Yes, You Do Need to Ask All Year Long!

Jeff Schreifels 

This might shock you, and I hope it does. But a lot of fundraisers out there don’t realize that their job requires actually asking donors to give. It’s not enough just to send out direct response appeals, or to wait until the year-end giving season before talking about a gift. This is something you need to be thinking about and partnering together with your donors on year round. For this episode, I’ve invited Karen and Diana to lead a conversation about two special guests who will share their approach about asking all year. I hope this leaves you inspired to get out there and start asking.

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.

Karen Kendrick 

Welcome to the podcast today. I’m Karen Kendrick and my colleague Diana and I are hosting the podcast today to talk to you about one of the most important topics in fundraising: asking for gifts. You wouldn’t believe how often we talked to fundraisers who don’t ask at all. They let the standard year-end appeal do the work, or they send the donor information about a program they care about, hoping the donor will decide to give. Asking is, as you can imagine, one of the most important parts of your job. And when you’re coming into your donor strategy from a transformational place, instead of a transactional one, you’ll find that you really are asking for gifts all year long.

Karen Kendrick 

To to help share more about the importance of asking and how to move yourself out of a transactional approach to giving, Diana and I have invited two very special guests to join us. We have Sarah Coen-Frei, currently serving as Senior Individual Giving Manager at Minnesota Public Radio. Sarah is a licensed social worker in Minnesota and draws deeply from her background and faith-based community organizing when connecting with donors. She was recently elected to the Board of AFP Minnesota and volunteers for the community-centric fundraising movement. That’s all wonderful. Congratulations.

Karen Kendrick 

And we also have with us Fritz Gutwein, Major Gift Officer at Bread for the World. Fritz has run successful development and communication campaigns for non-profits in Louisville, Kentucky, and the District of Columbia for 25 years. Fritz is educated in International and Religious Studies from the University of Florida, and Theology and Ethics from Southern Seminary. His travels throughout the Americas and Africa, as well as his experience as a therapeutic foster parent, have opened Fritz’s eyes to human suffering, and have helped make addressing poverty his life passion. Fritz fishes, cooks, and lives in St. Petersburg, Florida with his wife, Mary. Welcome to you both.

Karen Kendrick 

So Diana, I’d love you to start us off by sharing a bit more about why it is so important to ask your donors for gifts throughout the year.

Diana Frazier 

Karen, I want to pick up on when you said there are many fundraisers who don’t actually ask at all and they’re quite proud of it. They think all they need to do is reach out from time to time and the gifts will magically appear. And it’s kind of related to training donors to operate in a transactional way. Because our whole fundraising industry sort of focuses on the year-end ask and there’s a lot happening at year-end. So we think that’s the only time a donor will give. So we focus our energies there. It might also be your fiscal year-end, if that’s a different time of the year. You kind of get in the habit of thinking, “Oh, it’s June 30, I’ve got to ask,” kind of thing because our internal deadline is now. Or if a donor is a monthly donor, we get into the habit of thinking that’s the only thing they’re going to do: “They’re a monthly donor, they’re recurring, I need to leave them alone and never ask them even if there’s something they might be interested in.”

Karen Kendrick 

Or they’re in a membership program giving $25,000 a year and that’s all you do. They give that; you’re just happy. You’re thrilled they give their $25,000 a year and they never think about how there’s a lot of folks who would love to give more.

Diana Frazier 

So they might give $25,000 year over year over year, but they’ve never been asked to consider anything else. Yeah. And then the other part of the idea of asking year round, if you’re the gift officer, it means you have to be tuned in to your donor’s giving preferences: what they’re talking about, what they’re interested in, so you know when you can ask them. And I know that you’ve got – Sarah and Fritz – have some great examples about that.

Karen Kendrick 

You’re not saying ask every donor all year round. You’re saying you don’t only ask in the fourth quarter; you might ask again in March because there’s a neat project your donor might be interested in.

