Are all of your organization’s systems working properly? “Well, Jeff why should I care about that? I’m a major gift officer, and I don’t want to deal with any of that stuff” – said the MGO who will eventually start blaming “the system” when things go bad.
A few months ago I was participating in an inaugural meeting with a new client. Things were going great. We went through all the Veritus philosophy, started discussing the process we’d go through to qualify donors, how we’d put goals and strategies together for every donor… it was awesome.
Then something bad happened.
One of the managers that was sitting at the table said, “that’s great that you want to thank donors within 48 hours of getting a gift, but we don’t get a report on who gives until some three weeks have passed. Sometimes it takes us 4-6 weeks to send out a receipt.”
My jaw dropped.
We went on to discuss entering information into the database. We talked about how important it was to record every meaningful touch the MGOs had with donors. Nodding heads all around the table… except when the database manager spoke up.
“Well, I don’t want to be a killjoy, but our database is really messed up and it’s difficult putting notes into the system… I mean, we’re looking into getting a new database, but that’s probably not going to be ready for another 12 months. So if we could use Excel or something that might work, and then maybe we can import those notes later.”
I think my heart stopped for a moment.
It felt like every time we discussed a strategy or recommended a new action item to help systematize the major gift program, we were thwarted at every turn. Somewhere, somehow, this organization had some kind of systems problem.
It gets worse. Afterwards, while meeting with staff for dinner, I got more horror stories from the MGOs. “Well, I just started telling my donors to send the checks to my house so I know they actually sent it.” You what? “Yeah, I had one donor who sent us a check for $20,000 and we never found it. In fact, I even thought about renting my own P.O. box just so I can verify that the donor’s checks are coming in.”
Another MGO commented to me that he was afraid that if he were hit by a bus or something, the organization would not know what is going on with his donors. He said he puts all of his interactions with donors in a physical notebook, hoping one day to download them into a new donor database.
It got me thinking. Folks, we can think of all the great donor-centered strategies and practices until the cows come home, but if our organizations don’t have the basic systems and processes in place, there is no way we can actually implement these donor-centered strategies.
At a minimum, every organization has to have these three things figured out correctly:

1. A working database with a moves-management and planning component that allows you to enter notes into it — This is just basic. Almost every organization we work with has some major complaint about their database. But if it can at least allow you to enter moves, record meaningful actions, and allow you to put in future actions, it will work for you.
2. A donor receipting and thanking system and process — This should be geared to send a receipt to any donor within 48 hours, with different processes for what to do with differently-sized gifts. For example, any donor that gives a $1,000 gift immediately gets a call from the ED. You need to have a protocol for every type and size of gift.
3. Reporting back — Every organization today needs to have a system for reporting back to donors how the donor’s gift made a difference. This is no longer something “nice” you could have in place. This is now becoming an expectation for the donor. All organizations need to have a system in place to make this happen. This is not just about putting together a newsletter. This is about program, communications and development coming together to make this a regular part of your organization’s work.

This all seems so basic, but when it’s not working well, it’s actually killing good major gift programs. You can have the best plans, the greatest MGOs and the most awesome donors, but if you don’t have these three basic systems working properly you can eventually kiss your donors goodbye.
Jeff