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Can you be counted on?

Are you “ROCK” solid?

As major gift officers and fundraising leadership we focus on creating long-term relationships with givers who value our mission. This deepens a giver’s connection with our cause leading to more and larger giving.

OK. Right.

We want THEM to GIVE to us CONSISTENTLY! We DEPEND on them to SUPPORT US. They are the rock-solid foundation we rely on to achieve our mission. We want them to be loyal to us.

But here’s the deal. We need to switch this.

We need to let our donors know they can DEPEND on US!

We must be consistent.

“Making our (metric) numbers” should not force our donor relationships into our timelines. BUT, “moves management” or creating a RAP – a Relationship Action Plan as I call it, and setting metrics, DO HELP US BE CONSISTENT WITH OUR ACTIONS.

Here are 4 ways being CONSISTENT will let your donors know they can DEPEND on you.

1. See them when you don’t want money.

Consistently letting your donors know you are grateful for their support WITHOUT MAKING EVEN A “SOFT ASK” lets them know they can depend on you to appreciate them and honor their investment.

2. Remember the important personal things.

Consistently remembering birthdays, special events, and special connections to your organization builds trust. Celebrating these to a degree that is authentic and appropriate creates a consistent association between you, your organization and your donor on these important occasions.

3. Provide routine communication they can count on.

Consistently mailing or emailing special event news and invites, the annual report and/or the Quarterly newsletter builds a consistent touch – a reminder of the impact their giving has and their connection to you. Getting out the receipt letter, follow up letters after a visit, the annual endowment stewardship report – whatever – on a timely basis, consistently, creates a sense of reliability.

4. Always bring a positive attitude and personality.

Consistently being a positive, cheerful, presence on behalf of your organization makes your visit something that can be counted on as a positive experience. Something to look forward to. We all have days we’re emotionally or physically not as “up.” Making an effort to be consistently upbeat, downplay negative news, and skip the personal drama puts us in the small group of people they look forward to hearing from.

NOT consistent at being consistent? Here are 4 TIPS to HELP YOU!

1. As much as possible put clear, written, systems in place for repeated processes. Delegate these if you can or make calendar dates to do them yourself and HONOR the dates! Make sure team members understand the steps and deadlines.

2. Make small changes. Set aside 1/2 hour at the end of every day to pick up your desk to stay on top of clutter. (The number one consistency buster!) Big clean ups won’t last without new small commitments to consistent maintenance. Big workout programs won’t last, but 15 minute quick-walks around the office building just might. It’s easier to take a smaller step consistently. That’s the point.

3. Embrace rituals. Have a box of thank you cards sitting out on the desk. Write 3 notes grandly and passionately at a certain point in the day. Making it feel like a ritual will help you focus your time on what really matters.

4. CHOOSE to be AMAZING Today. We are all responsible for our thoughts and actions. It is always YOUR CHOICE. No one else c an make you feel a certain way unless you allow them to. By consistently monitoring your thoughts you can keep self-defeating thoughts at bay. You can also just flip a switch and say, “I’m so excited about doing this event tonight. I’ve been looking forward to it all day!” Go into it with a smile and embrace it – you’ll become that attitude you choose. It is always your choice to be a grump or a beacon of joy!

When we are consistent we are perceived (and it’s generally true!) as dependable, organized, on-top of our game, trust worthy, sincere and honest. Isn’t that the person and place where you would want to invest your MAJOR GIFT? Isn’t that the person you want to be… and be with?

YES! Consistently!

“Many hands make light work.” Remember that saying?

(Credited to John Heywood – I thought it was my mother.)

When did it change to, “You can connect from almost anywhere now so you can do it ALL yourself.”

WRONG!

As Major Gift Officers, Executive Directors, Directors of Development, VP’s of Development and others in management and service in this honorable and noble profession of advancement, we do a great deal of the ‘heavy lifting’ in our organizations and institutions. We are continuously juggling meeting our metrics with being “donor focused” and, at the same time following scores of rules about how it is all to be implemented. (Classify each contact with one of 10 ‘moves’ steps… deduct your glass of wine from the receipt prior to submitting expenses… and on and on)

So hear me loud and clear. YOU CAN’T DO IT ALL YOURSELF BECAUSE YOU WILL LOSE ….YOUR JOY.

And when you lose your joy, your passion for your mission dims.

And when your passion for your mission dims, well, it’s all just harder… and a lot less fun and you won’t have the same success.