Diana Frazier 

Exactly. You have to know what the donor cares about.

Karen Kendrick 

Cool. So let’s talk about how our Permission-Based Asking model helps to alleviate some of the pressure around asking. Thank you so much, Diana. Those are really great points to start us out. So, Sarah, talk to us about PBA.

Sarah Coen-Frei 

Absolutely. Well, I’m so grateful to be here and have this conversation about Permission-Based Asking. I think it’s a really important part of my fundraising experience and philosophy. You know, for me Permission-Based Asking is, it’s not just about this ask and this conversation with this donor. It’s about building a trusting and meaningful relationship that will lead to a gift or thinking about a gift in two years from now, a major gift in 10 years from now, or a planned gift in 20 years from now. And I think the ability to kind of zoom out and look at that broad relationship and that long-term goal, and move from this kind of, “It has to be this gift right now; this opportunity,” which can feel sort of frantic or like I’m reaching for control, into a conversation where we’re partnering together. You know, “Let’s have a conversation. Let’s explore possibilities to deepen your generosity and make the kind of impact you want to see in your community.” And an important part of that, for me, has been the organization I’m at. Minnesota Public Radio is deeply supportive of that. And so it’s been quite empowering to kind of engage with donors in that deeper, long-term, trust-building way.

Karen Kendrick 

So quick question. So how has the Permission-Based Asking helped you do that? So I think in fundraising, we talk a lot about building trusting relationships. We don’t really talk about how you actually do that. So how does, we’ll say PBA for short, how does that help you do that? What’s made a difference?

Sarah Coen-Frei 

Yeah, I think sometimes we have some bad habits in philanthropy; that we think that we need to sit down and create this perfect situation, or this perfect script, where the donor feels like they have to agree on the spot to a gift that they may or may not feel comfortable with. And I never want that to be the situation. I want my donors to walk into the conversation feeling competent and excited about that donation, and feel ready to make that deeper investment; that we’re engaging in this work in conversation together, rather than I’m looking for a gift and they have to provide it.

Karen Kendrick 

Thank you, Sarah. You know, it is that having those tools along that journey to build that trust. So thank you so much. That’s really helpful. So how do you both work with donors who give outside of the regular schedule for giving? You know, how do we think about that? Sometimes, like Sarah said, we get in habits, right? So how do we think broader and get out of that habit, by you all giving us some examples? I think that will really help us. So Fritz, why don’t you start us out?

Fritz Gutwein 

Sure. Again, I, along with Sarah, I’m happy to be a part of this discussion. Permission-Based Asking and thinking outside of the box when we ask folks to give has really helped me a lot in my organization. One example I have is we have a gala in the middle of the year. And that is another one of these times, it’s kind of transactional. You ask for sponsorships. You ask for people to be involved in the event and to buy tickets. And everything seems to happen at the event. I worked with a donor couple who had come and supported our gala for years. They’ve been sponsors; they’ve given at a five-figure level for several years in a row. But we knew they wanted to go deeper. And so what we did with the event was, and we had conversations with them, I talked with them at the event, our CEO had some time with them. And we determined that we wanted to have a follow-up meeting and really address something outside of that event.

Fritz Gutwein 

So a couple of weeks later, our CEO and VP of Development met with this couple; they were going to be in that city anyway. And they met with them and had a nice conversation and understood something that this couple was very interested in. We’d had an idea they wanted to make a larger investment and what that area of interest was. And we were able to get more information about that during that meeting. So then we took that and a couple of weeks after that, we presented them with a proposal. A proposal that would increase their giving by four or five times over the course of each year over five years. And to our surprise, but not really, they accepted. They said yes. And their giving increased. And this is exclusive of what they’re doing as far as that transactional relationship with us in sponsoring the gala. They’re doing that in addition to helping us develop a brand new program at Bread for the World. And it’s transformational for them. It’s transformational for us. And it’s really transformational for the people who are involved.

