What It Takes to Be a Great Gift Officer
A question was recently posted in my CFRE chatroom about the difference between corporate and individual giving. Specifically, how does one move into the individual side more effectively… what should they know? I liked my response there, so I thought I would repeat here for everyone… a good lesson for anyone responsible for building philanthropic relationships…
At a very high overview of thought…
1. Talk more with people, less at them – We tend to tell people what we want from them and fail to ask their opinion about us/our organization and what they want to accomplish (philanthropically). Our goal should be to find their passion and then see if it ties back into what our organization does... making a connection. If all you do is tell them what your problem is and don't ask for their opinion as to how to solve it or what is important to them, prospects/donors tend to take the conversation where they want instead of where we need it to go.
a. Old adage – If you ask someone for money, they tend to give you advice. If you ask for their advice (and listen/take it), they are more likely to give you money.
2. Be more specific - As gift officers, we tend to want to make our prospects happy. We are always polite but we should be much more direct---especially in the beginning. With any prospect, there is a point where you HAVE to ask whether or not they are interested in further conversations around their potential financial support.
a. This also means you have to embrace "blessing and releasing" prospects who don't want to move forward.
3. The type of donor/prospect – 30 years ago, Prince and File published a study (7 Faces of Philanthropy) of the different kinds of donors and what they actually want (and they don't want the same things)---and nothing has changed in how to use this remarkable information. What to say. How to engage. What to emphasize. What to “skip?” There are 7 DIFFERENT kinds/types of prospects/donors. If we were better at categorizing prospects/donors based on this, we provide/give them what they want/need to connect to our organization/mission/us.
a. You can't treat everyone the same...you have to learn to treat each differently (with the same respect) as to what they NEED rather than what we offer.
The SCIENCE of philanthropy of what we do to create effectiveness/efficiency. The ART of philanthropy is how we deepen relationships to maximize opportunities for our organization and our donors. We need both, but the ART is where the dollars are located.