Let me share a story about my most significant and successful years raising major gifts. Her name was Jenny Dascoli. Nope, she was not a tremendous major donor who provided zillions for the UW. Jenny was my administrative assistant. And not only mine, but I shared her with Jodi, my partner in raising major gifts for the College. Jenny transformed my world… and me. My office went from clutter to structure, my deadlines from missed to early, my reputation from ‘always late’ to ‘generally early’ and my dollars-raised soared. Same was true for Jodi. And we laughed… a lot. And our donors could feel our joy.

I didn’t have to come in early or stay late to double-check that everything I needed for my donor calls or trip was in the folder. I didn’t have to worry that the handouts were copied out of order or missing pages. I knew that if the invite for the ‘big event’ was to go to the printer while I was away – it would, without typos. I could hand over a dictation tape or handwritten notes and she gladly entered the contacts into the system, created my letters or email follow-ups and made sure my next actions were noted…with time to prep for them. Life was really, really good and I raised lots of money.

So I am puzzled when these days development officers are often expected to enter all their own contacts, generate the letters and get the next steps set. Many consider it the necessary evil of the job. Some managers have fairly severe consequences for not getting data in within 24 hours.

I don’t see this as a technology literacy issue… but rather a time, productivity and joy issue. After a long day making calls… we come back to the hotel to do the data entry? Really? That’s when we should be walking, or heaven forbid – resting. Or… after a donor visit we should be creatively thinking about the next step and getting moving on them.

Now I am a firm believer in metrics – as a tool to be certain we are serving enough prospective givers effectively by creating and implementing relationship action plans. And… I still say, “If it isn’t recorded, it didn’t happen.” However, as I coach all types of organizations/institutions to help them enhance major giving performance and reduce staff turnover, they believe adding a development officer is what they need. Instead, I often recommend administrative help over a development position, or another development position. And I am seeing a trend in high-achieving shops of all sizes where today’s version of the good old-fashioned secretary can do more for the success and satisfaction of your development professionals than anything else. An outstanding administrative assistant is one that can….

• establish systems
• create habits
• anticipate needs
• see patterns
• live for managing details
• drive timelines
• input with accuracy and flair
• make decisions
• stay off personal Facebook, personal banking, personal email…
• resist drama and gossip
• cover your back
• let you rant once in awhile without running to HR
• and ‘gets’ that, while we love our donor conversations, it is hard work.

Each team member, CEO on down, needs to consider what they are brilliant at, competent at, and what they struggle with. Old School leadership would say, ‘work on strengthening your weaknesses.’

Today’s successful leaders know they must make the most of their teams’ unique gifts and provide ways to off-load the rest.

– even those things they might be competent at, but distracts them from the relationship-building work that dictates major gift success. How do you want your development staff spending their time? In meaningful contacts with donors. How do you want your ED spending whatever piece of their time they can dedicate to fundraising? In meaningful contacts with donors. While we all will have pieces of our work that is less exciting for us then other pieces, we choose how we spend each 24 hours and, as much as possible, we must spend our time where we are brilliant. For successful major gift officers this is having “meaningful contacts” with prospective major givers…not sitting at a computer or typing into some device…and usually doing this after hours, compromising our personal relationships.

Let me share a few true stories.

• Joe tells of the 2 folks he hired to help him with the infrastructure of his small shop. They do 90% of the behind the scenes work. Joe is out constantly and turns over hand-write notes after each call on a form designed just for him. He’s incredibly successful. He calls his assistants his ‘peace’.
• When Susan hired a part-time administrative person and off-loaded the tasks that slowed her down the most, she found she had the time to better plan her trips. She saw better prospects, connected with more prospective givers on each trip and was better prepared for the conversations rather than “winging it.” Within 6 months the change was reflected in gifts coming in… more than compensating for the additional staff member.
• When Jim has update meetings with his major gift officers since an additional office team member was hired only 3 months ago, he noticed that there was time to talk about the successes his team had… then get into any struggles they were having in their relationship-building where they might need his help. Prior to this it seemed they were so reactive that the talks tended to begin with, “What problems do I need to know about?” His team is happier.
• Alex, a VP, saw stewardship activities soar when they added an administrative position to the mix. She did much of the call entry, created correspondence from notes they outlined, and followed through on the ideas they had to “Invoke the grateful recipient” as I call this phase. Instead of many good intentions, these gratitude and impact actions were happening! Do I have to tell you what THAT did to the bottom line?
• When an ED working long days week after week, hired an administrative person and got volunteers to serve as receptionist instead of trying to combine the two positions together, both areas improved and she found she could actually get some donor calls into the mix – and she enjoyed them! It’s just a start, but major gift work before this was zero.

Agree with me on this, but can’t get someone to help now? Here are some tips for making it better.