Diana Frazier 

That is a great example, right? Because there’s a pressure to meet the dollar amount for the gala. And so you achieve that and you’re like, “I’m done. I don’t have to think about this anymore.” But that’s not thinking about the donor at all. So your approach there was spot on and as you said, what a joyful experience for Bread and for the donor. Incredible.

Karen Kendrick 

And I have a couple questions. Couple questions. So how did they indicate they wanted to do more? Like what did you hear that helped you know to come with a new idea, and come listen to their passions and interests in a new way?

Fritz Gutwein 

Well they’d given us clues, throughout the years actually. Like pre-pandemic, they sponsored an event in their home for us. And so we knew they wanted to do more there. And then the pandemic hit, and all of those things kind of shut down for a while. And then they’ve talked, they expressed interest… we do a lot of listening. That’s the other thing I like about the Permission-Based Asking approach and the Veritus approach, in general, is that we’re trained to do a lot of listening as gift officers; to hear what the donor is saying, just kind of let them go on. My old boss used to say that when you’re sitting down for lunch with a donor, if they finish eating first, you’re doing it wrong. That you need to be eating your meal and letting them talk as much as possible, so you can get an idea of what it is they’re interested in and you can follow up on that. So it’s basically through listening and earning trust.

Sarah Coen-Frei 

I’d love to share, you know, at Minnesota Public Radio, we have regular member drives, which are opportunities to engage listeners to become members for the very first time or maybe to increase their membership. And one of the really important tools we use during that process is matching gifts. And I find that matching gifts, it’s not just about that, you know, fiscal impact that your donation is doubled. It’s also about hearing that story of generosity from another member and feeling inspired and connected to a community of people that is coming together to make MPR possible.

Sarah Coen-Frei 

So I reached out to one of the donors I had been working with, Steve, to just explore the possibility of what a match might look like from him, but from his perspective. And I kind of… I phrased my first email a little bit like this. Maybe it’s helpful to kind of have that example. You know, I said, “Last time you met, you talked about how you always have classical music on when you take a walk outside, and how the music and being in nature just really helps calm and center you in what is a very busy and chaotic world. And I just think that other people who are listening might really connect with that story; that it might really relate to them and might inspire them to give as well. And I was wondering if we could explore a matching gift of $10,000. In our last drive, we had a lot of success with gifts of that size. It brought in 100 new gifts to MPR.”

Sarah Coen-Frei 

So we, you know, sat down about a week later, to talk a little bit more in depth. And because I had mentioned the gift amount and a little bit more about the type of impact he could make, he was able to chat with family members and think about that beforehand. And so when we sat down at the conversation, he was ready to commit to making that gift, which was really lovely. And he had the opportunity to do a recording and share that story in his own voice. And then when it was on air, you could just hear the host as they were announcing, “Oh, now you’re going to hear from…” and you could hear the energy in their voices change as well. And I think that kind of generosity and narrative around it helps inspire others as well.

Karen Kendrick 

Beautiful, beautiful. I love that you tuned in to how the power of a donor sharing their own donor story, in addition to them… I mean, what a double impact he got to make; to help increase giving so much with a match, but also increase giving because of his story and his passion. So now I want to go for a walk with classical music. That sounds really relaxing.

Diana Frazier 

The other part of that is you weren’t afraid to let them know what you were thinking and to engage them in the conversation. You didn’t tell him what to do. You said, “This is what I’ve been thinking, as I’ve listened to you.” So that when he came to meet with you, he was prepared emotionally, mentally; as you said, he checked in with family members. And I think sometimes as fundraisers we’re worried that if we put that in our ask for the meeting, they won’t meet with us. Some might not.

