How to Make the Case for Admin Support

Jeff Schreifels 

Today we’re taking on that ever-controversial topic: administrative support for fundraisers. Many nonprofit leaders don’t want to spend any money here. But the truth is, the cost of hiring admin support is a drop in the bucket compared to the revenue you’re losing, if your fundraisers are busy addressing envelopes, instead of engaging with their donors. So today on the podcast, in traditional Veritus Group fashion, Richard and I are going to offer up some numbers and stories to help illustrate the economic impact of hiring backend office support for fundraisers.

Recorded 

Welcome to the Nothing But Major Gifts podcast from Veritus Group, featuring Richard Perry and Jeff Schreifels. Twice a month, we bring you the latest and best thinking about major gift fundraising, so you can develop authentic relationships with your major donors. Here are your hosts, Richard and Jeff.

Jeff Schreifels 

Welcome to the podcast. I have Richard Perry with me. And today we’re covering that controversial topic of administrative support for mid, major, and planned giving officers. Richard, why is this topic so controversial?

Richard Perry 

Well, I tell you, you know, we’ve been beating on this drum for years. But I mean, it’s fundamentally because leaders and managers, they just don’t want to pay for it. They don’t think it’s necessary. So yeah, they just don’t do it. And they don’t support it. And and while they do all of that, they’re hiring their own administrative support. This is so interesting to me. So that they can take care of their own support needs. So they, interestingly enough, they justify it for themselves. But boy, they cannot see why a mid, major, and planned giving officer needs administrative support.

Jeff Schreifels 

It’s so crazy. And it is the result is that all these mid, major, and planning giving frontline fundraisers are distracted from the donor contact, because they’re doing all this administrative work.

Richard Perry 

Exactly.

Jeff Schreifels 

And it seems to me that that would have an economic consequence. Wouldn’t it?

Richard Perry 

Well absolutely, yes it does. I mean, okay, think about it this way. I mean, this is just pure logic. Yeah, the less time a frontline fundraiser spends with a donor, the less opportunity there is to present the need that matches the donor’s passions and interests, and therefore there’s less interaction, and then therefore, there’s less asks. And all that means less response and less revenue. I mean, if you just think about it, logically, you can’t come to any other conclusion. I mean, frequency of contact, and presentation, frequency of contact and presentation does affect the economic result.

Jeff Schreifels 

I mean, absolutely, it does. Which is why we get so bogged down by this. I mean, if you are at all interested in the money, like not spending it so you can have more, then why would you not spend the money to get more money? I mean, this is why we keep talking about this subject, because it’s so important.

Richard Perry 

I know, it’s this is crazy, crazy. I mean, we’ve written a lot about this, and we have actually two podcasts you should listen to.

Jeff Schreifels 

Yeah, this is not the first time we’ve talked about this.

Richard Perry 

I know. There’s two podcasts that you know, if you’re listening now, you really should listen to these because they give more information on making the case for administrative support with your manager. And the links are there in the show notes. So you can go and check them out. I mean, these are really good, solid content on this topic.

Jeff Schreifels 

Alright. Well, that’s good stuff. So make sure you click on those links. I think the one question that folks might be asking is this: what does an admin person actually do for the frontline fundraiser that they can’t do?

Richard Perry 

Well, I mean, it’s all the back office work that is not donor-facing. I mean, that’s conceptually the way to look at it, whatever is not donor-facing, yeah. Then somebody in the back office can do reports, research, handling mailings, scheduling, you know, any activity, the frontline fundraiser does not have to do so that they have more time to be with donors. I mean, quite honestly, it’s about that simple. I mean, we do have a chart that outlines the details of that, you know, who should be doing what? Yeah, and you can receive that if you just click that there’s a link in the show notes as well. And you’ll be able to get it and download it.

Jeff Schreifels 

Lot of show notes!

Richard Perry 

Lot of show notes. Go to those links, because that that’s a really good chart that will help you kind of visualize and put meat on the bones on this topic. But here’s the other question people ask: is the economic value gained by having an administrative person, worth the economic return? I mean, what’s that answer?

