When I hear from a major gift officer that he loves to create strategic plans, I get really worried.
You might be thinking right now, “but Jeff, you and Richard are always talking about the need for major gift officers to have a revenue goal and a strategic plan for every donor on their portfolios… I thought it would be music to your ears if a major gift officer said they loved that process.”
Nope. Because when we hear an MGO say they love planning, it’s usually code for “I don’t like being in front of a donor.” We’ve heard it many, many times.
Great major gift officers hate creating goals and strategic plans and the process it takes to complete them… but they do it because they know it’s what will make them successful.
In other words, it’s a necessary evil for them.
Richard, our staff, and I have found that if a major gift officer hates all that planning stuff, it’s because they just want to be out in front of donors. They want to be deepening relationships, figuring out what makes the donors tick, and matching that up with all the projects and programs their non-profit has to offer to that donor.
It’s like pulling teeth to get them to sit down with us and take the time to do the necessary planning that provides the structure for their success. But we’d rather work with that type of MGO than the MGOs who would love to spend all their time just planning.
I bring all this up because in the past several weeks I’ve been talking to a few non-profit managers and executives who are frustrated with the major gift officers. “Jeff, I’ve got a couple of major gift officers who spend most of their day in the office, and they tell me it’s necessary because they need to think through the right strategy before they can call their donors.”
Or, one told me, “We just hired our first major gift officer three months ago, and she still hasn’t visited with a donor – because she tells me she needs more time to know everything she can about the organization. She says she needs to be totally prepared for any donor question.”
Both of those stories create a huge red flag for Richard and me. What the MGO is really saying is that there is something preventing them from meeting with donors. They are afraid of it. So, in order to avoid doing something they don’t actually like, they sit in their office and make plans, or spend a ton of time talking to program people, or getting themselves involved in NON-major gift work for the organization.
All to avoid meeting with donors.
Now, is this a hopeless situation? To be honest, yes, for many it is. But with the right amount of encouragement, training, and coaching, some of these folks can turn it around and become successful.
But it’s so much easier to corral an MGO who only wants to talk to donors and develop relationships with them, than the MGO who is hunkered down in his office behind his desk.
We have to basically duct-tape the aggressive MGO into a chair to do the proper planning, but we never have to worry about how often they are out there with donors. And typically, their manager barely sees them in the office.
We LOVE that.
For the major gift officers our team at Veritus helps to manage, we’re asking them to be in front of their donors at LEAST 50% of their time. That can seem like a big chunk of time. But for those major gift officers that love being with donors, it’s nothing.
If you are a major gift officer, where are you spending most of your time? If it’s not with donors, perhaps this isn’t the profession for you… and that’s okay.
Your donors want to be inspired to give. You don’t have to have all your planning completed, or know everything about your organization, to sit down with your donors. Get out there and get to know them. Find out what they need. Make that connection. (Tweet it!)
Do it today. What are you waiting for?
Jeff