Sarah Coen-Frei 

Yeah, it felt important to me to name that up front, because it was such a big jump from where he had been. It was, you know, almost eight times larger than his last gift. And it was his most significant contribution to the organization. And so I knew he would probably need some time to think about that and to enter into a space where he was, you know, thinking about that generous of a gift. And I think it really did help prepare him so that the conversation went a lot smoother; that we weren’t dealing with the anxiety of hearing that amount for the first time. We were talking about the type of impact that we could make.

Karen Kendrick 

I love that because you know, when you hear a big amount for the first time, a donor has got to process that. They may go into a little fight or flight, they got to think about who to talk to and who that impacts. They may very much want to do it, but giving him that time. Another thing is you didn’t just send that email in a vacuum. You had a relationship, that you were following up and talking with him. And so that’s what made a big difference in that process as well.

Fritz Gutwein 

So I have a story about how that’s pretty important: about donors knowing what the meeting is about, as well. Pretty quickly here, there was a donor I’ve been trying to get a meeting with for a long time. And they’ve given to us regularly on a monthly basis. And I couldn’t get the meeting. And then I used a colleague, that is in our office that knows them very well; happened to be this person’s pastor. And so I asked them to ask for the meeting, and if I could join. And they did, and this donor came. About halfway through the meeting, we were having a lovely conversation, and she revealed that when she was talking to her husband, she decided to leave her checkbook at home, because she didn’t want to be asked and have to write a check, then and there. And I looked at her and I said, “Sally, when I’m doing an ask meeting with you, you’re going to know. It will be in advance, and you’ll understand what the meeting is about. This is just for us to get to know each other. And for me to understand why you’re engaging with our organization.”

Karen Kendrick 

I love that you added that story, Fritz, because the more we hear these examples, the more we get inspired as fundraisers and can think outside the box. So starting with you, Sarah, let’s add some more here. Good stuff. But what has your experience been with donors changing their typical giving season? Like, how do you adjust for that? How did that come up? Talk about that.

Sarah Coen-Frei 

Yeah, there’s an opportunity to make a special gift towards our 2024 election coverage. And that was kind of happening outside of the regular pattern of the giving that this donor had; they were monthly sustaining donors. And so I was kind of interrupting that, you know, monthly process by bringing them a new, interesting opportunity. But through our conversations, I had discovered in our conversations that I had found, you know, that they were really passionate about fair and balanced election coverage. That they were really thinking a lot and worried about the next election cycle and wanted to make sure that they had reliable information about it. And that’s something really important than MPR can bring.

Sarah Coen-Frei 

I had asked this donor to sit down and meet with me about the possibility of making a gift towards the 2024 election coverage. And you know, I had prepared. I was ready. I’d read all the information possibly available. I knew exactly what I was going to say. I had a really thoughtful agenda. And I was practiced. And we sit down for the meeting, have a little small talk, and then she stops me goes, you know, before we dive into this, I want you to know that you had suggested a gift of $10,000 for this initiative, and I’m ready to commit to that. And I just went, “Oh!” I realized it wasn’t just about me preparing this perfect ask and having this perfect timing. It was about the relationship. It was about the trust that she had built with the organization in the last 20 years that she had been a member. It was about the trust that we had built in the last 18 months, and the type of engagement and cultivation she had experienced in this relationship. And we were at a place where if I said, we need $10,000 to make this thing happen that you’re passionate about, she was on board. She was ready to give. And again, it was a big increase in her giving. But we were at a place where she was ready to deepen her generosity and dive in with me. It was a real, great correction to kind of my, “Ah, I have to have this perfect presentation,” to, “Okay, we’re in this together.”

Karen Kendrick 

So what were her indicators that she was ready for you to do something bigger and bolder? I love that story.

