Let’s cut to the chase — if you want to raise major gifts successfully, you need the right combination of five components:
- knowledge
- strategy
- persistence
- optimism
- courage
That’s it. I’ve just let you in on the “secret formula” — and it probably seems pretty straightforward, right?
5 Key Components to Raising Major Gifts Successfully
Truly great fundraisers combine common sense with industry best practices, and an unwillingness to take “no” for an answer. The good news is that you can learn how to apply these five components to raise big money for your organization.
Let’s break down the formula and zero in on what you can do to increase the chances you’ll raise major gifts successfully.
Part 1: Knowledge
Most people aren’t born knowing how to raise money. All fundraisers must learn how to ask for gifts — and you can too.
You can learn about fundraising by taking classes, joining programs, reading books, listening to webinars and podcasts, going to conferences, and shadowing experienced fundraisers.
However, knowledge isn’t always enough. You can’t hide in the classroom or behind books. You must take your knowledge and apply it out in the real world.
Part 2: Strategy
Having a basic understanding of the core strategy will greatly contribute to the success of raising major gifts. This includes a working knowledge of the fundraising cycle and applying it to your fundraising practices. Here are the four key steps in the process:
- Identify the best potential donors
- Build relationships
- Ask for gifts
- Say thank you and follow up
Unfortunately, many fundraisers get stuck in one (or more) of the above parts of the cycle and, therefore, don’t raise nearly as much as they could.
Part 3: Persistence
There’s no doubt about it, fundraising takes persistence. The ability to get back up and brush yourself off whenever you feel that twinge of disappointment.
Most donors don’t respond on the first outreach. This may not be intentional on the part of the donor; they are busy and have many competing priorities. You may need to send multiple emails and leave several messages over a period of weeks or months before you secure a meeting.
The trickiest part of persistence walking the line between appropriate follow-up and becoming a pest. If your outreach isn’t yielding results, try to find someone else at your organization who may be more successful with that particular donor.
Part 4: Optimism
The most successful fundraisers are eternal optimists. Positive people believe they can raise money and act on that positive outlook.
In other words, they believe they can fundraise, so they pick up the phone and call people until they succeed. Their optimistic outlook becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
This might be the hardest of all the skills and traits to learn and adapt, but I know you can do it (because I’m an optimist)!
Part 5: Courage
Asking people for money takes courage. Unfortunately, like any new skill fundraising is hard at first and you need to push past the fear and take a leap of faith. It’s like learning to ride a bike or asking someone out on a first date. It’s probably terrifying, but so very worth it.
One Final Secret…
If all of these components seem like too much to manage in your current situation, I’m going to share with you one final secret — a shortcut to fast-track your efforts. This is the one overarching secret to achieving major gift success:
Just ask.
There it is. Just ask for a gift. You may not do it perfectly, but if you don’t ask, you won’t raise money.
I can teach you — give you knowledge, strategy, support and accountability — to help you succeed again and again. But at the end of the day, having the hutzpah — the courage and audacity — to get out there and ask… well… that needs to come from you.
So if you’re able, push yourself to ask. The more you ask, the better you’ll get.
Not for the Faint of Heart
If the “just ask” shortcut sounds too extreme for you, that’s perfectly alright. It’s not for the faint of heart. In fact, that’s the one thing the overwhelming majority of fundraisers struggle with most.
That’s why there’s a formula — a methodology — to asking for major gifts. And it’s why I created Mastering Major Gifts.
I designed MMG as an ongoing monthly program that shows you, step-by-step, everything you need to do to raise major gifts consistently and successfully. It takes the formula outlined in this post and further breaks it down into bite-sized steps, while providing continuous support from me, and your peers.
Learn more about Mastering Major Gifts »
As an added benefit, you earn 5 CFRE credits each month you stick with the program. Get the training and support you need to consistently raise the biggest gifts AND earn your CFRE certification? Yes, please!
However you decide to do it — with support or on your own — the ultimate secret to success is to keep on asking. Do that, and you cannot fail.
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