Jeff Schreifels 

Well, okay, well, let me set up some context before I answer that. One of our clients, they’re a small non-profit, they have about 215 active major donors. Okay. They’ve calculated that on average, those donors give two donations per year. All right. So that’s 430 gifts. That requires personal, personalized, thank you recognition of someone. So the amount of labor that’s really required to properly service those 430 gifts, you got to create, produce mail, and all that stuff. And in many cases, sometimes you package a gift if that’s appropriate. That can reach about 200 plus hours a year, just for that. And this is just the surface of what happens in the back office of a good major gift program.

Richard Perry 

I mean, it’s just one thing. I mean, so okay, so you’re saying just the thank you process alone, just that piece, the thank you process, gobbles up a bunch of time?

Jeff Schreifels 

Yeah, of course.

Richard Perry 

Okay. So, but there’s so much else that happens, isn’t there? I mean, oh, yeah. Much more back-office work that is not donor-facing?

Jeff Schreifels 

Yeah, there’s the donor research, there’s reports for management, organizing contact with donors, securing info from finance, and programs so the frontline fundraiser can produce an ask, or using the same information to tell the donor they made a difference. All of that work, can be done by an admin support, folks.

Richard Perry 

I mean, that’s a ton of work.

Jeff Schreifels 

It’s huge. Yes. And that is the point of all this. That’s why we get all worked up. If you have a frontline fundraiser doing all of that work, it will eat up at least a third, if not, I would say half, of their time. Yes, yeah, we run into this all the time. And that is the time that they will not be spending with donors. So what this means is, there’s an opportunity for contact, engagement, stewardship, and asks that totally gets lost. So do the math. If you have 150 qualified donors, but you’re only serving 100 or 75 of them properly? What is the value of those 50 to 75 that’s lost? Believe me, it’s a lot more than the cost of an admin person.

Richard Perry 

I know, it really is. Okay, I get it. So let’s say an administrative person costs $60,000 to $70,000. A year. And that’s, that’s not just the compensation. It’s all costs in. So you’re saying that by saving that money, the organization is losing far more from the donors that are not properly reached?

Jeff Schreifels 

Yeah, I would say, you know, that amount could be anywhere from $100,000 to half a million or even more. It just doesn’t make sense.

Richard Perry 

Yeah. Okay, Jeff, now someone listening might be saying, “Alright, guys, now hold on. You’re just making numbers up. Who said that that’s the amount that’s lost? You just pulled that out of your head.

Jeff Schreifels 

Yeah, I did pull that out of my head. But it’s pure logic. If you think about this, if you distract a staff member, from the core revenue-generating activity of donor contact, you most definitely negatively affect the result. Well, that means less revenue. And in our experience, that shift can be anywhere between a 20 to 30% drop, or way more than you will pay for admin support.

Richard Perry 

I know, we know that. I mean, it’s interesting to me that it’s easier for leaders and managers to justify, you know, administrative support for non-revenue generating jobs in their organization than it is to support giving frontline fundraisers that support. I mean, it’s so interesting, isn’t it?

Jeff Schreifels 

It totally is. I mean, I think the leadership, they just think, well, this, you know, they should be doing all this stuff. And if they’re busy, you know, if I see them in the office, that’s a good thing. No, it’s a bad thing. They need to be out with donors. They need to be in front of those folks. You know what is right, and you know what, you know what to do. So, do it, right? Support your frontline fundraisers with admin support. It will pay off for your organization.

Jeff Schreifels 

Now, the other thing you can do, if you’re a leader or manager right now, or even if you’re an MGO, you got to pick up our latest book, It’s Not Just About the Donor, because this book will lead you through a bunch of not only this management principle of having admin support, but a bunch of others that we’ve learned over the years in managing major gift programs. So you can pick that up on amazon.com. Just enter the title, It’s Not Just About the Donor, in the search bar, and you’ll find it there. Amazon.com.

Jeff Schreifels 

So, Richard, this has been a fun conversation.

Richard Perry 

Oh I know. I hope we’ve convinced somebody because it’s like, you can get way more revenue for your really good cause and your program if you just take this step. It’s actually not going to cost you more. You’re going to actually develop more net revenue if you take this advice.

Jeff Schreifels 

Yeah. Well, thank you for joining us today, and we’ll see you next time.

Recorded 

Thank you for joining us for the Nothing But Major Gifts podcast from Veritus Group. Richard and Jeff also write an ongoing blog that you can subscribe to for free at veritusgroup.net. Please join us again next time.