Sarah Coen-Frei 

You know, I think the way she spoke about news coverage; about election coverage; about the way she thought about it, not just as a personal service that she was, you know, consuming or engaging with, but about the type of impact she wanted to make on our community. And that sort of shift for me is a real indicator. It’s, you know, where I think kind of the meat of my work is, is helping people shift into this community mindset, into this impact mindset. In public media, sometimes folks think about, “Oh, well I’m paying my you know, monthly membership dues because it’s content I’m consuming. It’s something that’s helpful to me, it’s the music I’m listening to or the information I’m getting.” And I think that shift from transactional to that transformational mindset, the type of impact I want to make, the community I want to create with my peers. That showed me she was ready to really deepen and engage further.

Karen Kendrick 

Awesome.

Fritz Gutwein 

I have a couple of stories about that, too. One donor that I’ve worked with for many years, we’ve had a good trusting relationship with each other; she’s been a donor to Bread for probably 20-30 years and I’ve been at Bread for six of those years. On her 60th birthday, she decided that she was going to give $60,000 to three different organizations. And Bread for the World was one of those. Her birthday is in the middle of the year. And she’s been a donor who usually gives in the fourth quarter. And so she made this… sent this email; she told us what she was going to do and we were one of the recipients of this. And she went into the detail of that they were speaking about this, she and her husband, in the car as they were going off to celebrate her birthday. And then I realized that she makes these decisions about what they’re going to give around her birthday; it is a time of reflection for her about what’s happening and going on in her life. So I’ve now shifted the time that I ask her. I don’t ask in the fall anymore. I’ve shifted it to about a month before her birthday. I’ll talk to her about some things that we’re doing and some proposals that she might be interested in, and I usually get a response a month or two after her birthday or sometime in the fall. But shifting… the giving has moved from fourth quarter, to the third quarter based on her.

Diana Frazier 

That’s a great point, Fritz, because as fundraisers we don’t often ask that question. When do you as a family consider your philanthropic support for the year? Is there a time when you gather? Is there a time when it would be more helpful for you if I got some information to you to consider? We don’t ask that. We just get in this track and stay there. I love that story. And I love that you’ve been there six years at Bread. What a blessing.

Fritz Gutwein 

Thanks. Yeah, another couple I’ve worked with for a long time, for that entire time there, and has been giving to Bread for about the same amount of time… they’re going through some significant health issues now. At least one of them is. And the person who’s been the decider on the giving has shifted in the relationship. And so this couple, I’ve learned through them that I need to listen to what is going on in their lives; when I used to be able to make an ask in a particular time of year, that might not be good. Might not be a good day, might not be a good week, might not be a good month. And so I stay in contact with this couple. And the husband will let me know when we’re coming to the top of their mind and they want to hear more about what’s going on. So I do a lot of listening and giving of space. And when that happened this past year, the ask ended up being earlier than I anticipated it was going to be. And I made an ask; I asked them to increase their giving by 50% for what they usually give, and they did. And that wouldn’t have happened if I would have dropped that ask on my timetable. I needed to make the ask on his timetable; when he was ready to hear what it was we were doing and what his gift could accomplish.

Karen Kendrick 

That’s beautiful. I love how Permission-Based Asking gives us the language, because in those situations, right, you feel really, like I don’t want to not ask and offend but I don’t want to ask when they’re going through so much. And so having language like, I’ll throw something out and Fritz, you can help me out. “Yeah, I know you all have been going through a lot. You typically give this time of year. I just want to check in: does this really work for you? Or do you want some space and time? Like, what do you all need to be supported right now?” And have them know that you’re there and ready, but you’re not going to be pressuring them in any way. Any other language any of you all would want to add to that? Because I think this is a tough piece for fundraisers. And sometimes we ignore people and then they feel like we don’t care about them anymore. But we’re trying to give them space, but we give them too much space. So what else might you say? You all help us out. Who wants to jump in?

