The 4 Rules of Social Networking Nonprofits Can Ignore August 19, 2010 By Mary Pat Donnellon

by Daniel Klotz

You can't go three clicks on the Web without reading about social media best practices. Most of what is found in lists of rules for social networking applies across the board, but my agency has learned that four of these rules do not apply for nonprofits.

Rule #1 to Ignore: Don't Talk About Yourself
If you sell cosmetics and talk about nothing but lip gloss and eye shadow, you'll have a hard time attracting Twitter followers. But you can talk about your nonprofit all the time. If your cause is supporting the educational needs of autistic children, you don't need to mix it up by also talking about sports scores or news headlines. But if you're doing something great for your cause, you cannot tell your story or talk about your cause too much. Your supporters will listen and appreciate the feeling of connectedness.

Rule #2 to Ignore: Don't Ask for Help All the Time
Go right ahead and ask your supporters to invite their friends to like your Facebook page, to retweet your Twitter updates, or to favorite your YouTube videos. Tell people that you would appreciate links from their websites to yours. Let your supporters know that such seemingly small gestures are a big help, and ask them for that help frequently.

Rule #3 to Ignore: When in Doubt, Respond
Feedback you receive through social networks falls into three categories: the good, the bad, and the ugly. It is said that it is wise to praise the good, address the bad, and ignore the ugly. The tricky part is identifying whether a comment is just bad or downright ugly. When in doubt, most businesses need to err on the side of considering a comment bad and respond either publicly or privately. Not so for nonprofits, which tend to have much more good will and a base of support. When in doubt about whether a negative comment warrants a response, err on the side of considering it ugly and ignoring it. The risk for your organization is lower that way.

Rule #4 to Ignore: Be Yourself
When you're speaking for a nonprofit, you don't need to be yourself. Many businesses are cold and impersonal and need to be given a human face. Not so with most nonprofits. You don't need to be personally real or authentic. Instead, be your cause. Your cause is real, and it doesn't need your personality to make it any more real. So if you're blogging and feeling like your individual personality isn't coming through, don't fret. Talking about your hobbies, your family, or your faults doesn't help anything. Put the cause front and center and let it get the attention.

What social networking rules should nonprofits adhere to? Follow this three-step process and you'll be fine, whatever social networks you use: 1) Tell your story. 2) Thank your supporters. 3) Repeat.

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Daniel Klotz is a social media strategist at YDOP, a Pennsylvania Internet marketing agency that specializes in assisting educational institutions and mission-driven organizations.

Empower Ring Empowers Donors August 11, 2010 By Mary Pat Donnellon

Attract new donors. Introduce them to your organization. Involve them in a specific project. All are challenges for a busy development staff.

John Jascoll, director of development and communications for YWCA Lancaster (PA), has a plan to accomplish all of this and more by cultivating 100 donors in a single season.

The YW is inviting 100 men and women to join its new donor club, the Empower Ring, by contributing $25 to fund a special project not covered by the YW's existing funding sources.

Rather than just making a small contribution,
the donor has a voice in the future of the YWCA.

Will the project be hiring language and hearing interpreters for women who have been sexually assaulted? Providing childcare subsidies to parents facing employment cutbacks? Purchasing new audiovisual equipment?

The club will gather at the YW on September 23 for a presentation on the potential projects and will vote on which one to fund.

John explains:

It's a perfect way for someone who wants to get involved in a helpful way, at a modest level, and yet have a significant impact as part of a group. Rather than just making a small contribution, the donor has a voice in the future of the YWCA.

The YW is promoting the Empower Ring on its website, by word of mouth, through mailings, and via local press and cable television. John reports that the publicity is attracting a steady stream of participants as the August 31 club-signup deadline approaches. The short window of opportunity to join adds a sense of urgency and is an incentive for donors to make their contributions right away.

If you'd like to join YWCA Lancaster's Empower Ring, visit www.ywcalancaster.org.

Ingredients for Capital Campaign Success August 5, 2010 By Mary Pat Donnellon

by Linda Lysakowski, ACFRE

If a capital campaign is in your organization’s future, you will want to do everything you can to ensure success, including:

• having strong annual fund history,
• setting a realistic goal,
• establishing a sufficient pool of qualified prospects,
• building strong staff support,
• creating gift acceptance policies,
• setting up a campaign organizational structure, and
• purchasing an adequate donor software system.

