Major Gifts – Beyond the Solicitation Series – Part 10

In part 1 (click here to read it) of this piece we focused on the first three steps.  “The first three steps help you enlist major donor prospects who will be part of your moves management community.  First you identify prospects then gather information through prospect research—formal and informal—and, finally, evaluate each prospect to determine that he or she is a worth allocating the time and energy of staff and volunteer leadership.”

The next three steps help implementation of the major gifts moves management process.

Step IV: Track “Moves”

The first and single, most critical step in the process is tracking each move and the follow up step that is essential to the implementation.  This step requires exquisite discipline.  With each discrete move or contact, you need to file a call report.  Here is the data of which you need to keep track.

• Type of Call:
  • Foreground move
    • Letter
    • Phone
    • Email
    • Tweet—or other social media contact
    • In-person
• Background move
• Planned purpose of the move
  • Cultivation
  • Solicitation
  • Other
  • Summary—detailed notes—actual outcome of the move
  • Next Steps
    • Continue on the moves management list
    • Remove from moves management list
    • Reassign to another moves manager

Step V: Maintain Accountability

Weekly, bi-weekly and/or monthly face-to-face meetings of the major gifts management team with reports by each staff moves manager.  These meetings are designed to maintain a cadence of accountability.  Their frequency is a function of time available and the number of prospects in the process.  In advance of each meeting, a report containing the following data is distributed.

• Prospect Name and unique identifier to tie back to your fundraising data management system
• Philanthropic capacity rating
• Status—where are they on the moves management continuum—the five “I’s”
  • You have just identified a potential major gifts donor
  • You are gathering information about the prospect
  • The prospect has demonstrated some interest
  • The prospect has become involved
  • The prospect has made a gift and become invested
  • Date of last contact
  • Nature of contact
  • Next step
  • Comments from Moves Manager/Team

Step VI: Keep Score—Weekly Report

Finally, you create an agency wide dashboard for the major gifts moves management process.  In this way everyone becomes a partner and shares in the success of the effort.  The dashboard should contain the following:

• Date of report
• Total number of prospects in the system
• Total number of moves planned for the “year”
• Number of contacts made this week
• Dollar value of prospects “moved” this week
• Dollar value of pledges or gifts booked this week

Next Month: Executing the Major Gifts Moves Management Process

To learn how David can help you enlist major donor prospects, call him at 800.361.8689.