Sarah Coen-Frei 

I had an interesting conversation with a donor who told me they were caring for their parent who was having some significant health issues and then moving into the process of end of life care. And I stayed in touch with cards, with little email updates. And at the beginning I’d just say, “Hey, I know there’s a lot going on for you right now. And if you can reply or if there’s any questions you have, I’m here, of course. But if not, no problem.” And I got a couple of text messages and cards back and I can just tell that consistency of showing up… because I really do care. I care about my donors. It’s not just about the giving. It’s about the relationship. And you could… and that was really consistently shown. And so yeah, that was meaningful for me to just keep showing up in thoughtful ways. And be open for when they’re ready to reply.

Diana Frazier 

Yeah, I think that’s the key, Sarah, and as both of you said, we can go two ways. We can plow through with our agenda, regardless of what’s going on in their life, which isn’t healthy at all. Sometimes you can go the opposite way: “Oh, they’re going through difficult times; I need to be radio silent.” And you don’t engage at all for six months. And neither one of them is actually thinking about the donor as a person. You know, offering that piece of information that might bring a smile to their face. When you’re going through difficult times doesn’t mean you don’t want any communication. You might not be prepared to think through a financial decision. But that doesn’t mean you want radio silence either.

Fritz Gutwein 

Yeah, that’s very true. I’ve found one of the best ways to break through with donors who are getting a lot of information, or who might be distracted, is good old fashioned snail mail. Just going ahead and sending them a card, sending them a note. If there’s a written piece that’s going out from the organization anyway, I’ll say, “Hey, let me send that.” And then I’ll scribble a note on it and write something on the outside of the envelope so that they know it’s from me and that it’s personal. And let them read that on their time. And then follow up a week or two later, with a phone call or an email. I found that just old fashioned snail mail when people have a lot going on, and they need that time to breathe, that helps.

Sarah Coen-Frei 

I couldn’t agree more. I feel like it’s quite a gentle way to reach out. And yeah, I’ve seen that have a positive impact as well.

Karen Kendrick 

And we don’t get good snail mail anymore. It’s really exciting. I don’t know, Diana, right now I’m thinking I want to be a donor to one of their organizations.

Diana Frazier 

I know!

Fritz Gutwein 

We can make that happen.

Diana Frazier 

You are talking to two very exceptional gift officers that I’ve really loved working with through the years.

Karen Kendrick 

This is great. So Fritz, and then Sarah, you jump in, how has the culture of your organization helped you with this approach? Because obviously, you two are just really beautifully relational and understand dynamics and humanity and have huge hearts. But how did your culture actually support that, where you work?

Fritz Gutwein 

Well, I started working at Bread about six years ago in January. I started on the day after Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I had an orientation week. And then the very next week, I met Diana. She came down to do a training with us at Bread and all the major gift officers and we were digging in to the Veritus system, and living in the world of Yes. And so the fact that they are supportive of us in seeing that we need to live in this type of system and work in this type of system, that’s very beneficial for me as a gift officer. It’s not just always about the money. It is, but it’s not always about the money.

Fritz Gutwein 

And our organization does a lot of outreach with donors. And with members in general. We have a whole organizing team that reaches out to membership. We have a very active membership program; our donors have lots of opportunities to engage with Bread. And one of those opportunities that we do fairly often are different types of webinars and leadership calls. And on one that happened recently, it was at the launch of a campaign that we were going to have, that we’re having this year. The launch occurred in November or December last year. And my colleagues were able to get me the list of folks who are attending that webinar in advance. And I went through it by you know, by state and checking off the ones who were in my portfolio or in my pool. And so I knew who to look for on the webinar. So the webinar comes up and there’s 300-400 people on the webinar, and I’m frantically typing through the participant list, seeing who’s there. And when they’re there, I send them a direct message. Not in the chat that goes off for everybody, but in the direct message system. And you know, say three people responded to me in the webinar out of about 12 that I reached out to.