Strong infrastructure is a key prerequisite to a successful campaign. A good donor software program will enable you to assess the level of current support, identify major donors, and track campaign gifts and pledges accurately. In addition to software, other infrastructure requirements include gift acceptance policies and office procedures for handling donations. A planning study will help you identify your internal strengths and weaknesses and assess community support. Analysis of successful campaigns point to three additional ingredients as the most crucial:

• writing a compelling case for support,
• recruiting a committed board of directors, and
• developing strong volunteer leadership.

These three key ingredients should be in place before a decision is made to go forward with a capital campaign. Let's look at them one at a time.

Case for Support

To conduct a successful capital campaign, an organization must first have a clear, compelling case for support that inspires and motivate volunteers and donors. The case is often referred to as being “bigger than the organization.” It talks about the people who will be served, the importance of the project to the community, and the difference the donor can make in the lives of people by supporting the campaign.

Once the preliminary case is tested during a planning study, it should be reviewed again in light of input received by community leaders. If it is found that the case is not strong enough, the time may not be right for your organization to run a campaign, at least not for this project.

Board of Directors

Board commitment must be present before an organization proceeds with a campaign. Board commitment means that the board is committed to this campaign in every respect—emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and financially. The board should pass a resolution approving the campaign once the planning study report is received and discussed. At last five or six board members should be willing to serve on the campaign cabinet.

One hundred percent of the board must make a financial commitment before any other gifts are solicited for the campaign. It will be crucial to show other funders that the family of the organization has made its commitment first, and at the highest level possible for each board member. This is the time to ask board members to stretch their giving to a truly visionary level.

Volunteer Leadership

Good volunteer leadership can make or break a campaign. It is essential to select a campaign chair or chairs who can inspire others to become involved and to support the campaign—even if the selection process takes several months. A recruitment package should be prepared that includes the case for support, the campaign timeline, and position descriptions for each member of the campaign cabinet, along with an organizational chart.

The campaign chair should be someone who believes in your organization's mission and supports it wholeheartedly, ideally someone who has been involved with your organization, and someone who is known and respected in the community and has the ability to both give a leadership-level gift and to solicit leadership gifts from others.

Once the campaign chair is in place, others key positions on the cabinet should be filled. These volunteers will, in turn, recruit others to serve on the campaign as needed.

With effective volunteer leadership, full board commitment, and a compelling case for support, most campaigns will succeed.

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Linda Lysakowski, ACFRE, is president and CEO of Capital Venture, a full-service consulting company that specializes in capital campaigns, development audits and plans, and board development and training. Linda is the author of numerous books; her new book on capital campaigns will be released later this year. For more information on capital campaigns and other fundraising information, visit www.cvfundraising.com.

Cultivating Donors: The Art and the Science July 27, 2010 By Mary Pat Donnellon

Cultivating donors. It's an art and a science. The best development officers (and some board members) are naturals at this; it's in their blood. And it's the heart of fundraising on all levels.

The science of cultivating donors is always something to work on.

Research shows, as Consultant Marc S. Saffren, CFRE, of m3 development (Manorville, NY) reports, that a strong follow-up to a gift results in increased giving. In the study, which targets 2,250 new direct mail donors, 220 received a thank-you phone call from a board member within 48 hours of their gift; the other donors received standard acknowledgments. Those who received a thank-you call gave 40% more in a second gift; and 70% of them were still giving two years later. More than 80% of the other donors had quit giving 2 years later.

We talked with Marc about how to use your GiftWorks database to ramp up your cultivation skills and point you to new targets.

Marc advises: "At the outset, especially in these challenging times, an organization needs a diversified development plan. This means that gifts are solicited using a variety of vehicles and strategies, from many audiences (individuals, corporations, foundations, government sources, event attendees, on-line giving campaigns) in a number of ways (direct mail, special events, personal ask,) and accepted in a number of forms (cash, gifts-in-kind, credit card, planned gifts, etc.), It takes all kinds of gifts and giving patterns to build a sustainable revenue stream."

Once a donor responds to one of your solicitations, the CULTIVATION process begins. You should have the stewardship and planned acknowledgment process in place. Think outside the box here! Don't limit yourself to the generic thank-you letter, the handwritten note from a Board member, or a Welcome New Member packet.