1. If you’re shop insists you enter your own contacts and this isn’t your bag, consider getting a voice recognition product (even if you pay for it yourself!) and talking them into the system. It you are a writer… can you find a part-time volunteer (who signs a confidentiality agreement) to come in and enter for $10/hour. Or, find a device you can write on that puts them in. Again, even if you have to buy it yourself. Invest in your JOY.
2. Set aside time as part of making appointments to go to a private place and make your report. Don’t let them pile up to the end of the day and try to do the follow up when you are exhausted. If you are a supervisor, allow team members to block out time for follow up like a firm meeting with themselves. And, fundraisers….honor that time and don’t get distracted with email and Facebook.
3. When you have lots of information to enter, make the first two to three sentences a summary and include the next action. Then use the subsequent paragraphs to expand on the details. It will save you time down the road preparing for the next visit.
4. If you really don’t like doing this piece…Set a timer. Tell yourself you’ll do this for 30 minutes only…then switch to something else. Make it a game to see how many you can enter before the buzzer goes off!
5. Express to supervisors the timeline something will take including the time you spend doing the administrative stuff. Then price out your cost/hour and what it would cost for a data -entry person per hour. Should your organization be paying you for this level work instead of someone who would be at a lower salary level? Do some cost analysis.

Why can’t you do it all yourself?

Because our honorable and noble profession needs you to be passionate and inspired about your mission… and this means you need to be focused on what you are brilliant at – creating major gift relationships. 

And creating these relationships cannot come at the cost of your personal relationships because you’re working 24/7 to keep up.

Invest in whatever it takes to support you.

Invest in Joy!

I am always a few feet off the ground for weeks after the AFP International Conference on Fundraising. It is humbling and invigorating to see what our profession accomplishes to “compose a good world.” (Maya Angelou) It’s a massive conference and an investment to attend. But WHAT AN EXPERIENCE! It was even better because I had just helped staff the Millionaire Mind Intensive in Denver. We were treated there with Adam Markel (in the photo) as lead trainer – he is transformational.

At times throughout these conferences, I heard some grumping about the costs and that not all organizations can finance the trip, or AFP chapters pay only part of the costs, or it is so hard to get away, or we are Soooo Busy, etc. Friends, you’ve heard my story… . it all began at age 17 when I bought for myself “The Strangest Secret” by Earl Nightingale and the notion that, “We become what we think about.” Therein lies the key to success… but sadly, also the key to failure. For as Adam Markel, CEO of Peak Potential puts it, “How you do anything is how you do everything.” So if you drop out if an experience costs you a bit of money, or is during a busy time, or someone might think you are weak for asking for help, you will always stop short of investing in yourself.

Bernard Ross said, “I’d love to hire some navy seals. When something goes wrong they don’t say, ‘I’m not being supported here.'”

My Major Gift Success Club guest earlier this year, Richard Perry, states, “When we take counsel, we secure wisdom. We find a way. We become enlightened. We know what to do.”

So mix all this WISDOM together and my message to you this month is…

YOU ARE WORTH IT! Invest in your own growth and professional development!

You are worth every dime, minute and experience you can get your hands on. Even the ones that take you out of your comfort zone and into things you are afraid of. Even the ones you think make you look weak, or not as smart, or lacking somehow. LET those thoughts go!!

Let me give you an example.

I have been complaining about Facebook and Twitter as timewasters. (and I still think that is true in part) But they do have a role and perhaps I am just not comfortable with them. So, at the AFP conference this year I pushed myself into being a AFPeep. I surrounded myself with some of the folks best at communicating this way and tweeted some messages and photos. Now I’m certainly not the pro at succinctly emoting great wisdom, but I have started!

“People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can’t find them, make them.” George Bernard Shaw

Now some would argue that I don’t appreciate how difficult it is for some… they have challenges I just don’t face. In reality, those of us in the not-for-profit world get this better than most. Every day we see people overcome tremendous adversity to reach fo r that prize… their freedom from addiction, financial freedom, a job, peace with their families, a home, an education , whatever it is. Why? Because somewhere inside they decided that THEY ARE WORTH IT!

“When you’re interested you do what’s convenient. When you’re committed, you do whatever it takes.” John Assaraf

Each month I shower you with testimonials from others who attend my workshops… why? So you will be inspired to come and learn. I have made my Major Gift Success Club SO affordable. Why? So you will join in and grow and learn. Stop fussing over who’s going to pay for it, or how you are going to make the time. Start thinking about your lifyou can make into your own learning and success. If you’re not growing, you’re dying. There is an abundance of terrific opportunities out there. You have the time. You have the money. You want to grow. My sincere wish for you this Spring time is for you to burst with vibrant life!