Fritz Gutwein 

But one who responded to me, I’d never had a conversation with before. And so we had a nice back and forth. And to make a long story short, I had a conversation with him on the phone later to follow up with stuff. I was able to talk to him and then set him up with our organizer for his region about a lobby visit that he could make in his area that we were very interested in him doing. And we had just a good… and then he emailed me back again about another issue. And so I made a proposal to him about something that he could do from a DAF, because I knew he had a Donor Advised Fund. And he made a gift that was above and beyond what I had asked for, and it was a gift that was probably five to ten times what he would usually give. But that’s supportive work of colleagues working with each other, and providing us the information about who is at events, who’s going to be there, so that you can make a plan beforehand, is just invaluable. And that’s one of the highlights of my job, is when that happens at Bread.

Sarah Coen-Frei 

Fritz, you’re inspiring me, so I’m jotting down notes as you talk. And I’m thinking about, you know, it’s a unique thing to create the type of environment where this can happen. And I am thinking, how do you share that with others? You know, I see this type of philanthropic approach and heart for relationships, not just top down, which absolutely it is, but also horizontally. Our gift officers are collaborating all the time. We’re talking to each other about ideas. We’re, you know, supporting one another, and we’re celebrating wins that aren’t just about the gift. We have this practice called Monday Reports Live. And we all get together and share one great piece of news from last week. And we’re celebrating opportunities for collaboration. And we’re celebrating really great meetings, and we’re celebrating moving relationships forward. And we are celebrating gifts, and we’re celebrating generosity, too. But it’s a piece of this larger picture. Yeah, and I think that’s really helped create an environment where I can see the value in relationships and trust and have this eye towards this larger vision for the relationship with the organization and the health of the organization, too, longterm.

Karen Kendrick 

Beautiful. I love that. So many wonderful nuggets today. So let’s just do a little round robin. The last bit of wisdom you want to say before we close out. We’ll do Diana, Fritz, and then Sarah.

Diana Frazier 

Oh boy, last bit of wisdom. When I was a gift officer, last time I was a frontline gift officer, I was in the Raiser’s Edge Data CRM. And one of the things they had there was a very powerful tool called the Chronological View. So sometimes I’d be thinking, “I don’t know if the donor is really ready.” I’d get all this stuff going in my head. I was able to… it was a little hourglass… I was able to click that. And I could see sequentially everything that had been happening in the last year. And it reminded me to get off of myself and my feelings and think about where the donor is and what their journey is. So always, don’t let your own feelings hold you back. Take a step back. I loved what both of you said; you work with donors who have been giving for years. They are connected to your organization. That’s the most important thing. And remember, it’s there. You just need to keep cultivating that.

Karen Kendrick 

Fritz! Thank you, Diana.

Fritz Gutwein 

I would like to say that major gift fundraising is a science and an art. It’s a science because the data and stuff kind of leads us to where we need to go. And then the art is the art of listening. And then the art of asking. If I’m asking before I’m listening, that’s a problem. But when I listen to donors, and I use tools around active listening, where I can ask them questions that tell them more about… that bring out more about what they’re interested in, I can usually end up matching their passions with our mission, and go from there. But I think the best words of wisdom is to do a lot of listening.

Karen Kendrick 

Thank you.

Sarah Coen-Frei 

Yeah, I’m thinking about maybe another gift officer who’s listening to this conversation, and they’re preparing for a solicitation meeting later this week, and I think my advice to them or a framework I might offer them would be that even if a donor says no, but through that conversation you’ve built trust, you’ve learned something about them, about their interest, about their giving timeline, you can walk away from that conversation. And that can be a real win. And even if they say yes, but they’re not feeling comfortable, or they’re feeling pressured, that can be a loss. And so to think broadly about that relationship and that trust.

Karen Kendrick 

Thank you. So thank you all for joining me today for this episode. And I hope that you got some valuable takeaways that will help you confidently ask your donors for gifts all year long. If you’d like to learn more about how to ask for larger gifts that are aligned with your donor’s passions and interests, check out our live workshops on this topic. You can find a link to those in the show notes or on our website under free resources. Take care 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.