MGOs Stay When Leadership Allows a MGO to Manage UP
A good CEO or Executive Director allows her development director or MGO to manage her portfolio and to essentially tell the CEO what she needs to do to cultivate and steward those donors.
A good CEO or Executive Director allows her development director or MGO to manage her portfolio and to essentially tell the CEO what she needs to do to cultivate and steward those donors.
If you want a major gift officer to stay at your organization, you must embrace the concept that donors are first, and that it’s all about fulfilling their desires and passions as it relates to your mission.
Does your organization overflow with inspiration and vision? Are your programs top-notch and making an impact? If yes, then you have the right ingredients to keep good major gift officers. If you keep losing good people every couple of years, maybe this is your problem.
The MGOs who stay with an organization are the ones who feel they matter to the organization.
Organizations that keep their major gift officers – all of them, and I mean ALL of them – have a clear set of boundaries and a structure that the MGOs are asked to work within.
In the world and life of major gift officers, there are specific things the job requires, and there are characteristics a MGO needs to have, to be successful. If you have these, it’s a good fit, and a path to success.
The very sad thing is that some managers should not be in their jobs.
If you want to literally chase your MGO out the door, keep changing the rules of engagement. That will do the job.
Management needs to help major gift officers create annual goals based on donors’ reality, not based on wishful thinking or random percentage increases.
Some major gift fundraisers don’t have enough to present to donors. If you maintain a culture where the MGO cannot be successful, then expect the MGO to leave.