly

• As prospect portfolios fill out, reduce frequency

• No less than monthly

• Roles

• Moderator keeps the meeting moving

• Note taker records minutes and distributes them by the

beginning of the next business day

• Roles can rotate


PRINCIPLES OF PROSPECT MANAGEMENT

• Clearance system managed by director of prospect management

• Clear and specific procedures and criteria for establishing an

assignment

• Assignment to a development area is driven by donor interest

• One prospect manager per prospect

• Prospect research establishes potential and inclination

• Prospect manager qualifies the prospect


PRINCIPLES OF PROSPECT MANAGEMENT

• Prospect managers can nominate prospects on their own, but

assignment must be validated by director of prospect management

• Prospect manager controls and monitors contact with the prospect

• Solicitors may be other than prospect manager

• Meaningful reports

• Assigned prospects

• System for succession of assignments

• Contact reports are mandatory

• Clear definitions of “moves”


RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT BENCHMARKS

• To assist in prospect management, below are some national relationship

management benchmarks:

• 20-30 moves per month

• 10 – 18 face-to-face visits per month

• Portfolio size: 150 – 200 prospects

• Identification – 25%

• Cultivation – 50%

• Solicitation – 25%

• Portfolio size influenced by

• Ask amount

• Geography

• Job responsibilities

• Annual or semi-annual review with supervisor


TOOLBOX REVIEW


PASSING IT ALONG – SAMPLE PROFILE

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PASSING IT ALONG

• Other information to include…

• Charitable giving

• Frequency of giving – to your organization and other non-profits

• Average gift size

• Current relationships

• Alumni, Membership Status

• Peer relationships

• Think about what is important for your team


TICKLER REPORT TO TRACK ACTIONS BY SOLICITOR


OUTSTANDING PROPOSAL REPORT – BY SOLICITOR


PROPOSAL ANALYSIS REPORT


PROPOSAL PIPELINE