mike.bartlett@debra.org.uk mike@moneytreefundraising.co.uk

How to make major donor

fundraising work for your charity

Mike Bartlett

Director of Fundraising, DEBRA

Why Major Donors?

Sporting Societies

Donor Marketing

Major Donors

Community Fundraising

Corporate Fundraising

Dinners

Legacies

Challenge Events

High ROI

Low ROI Digital

Short

Timescale

Long

Timescale

Trusts and Foundations

Why Major Donors? Net Income

Unrestricted

Income

Restricted

Income

Events +

Challenge Events

Individual Donors

and Appeals

Trusts

Community

Fundraising

Corporate

Legacies

????

Return on Investment

Why Major Donors? Net Income

Unrestricted

Income

Restricted

Income

Events +

Challenge Events

Individual Donors

and Appeals

Community

Fundraising

Corporate

Legacies

Return on Investment

Trusts Major Donors

Why Major Donors?

Annual funding Capital funding Endowment

funding

Driver Budget-driven to

sustain

operations

Opportunity-driven

to fund

special projects

and programmes

Vision-driven to

secure

the future

Example Projects Project staff

Programme

facilities

Campaigns

Emergencies

Buildings

Medical research

Poverty

Research

Fundraising

Income Sources

(some overlap)

Events

Small donations

Community

Legacies

Digital

Appeals

Mid-level donors

Trusts

Corporate

Major Donors

(£5k+)

Trusts

Expectations!

Courtesy of Veritus Group

Models of Major Donor Fundraising

Event Giving

121s

Peer to Peer

(x8!)

Appeal Board

Subscription

(Club)

An Art and a Science

An Art and a Science

Vision

Mission

Projects

Organisational Commitment

Donors

(Partners)

Essentials

To implement a successful major donor programme you must have:

1. A genuine programme plan (how are you going to address the

need, with specific outcomes and costs)

2. Donor-centric culture (meeting the needs of donors)

3. A leadership culture that understands major gifts

4. Sound and accessible financial project information

5. Sound donor process (IT, data, record keeping, thanking)

6. Measurable outcomes (what impact will you tell your donor that

their gift made?)

The Journey

Third Sector Major Donor Report

Starting Out with Donors

Mr Flagging

• New £300+

• Coutts cheques

• CAF Accounts

• Sir/Lady/The Hon

• Google map postcodes

• Patterns of giving

• Job titles

Mr Thanking

• Close eye on Mr Flagging

• Quick research

• Personalised thank you

• Logged on database

• Logged on prospect list

• Next steps

• Account manager

Gems in your fundraising

• Do your research before events

• Allocate roles – events staff will be running the event

• Collect data

• Know the history and relationships of your key prospects

• Decide best contact to hold the relationship and get them

involved early

• Have a next step in mind when talking to supporters

• Personalise follow up

Qualify and Disqualify

Which donor would you focus on first?

1. Donor with a net worth of 200 million who made a £100 gift three years ago.

2. Influential community leader and philanthropist who has never given to you.

3. Donor with a net worth of £5 million who gave £5,000 to our most recent appeal.

Qualify and Disqualify

1. Size of gift – the bigger the better

2. Recency of gift

3. Pattern of giving – multiple gifts/upgrading

4. Capacity – the more the better

5. Linkage – the more connected the better

6. Interest – preference for restricted gifts

Start to Plan

• Gather a manageable list of names

• Know all you can about the donor

• Who is going to approach?

• How are you going to approach?

• What do you want to know?

• What are your next steps?

• What is your ultimate aim for that donor?

• Do you have senior level buy in?

• Listen – you need to know if they are genuinely

interested and what in.

Who gives the love?

Who gives the love?

Who gives the love?

Who gives the love?

• Senior Level involvement is essential!!

• Draft letters and emails from your CEO,

Programme Director, Services Manager,

Researcher, Doctor, etc

• Get them to follow up with a call or email

• You want meetings – increase your chances

• Face to face is your aim

• Must have next two steps in mind

Reviewing Progress

Engaging Donors

• If you had £500,000 to give away….

• What would you want to know?

• Who would you want to meet?

• What would you expect in return?

From Engaging to Asking

Essential criteria behind giving decisions of the rich donors:

1. Who asks – More than two-thirds (69%) will listen to a request that comes from someone they know and respect; less than a third (31%) respond to requests from fundraisers.

2. Impact - “Even if the cause is one which the donor supports in principle, the determining factor is their conviction that the gift will make a difference.”

3. Most donors donate to causes they have some connection to, and feel passionate about (not the neediest causes).

Dr Beth Breeze, Director, Centre for Philanthropy, University of Kent

The Ask

A major donor fundraising ask is not just about fundraisers talking about an emotive cause.

A powerful fundraising proposition requires:

• Clear vision and goals

• Clarity on the problem

• Proposed solutions with benefits and evidence

• Urgency

• Action Plan

• Reporting of outputs, outcomes and impact

The Ask

• When?

• Where?

• Who?

• What for?

• How much?

The Ask

• Right Time

• Right Place

• Right Person

• Right Project

• Right Amount

It works, honest!

Case Study - Scottish donor

• Cold research

• Link via a trust

• More research

• Invitation from a researcher

• Follow up

• Project engagement

• Face to face

• Ask - £85,000 gift

• Close

It really works, honest!

Case Study - Golfer

• Identified through event gifts

• Warm research

• Account management

• ‘Discovery’ conversations

• Meeting with Researcher

• Projects discussed

• Peer to peer giving agreed

• Lunch with researcher and peers

• £100,000 annual contribution agreed for 3 years

I told you it works!

Case Study – Hedge Fund Manager

• Suggested by golf supporter

• Cold research

• Email introduction by supporter

• Invited to events – always too busy

• Regular email communication

• Face to face meeting – eventually!

• ‘Discovery’ conversations

• Proposal emailed over

• Follow up meeting with CEO

• £65,000 donation (likely to repeat for 3 years)

More Knowledge

• Veritus Group blog and whitepapers (US) www.veritusgroup.com

• ‘It’s Not JUST About the Money’ Richard Perry and Jeff Schreifels

• Dr Beth Breeze, Director, Centre for Philanthropy, University of Kent

www.kent.ac.uk/sspssr/philanthropy

• Directory of Social Change www.dsc.org.uk

• Third Sector Major Donor Report

• Institute of Fundraising Major Donor Special Interest Group

• High Value Specialist Consultancies