You’ve probably heard the saying, “If you don’t know where you’re going, you won’t know when you’ve arrived.”
And that holds doubly true when raising major gifts.
In order to accelerate your major gift fundraising program, it’s essential to define what a major gift is at your organization (no, it’s not the same at every organization) and to track those gifts… so you (and your boss and your board members) know when you’ve raised them.
4 Major Gift Fundraising Metrics to Track Consistently
Here are four critical metrics to track in order to raise more money.
Metric #1: Dollars Raised
Are you trying to raise $100K in major gifts? Or a million? (Not sure how to decide? Check out Mastering Major Gifts, the ultimate major gift fundraising course.)
Of course, one key metric is “dollars raised” (in other words, how much comes in by the end of the year) but it’s not the only metric. Dollars raised only tells a piece of the story.
Take this example:
- In Year 1, you raise 10 gifts of $10K for a total “dollars raised” of $100,000.
- In year 2, you raise $100,000 again, but only from one donor. The other 9 major donors from last year do not make gifts.
If you are only reporting “dollars raised” then no one notices that your donor retention rate is in the toilet.
Unfortunately, “dollars raised” is generally the only metric most organizations use to measure success of major gift efforts.
Don’t get me wrong — this is the number one metric you should be using, but it’s not the only one.
Metric #2: Dollars Requested
Dollars requested is something most people don’t think about — or measure.
Let’s say you ask for a total $100,000 from 10 people (average of $10,000 each) this year. They all say yes, and you raise $100,000. That tells me you’re playing it safe.
In other words, you’re only asking once you’re 100% certain that you will get a gift. Just think of how much money you’ve left on the table by not asking for bigger bucks, and from more people. After all, you received everything you asked for.
On the other hand, let’s say you ask for $100,000 from 10 people. But you only receive $20,000 from those 10 individuals. You’re being too aggressive, not doing enough cultivation or research. You’re jumping the gun.
Metric #3: Donor Calls
Raising major gifts requires you are in touch with your donors on a regular and ongoing basis. Unfortunately, people are busy and you will get a lot of voicemail. This means you need to make a lot of phone calls to get through to a very few people.
Make donor calls a part of every work day. Start with one call per day and work your way up to 5 or even 20 donor calls per day. You’ll mostly be leaving messages, so it really won’t take too long.
Here are some reasons for calling donors:
- Asking for a visit / meeting
- Saying thank you for a gift
- Inviting to volunteer or for a tour
- Asking for advice or feedback
Make a plan to call donors every day. Just a few minutes each day will have a profound impact on your major gift success rate.
Metric #4: Donor Visits
People who meet with you are significantly more likely to make a larger gift than those who don’t meet with you.
In other words, the more visits you get, the more you raise.
Set a monthly and an annual goal for donor visits. Will you meet with a prospective donor per week? Or one per month? The number of gifts you want to raise is proportional to the number of visits you have.
Additional Major Gift Fundraising Resources
The four major gift metrics mentioned above are crucial to help you raise more major gifts. But there are a few other metrics you’ll want to watch as well. To get all 9 of my metrics and my Major Gifts Metrics dashboard, download my major gifts metrics guide.
Enroll in the Definitive Online Major Gifts Course
Mastering Major Gifts is a 7-week, step-by-step online course in which I personally walk you through every action and every decision you must make to build a wildly successful major gifts program at your organization.
Registration for the 2019 summer session of Mastering Major Gifts has just opened and Early Bird Pricing is in effect! That means you SAVE $300 when you register for the course on or before Monday, July 8th, 2019.
And rest assured… this is money well spent. There’s zero risk to you and your organization. If you’re not happy within the first 30 days, you can request a full refund.
Learn more about Mastering Major Gifts »
I do hope you’ll join us for MMG this summer. It’s a great way to gear up for fall fundraising and hit your year-end goal out of the park!
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