"Now," Marc continues, "comes the real work of cultivation and stewardship:"

Here's how it might work to go beyond the point of thank-you and lay the groundwork for additional and larger gifts.

The appropriate person in your organization makes a personal phone call to the donor. After warmly thanking the donor for the gift, the caller asks what motivated the donor to give, why he is interested in your organization, what other related areas might be of interest to him. (As a consultant, Marc and his team develop customized phone scripts for clients to help callers ask questions in a natural way.) Then the caller asks to update donor data and obtain the email address for the file. If the donor gave for a specific designated purpose, the caller should be prepared to talk about the program of their interest. In the course of the conversation, the caller might identify other donors or board members who have a connection to the new donor.

Record what you learn. Develop a system for callers to capture information they gathered and save it in GiftWorks. (You might designate custom field[s] for this information, or add this person to a group of people who share that interest.)

Now you have the makings of upcoming approaches:

If the donor's interest is breast cancer, you might invite him/her to a related event or support group or to meet a researcher in the lab.

If the donor is concerned about water run-off in local streams or is involved with businesses who are, you could ask him to get involved in your related project.

If the donor is retired, financially connected, etc., you might involve him in your Planned Giving initiatives. (If the donor is a financial planner or investment adviser, you might want to invite him to a lunch where you orient his colleagues to annuities and other planned giving instruments.)

If the donor has daycare interests and has a wealthy parent or family member, you might invite them both to see the architectural drawings for your new nursery.

Any of the above donors is a natural target for your next solicitation matching their interests. In fact, as you make your calls, you may learn about an area of interest you hadn't yet thought of. You may create a task force around the topic, and include this donor. You may also remind the donor about the possibility of doubling the gift through corporate matching. You might ask a board member with matching interests to contact the donor and pick up the cultivation.

Of course, your cultivation plan must include steps to follow-up--and a system of reminders so the momentum gained is not lost. GiftWorks will be the tool that helps you pull it all together. You can now run reports from the queried information using SmartLists. Periodically you'll want to review the data you've gathered to watch for trends or indicators to reframe your appeals.

With a consistent and effective plan for stewardship and cultivation, you can expect to see increases in involvement and gifts. All proving that old adage: Fundraising is Friendraising.

Marc S. Saffren, CFRE, is the Managing Director of m3 Development. His organization offers tailored fundraising and philanthropy solutions that combine innovation with sound fundamentals. Learn more at www.m3Development.net

Where Nonprofit Meets For-Profit: Sustainability Through Results July 8, 2010 By Mary Pat Donnellon

Meet expert Tom Ralser, principal of Convergent Nonprofit Solutions. Tom’s work with nonprofits and his latest book, ROI for Nonprofits: The New Key to Sustainability, provide cutting-edge methods and processes to move nonprofits successfully forward into today’s environment, one which increasingly demands accountability, transparency and results.

 

     
 
Convergent has recently announced its new partnership with GiftWorks. Through this partnership, and the integration of their Investment-Driven Fundraising Model with GiftWorks tools, Convergent’s consultants are able to achieve even greater returns for their fundraising and sustainability plan clients.  Here’s how it all began:

 

When a nonprofit in Colorado where Tom Ralser taught Finance was deciding to move forward on a third campaign in the early 90’s, they asked Tom to step over into the nonprofit world and help them devise a winning strategy. Tom worked a little of his business-world magic and was able to demonstrate that for every $1 the nonprofit had spent, they had returned $17 in benefits to the community. With this outcome-driven philosophy, Tom moved into the nonprofit world on a full-time basis in 1993 and started the ROI revolution for nonprofits.

 

Who wouldn’t like to make an “ask” with a proven 17/1 return?

 

In today’s economic climate, every nonprofit needs to both maximize its impact and to communicate that impact in order to sustain ongoing investment. (Yes, Tom calls them “investors,” not “donors.”) Return on Investment is a strategy for the future in fundraising. Not to abandon the time-tested connections and the emotional appeals of the past, but adding the business case for investment completes the fundraising toolkit.

 

“Nonprofits and for-profits are not really all that different,” Tom explains. “Both seek to deliver outcomes that investors value.” If the cars you make aren’t fuel-efficient, you won’t sell many. If your homeless project doesn’t make a difference in your community, your grant probably won’t be renewed. “While the nonprofit arena may be a bit more subtle,” Tom continues, “the mechanism of rewarding the efficient and penalizing the inefficient still applies.”

