Many major gift fundraisers resist structure. They like the “freedom” to go out and connect with donors, have breakfast, lunch, and dinner appointments, do events, get on planes, meet new people, and not feel constrained by a plan.
But in our opinion, this is an important reason why major gift fundraisers either change jobs every couple of years, or burn out quickly. This freedom, while it seems attractive at first, lends itself to frustration and ultimately major gift failure.
“Freedom” without a boundary or structure doesn’t work. Yes, it sounds counter-intuitive. But in all our research and practice of best business and individual success, having a structure to work within allows you MORE freedom.
At Veritus we’re big advocates of creating a structure for major gift programs to be successful. We call it the Veritus Way of Major Gifts. (Tweet it!) We didn’t create this structure because we wanted to quash creativity. We created it because we knew it would unleash more creativity in major gift fundraisers.
I like this quote by David Allen:
“It’s hard to be fully creative without structure and constraint. Try to paint without a canvas. Creativity and freedom are two sides of the same coin. I like the best of both worlds. Want freedom? Get organized. Want to get organized? Get creative.”
I want to be noticeably clear. To be successful in major gifts there is no magic or new strategy to implement. There’s nothing shiny to chase here.
We’ve been doing this work successfully now for many, many years. We’ve worked with over 1,000 major gift officers and we know exactly what works and how you can be successful at this work. It’s having that proper structure and then executing within that structure. And executing WITHIN that structure is where you can be wildly creative.
But you HAVE to create the structure. And you HAVE to work within it. Just as an artist has to work within the boundaries of that canvas, you have to work within the boundaries of that structure.
The major gift fundraisers who embrace that, are successful. Period. Those that don’t or those that are not given the opportunity to work within the proper structure, struggle and fail. We don’t want to see you fail.
We want to see you succeed and find joy in the work you do.
Jeff
PS — Download the Veritus Way. This is the structure you need in place to be successful. It’s a one-page document that you can hang up near your computer to keep you focused.
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Great…freedom, structure…I understand. Why not give an example of what you’re talking about??
Steve, if you download the one-pager in the P.S. this gives you the entire structure I’m talking about.
What is your position on non-donors, or long lapsed donors, in a major gift portfolio? For educational institutions, higher ed, independent schools, non-donor alumni of high capacity, are often put in portfolio. There is the optimism that this can change with personal outreach, and in my experience, it can happen. I ask, because you clearly emphasize in this one-pager, and your other communications, that major gift staff work with “donors.”
Hi Nancy, our position is that non-donors should not be in a major gift portfolio. You are correct that many higher ed institutions put “high-capacity” alumni or donors in a portfolio and expect the major gift fundraiser to bring in revenue from that group based on potential. We want major gift fundraisers working with donors. Now, a lapsed donor may come back into a portfolio IF they donor was qualified first. The major gift officers we work with do not have any unqualified donors in their portfolios. The problem in our industry is that too many major gift portfolios are littered with UNQUALIFIED donors making the work of the major gift fundraiser almost impossible. By following the “Veritus Way” of major gift fundraising we find tremendous success because you have major gift fundraiser developing relationships with donors that want that type of relationship. It makes their job much easier. Now, getting there isn’t easy, but having a full, qualified, caseload of donors makes a world of difference.