This past December I had the pleasure of hearing CASE President John Lippincott as we presented at “CASE V and VI Together.” It was pure joy to hear John proclaim what a GREAT time this is to be in development work. There is enormous demand, our roles have never been more strategic, respect for our work has never been higher, the opportunities never boarder and the work never more noble.

Yet, it is challenging work — work that must be executed with a certain magic. We weave the spells that transform written mission statements into positive, significant results. Every day in every way everything everyone does must link back to our “why.” According to John, our single greatest asset is trust. And, because we often are in our positions through one or more leadership changes, we are the “keepers of the flame” for our organization — creating life-long engagement. It’s not about working toward the next job, work in this one.

Gary Ryan Blair had this list in something I read. Of course I tweaked it some and share it with you as what you are REALLY hired to do…

• surprise and delight
• go the extra mile
• demonstrate gratitude
• exceed expectations
• focus on solutions
• elevate the conversation
• challenge assumptions
• inspire excellence
• practice integrity
• believe in your mission
• contribute ideas
• deliver results
• meet deadlines
• take risks
• ask challenging questions
• set a good example
• think
• love your donors
• persevere in spite of obstacles
• fight for principle
• act with urgency
• initiate ideas
• honor your commitments
• make good decisions
• play to your strengths
• learn from mistakes
• take pride in your performance
• build a legacy

Now get to work! And thank you for being part of this honorable and noble profession.

As 2012 and all the Year End Magic (remember YOU CHOOSE how you view year end) comes to a close… here are my Top 13 Tips for incorporating humor into our Major Gift work. This title and tips were created from my Major Gift Success Club December interview with Liysa Callsen, author, stand-up comedian and Fund Development Coordinator for Holy Family Memorial Hospital on our December call. While this is normally available for subscribers only, I wanted to share these with you to celebrate the holiday season.

1. Mistakes happen. We get together for mission. If your event experiences a goof up, Remember your donors are at your events to share in the mission, not to experience you worked up about a mistake. Address it with humor and get back to enjoying the event!

2. Humor and laughter create HOPE! That’s why it fits at a funeral or helps as we share troubles with our donors.

3. Find something funny that works for you. Newspaper headlines, local politics, whatever makes you smile and you can practice to share with others.

4. Practice a good, appropriate joke or light-hearted story. If you can’t tell jokes well, don’t!

5. Smile and SAY THE WORD, “SMILE.” Begin a visit with, “I’m here today to bring you a smile!”

6. Remember people who lift you up, help you. Surround yourself with people who lift you up. To create the Petronius spell in Harry Potter, the wizard needs to find his happiest thought – this Petronius then defeats and deflects evil.

7. Honor yourself as you use humor. It should not steal your credibility. Don’t knock yourself down or belittle yourself with self-deprecating humor.

8. Borrowing from theater… good improvisational actors listen intently to Find the gift or nugget of information to build the action off of. Listening to your donor this intently will build a bond.

9. Give permission to your staff, colleagues, family, friends to have light moments. Create opportunities to share in funny activities. One example….find a photo or drawing and have a funniest caption contest. It’s free, doesn’t take much time and reading the captions will generate laughter and camaraderie. Use humor to solve problems. Ask the team to offer the silliest ideas they can imagine to fix it. These ideas can actually lead to the solution. For example….one silly suggestion was to have a staff member naked under a sandwich board. Actually….the sandwich board addressing the issue ended up being a right answer…with clothes included.

10. In any stressful setting – healthcare, volunteers addressing a complex task, etc. humor can be a tension reliever. Fill yourself with light-heartedness and share this with those donors and volunteers to break down nervous barriers in stressful situations.

11. Scan the room. Look for something in the environment that can take on a humorous bent or simply Pull the subject away from the more serious concern at the time and provide a lighter conversation.

12. Change your vocabulary. Replace the typical “fillers” with words that reflect you authentically. “How are you today?” “Fine.” becomes “I’m terrific!” if you mean it, and will brighten any conversation.

13. Advocate with kindness. When you need something to accomplish a donor gift, seek common ground. Ask for what you need, but be open to sharing information and finding a mid-way solution.

With this…. I leave you two news clips!

• Santa unveils his fundraising strategy for North Pole capital campaign.
• Gang violence escalates between Major Gifts and Annual Giving for control of the donation trade.

Just kidding!! SMILE, enjoy our honorable and noble profession and the gift of the supporters, family and friends that fill our lives with joy. Happy Holidays!