If you’ve been reading our blog for any length of time, you know that Richard and I are constantly talking about serving your donor by understanding their passions and interests. We drive this point home over and over again, because it’s THE basis of your entire work as a major gift fundraiser.
Without knowing your donor’s passions and interests and why they have them, you’ll rarely ever get to a point in your relationship with the donor when you ask for a significant gift. This is because without knowing that information about your donor, you cannot match them up with a specific program or project of your organization’s work and inspire them to make an impact in that area.
But Richard and I would propose that serving your donor may also mean telling them that their passions and interests don’t really match what your organization’s mission is all about, and you might need to guide them outside your organization to another one that is more suited to your donor.
Yes, you’re reading that correctly. If you’re truly donor-centered and you really care about their passions and interests, you may need to suggest they give elsewhere. Before you think I’ve gone off the deep end, hear me out.
About a month ago, one of the MGOs I work with told me about one of her donors who wants to significantly fund a project they are passionate about, and the donor wants to do this through her organization. The problem is that her organization’s mission has nothing to do with the type of project the donor wants to fund.
The MGO was getting pressure from leadership to “make something happen.” But after talking with the program staff, it was clear that the gift, while significant, would take the organization in a direction they were not prepared to go.
This is when the MGO reached out to me and asked my opinion. I said, “Well, if you really care about your donor’s passions and interests, why don’t you find another organization who could use that gift because their mission is more aligned with what the donor wants to fund?”
The MGO was a bit taken aback, but after thinking it though, she told me she actually knew an organization that would be a great fit for the gift. The tension, of course, was that it meant that she could possibly lose this donor.
That’s the tension. She could lose the donor, but as a major gift fundraiser, isn’t helping your donor fulfill their passions and interests (even if they reside outside your organization) the most important thing here?
Richard and I believe it is.
So what happened with the donor? Last week, I got a call from the MGO. “Jeff, I suggested to the donor that she consider the other organization. The donor was so amazed I would suggest this and was so happy that I cared about her, that even though she is going to give that gift to the other organization, she is doubling her gift to us as well.”
To Richard and me, this is a familiar outcome. In the last decade or so, several MGOs we have been working with have directed one of their donors to another organization. Every time, that donor has been so delighted, they have come back to give the MGO’s organization significantly more.
You can’t just give lip service to saying you’re donor-centered and care about your donor’s passions and interests if you aren’t willing to risk that it may not be your organization that is the recipient of that donor’s gift. (Tweet it!)
But the risk is worth it. For the donor and for your organization.
Jeff