Raising Major Gifts with a Culture of Philanthropy: Interview with Susan Holt

From the AFP International Conference on Fundraising in New Orleans earlier this year, Susan Holt, President of Vision Philanthropy Group, talks about creating a culture of philanthropy that reinforces raising major gifts.

The full interview transcript (with minor edits for clarity) appears below.

Looking at Your Own Organization’s Culture

AE:   Hi, I’m Amy Eisenstein and I’m here with Susan Holt, who is the founder and president of the Vision Philanthropy Group. Susan has raised billions of dollars for university and hospital campaigns, and I am so excited she’s here with us today. Welcome, Susan!

SH:   Thank you so much, Amy. It’s really a pleasure to be with you.

AE:   Yes, we’re going to be talking about a subject that’s near and dear to my heart. We’re going to be talking about major gifts and transformational gifts and culture of philanthropy. How do you want to get started?

SH:   Well, first of all, I want to thank you for the wonderful introduction that you gave to me. I have had a distinct pleasure of being a part of major philanthropic efforts that have raised billions of dollars for universities and medical centers, academic medical centers, but I didn’t do it alone. I had partners.

So, I would never want to take full credit for that because the partners that I want to talk with you about today in the culture of major gifts were absolutely part and parcel to the opportunities that arose as a result of the relationships we had together.

AE:   Yes, I think that’s a great point, and you’re so right.

Today we’re going to talk about creating powerful partnerships and transforming cultures at organizations that results in new major gifts. Tell us about it.

Does your culture of philanthropy support raising major gifts?

SH:   One of the first things I do, Amy — and looking at how to help an organization really move into attracting and honoring investments that are going to be really transformational to their institution — is to look at the culture. What is the culture of that organization that supports or maybe does not support major gift relationships?

It’s very different in a special event world. We tend to be more transactional in terms of building relationships for the long haul. Now, some of that’s absolutely understandable because we have pressure. We have great pressures on us to achieve our goals each and every year.

There’s a strong push, I think, to go back to what we know, what we’ve done rather than maybe investing more in terms of the long haul where we may not be ready to ask for that major gift in this particular fiscal year.

To answer your question, to go back, one of the first things that I do is to look at the culture. That is the attitudes, the behaviors, the way in which everyone in the organization internally, as well as the board, which is a part of our internal kind of external mix, are relating with one another, and what are their impressions and feelings about philanthropy.

• Do they think of philanthropy as these investments in our noble mission and do they project it as such?
• Or is it fundraising that’s kind of put out there on the side that maybe none of us really want to talk about or necessarily honor?

Because talking about money and asking for money makes us really nervous. I’m sure you’ve seen that in your career.

AE:   Of course.

Case in Point: A Typical Board Meeting

SH:   Let me give you an example.

One of the first things that we do is look at what happens in the board meeting of an organization. Sometimes there are foundations that may be separate and that’s what they’re there to do. The supporting organization may be a foundation and hopefully they’re going to be spending a lot of time talking about the mission, the impact of the giving and the various ways in which we’re going about pursuing our philanthropic support. Even then I find sometimes that doesn’t happen — it’s all about financials.

Go and look at the board meeting and examine what’s happening in terms of a discussion about philanthropy and the impact that it’s having on your organization. Is it a regular part of the board agenda, or is it something that’s put off at the very end and maybe we’ll talk about it if we can get to it?

AE:   And people sneak out of the meeting before we get to that conversation if it’s last on the agenda. I always like to say if fundraising and philanthropy are last on your board meeting agenda, you know where it is in terms of the priority of the organization — it’s last.

SH:   That’s exactly right.

One of the most important things that I see that happens with organizations that are truly beginning to transform into that major gift philanthropic culture, is that the board chair and the CEO or the president of the organization are absolutely on the same page.

They understand the value proposition that transformational gifts are bringing to the organization and they put that first and foremost. It’s almost like what happens at my church: we have a minute for mission. Well, the churches better be doing that.

AE:   All of our organizations better be doing that.

SH:   You’re right, you’re absolutely right. All of our organizations need to be having that minute for mission.

AE:   Yes. The idea that we have a whole board meeting and don’t talk about philanthropy or the impact is kind of appalling, don’t you think?

SH:   Yes, absolutely. I always scratch my head. These things come about, I think, as a result of historical practice, not because people are maybe necessarily making a distinct decision that I’m going to keep philanthropy off the table. It’s a historic way of practicing.

Once we see that by moving that mission, impact of philanthropy to the top, not only does it represent the priorities of the institution, but people themselves start to internalize that. The board chair, the president, the board members themselves, who are amongst our most important partners, begin to internalize that and they start talking about philanthropy in new and different ways. We give them stories to tell.

Be Intentional About Your Culture of Philanthropy

AE:   Good. I was going to ask you, let’s say an organization wants to try this and they put philanthropy up towards the beginning of their board meeting agenda. How do they start that conversation?

I mean, stories are certainly one way. How do they generate discussion? What kind of questions can they ask of their board members to get the wheels turning?

SH:   That’s a great question, thank you for asking it. I think we, as development officers, have to be very intentional about this. So we can’t just leave this up to happenstance hoping against all great hope that it’s going to come about.

One of the things that I think is so helpful is when the board chair will say to the group, and we can help prep them in doing this, is saying, “You know, it’s really important that our philanthropic agenda be front and center on our agenda of our board meetings.”

That needs to be said. Don’t let it hopefully sneak through the cracks, that people are going to pick it up.

AE:   If you’re moving it, be intentional and let everybody know we’re doing this with the intention of having a more thoughtful, strategic culture of philanthropy. This is one of the first steps we’re taking to go in that direction.

SH:   That’s right. We approached the CEO and the board chair — and hopefully there’s a development committee or a philanthropy committee, and that chair — all together to sit down and have a transparent way without placing blame, but say, “This is a new day. How are we going to go about our work today?”

Communication between the CEO, Board Chair and VP

AE:   What’s one of the things that might be on the scorecard? What are we striving towards? What are we working for?

SH:   I think the first thing is to look at (and this can be kind of tough sometimes) what does the partnership look like between the CEO, the board chair and the vice president of development?

• Are we getting together regularly and talking?
• Are we regularly, as a trio, getting together and looking at where we’re going in both our philanthropic culture, but then also our outcomes?

So oftentimes I find that those are isolated, siloed conversations rather than ones that are synergistic.

AE:   Wonderful. Any final tips for our viewers, key takeaways you want to leave them with?

SH:   Communication.

When I look at great partnerships, and there are all kinds of great partnerships out there in the world — it’s partnerships with our colleagues at work, it may be partnerships with our spouse or partner — and I look at what’s absolutely the key element to making that be a successful partnership, and it almost always comes down to communication.

I guess what I would want to leave with our viewers is examine carefully, not just yourself but maybe with your team — sit down with your development team, and when you finish one of those a major gift prospect reviews and everybody’s really kind of tired, do something that’s maybe going to be a little bit uplifting and put us in a different frame of mind.

Look at how are we communicating and do an assessment of that and create a scorecard. How are we communicating with our internal colleagues to create new alliances and new partnerships that are intentionally communicated?

AE:   Beautiful. Susan, thank you so much for being here. It’s been a pleasure talking with you.

SH:   Well, it’s really fun speaking with you too, Amy. It’s a pleasure and thank you for inviting me to join you today.

---

How’s your organization’s culture of philanthropy when it comes to major gift fundraising? Tell me and Susan about it in the comments.