 

When Convergent’s consultants are “on the ground” working directly with a client, according to Ralser’s colleague Frank Bennett, “we use GiftWorks to manage investor and prospect lists. When we complete our primary work, we train our clients and they continue to use GiftWorks. The ability to have all investor/prospect/stakeholder information in one place—in a format that is easy to manage—ultimately leads to more cohesive fundraising efforts short and long term. For most clients, the customized GiftWorks system is their fundraising hub.”

 

While impact itself is pivotal, the demonstration of that impact is just as important. For example, if you have a program to help school dropouts to earn their GEDs and 50% of the 200 students finish the program and get their GEDs (admirable community, education and social goals)—is this going to compel a local banker to invest in your program? On the other hand, if 80 of the 200 kids get a job, earning say $25,000/year, the banker will immediately see that those earnings translate into $2 million into the community (and an economic impact of $3.5 million). The banker (and the business community) will have no problem seeing how this outcome benefits them. “This is the classic win-win that we try to achieve with every client,” explains Ralser.

 

For more information on ROI and Convergent Nonprofit Solutions, visit their website at www.convergentnonprofit.com.

 

Also, GiftWorks is presenting a free webinar on August 11 featuring Tom Ralser on The Investment-Driven Model: Strategic Advantages in a Tight Economy. Please register here:  https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/856523016

 

 

Generation Y—or Generation Why They Give June 30, 2010 By Mary Pat Donnellon

by Ruthellen S. Rubin, CFRE

The members of Generation Y were born between 1977 and 1998. Three of them grew up in my house, so I have a fair sense of what makes them tick, what impassions them, and how we might get and hold their attention.

Of course I know I can't judge a generation by my three daughters. However, I feel pretty self-assured about saying that this is a generation that cares—about the environment, about justice for all, about the importance of the arts, about education, about health care and services for all Americans, and about those who cannot help themselves.

Many female Gen Y'ers got their philanthropic start selling Girl Scout cookies. As teens they began to run races for cures and for a variety of causes. Community service was an integral part of their high school curriculum. Peddling, showing up and rolling up their sleeves to help others come naturally to Gen Y.

September 11, the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and Hurricane Katrina taught this generation how to reach into their pockets to help finance aid to the victims of disasters.

It's now 2010 and the early Gen Y'ers have entered their 30s. They are educated, trained and actually have some real money in their pockets. Never before have so many young people cared so passionately about so many causes. They are 70 million strong. Their voices are heard loud and clear on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and whatever other media are developed between the time I write this article and it gets published.

All nonprofits are asking the same question: How do we attract, cultivate, solicit and retain this promising and passionate group of young people?

Let's get into their heads:

#1: They are busy. Are we getting our information out quickly? If we can attract Gen Y'ers to our website, do we get to the point immediately? What do we want them to do, give or say? When do we want it? And how can they deliver it to us?

#2: They are social. Members of Generation Y, aka the Net Generation, communicate with their peers en masse. How do we make it possible for these young volunteers and donors to spread the word quickly to their hundreds of Facebook friends? Do we help them relay our call to action in a 140-character tweet? Have we created a one-minute YouTube video that compels them to action and propels them to spread the word?

#3: They are loyal. That is, they're loyal if we make them feel appreciated. Hundreds of charities are vying for the attention of this generation. What is our charity doing, in the way of stewardship, to stand out from the crowd and make Gen Y'ers feel appreciated? Can we show them, in a way they can pass along to others, the impact and effect of their donations, time or advocacy?

If we can help Gen Y'ers help us get our message out, and if we can demonstrate the good work their contributions are doing, we will have gained a whole new generation of loyal supporters.

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Ruthellen S. Rubin is a professor of philanthropy and fundraising at New York University. Visit her blog at www.ruthellenrubin.com/blog.

The Case Statement Payoff June 22, 2010 By Mary Pat Donnellon

by Ellie LaCasse

We thought we’d speak to someone about the effectiveness of developing a case statement in the way that Linda Lysakowski described in our June 16 webinar. Cathy Blankenship, chief operating officer of the Lear Theater in Reno, NV, was only too glad to share her story.

Twelve years ago the Lear Theater started a project to restore a historic church and transform it into a community performing arts venue. The original church was designed by a renowned architect, Paul R. Williams, the first African-American inducted into the Architects Hall of Fellows. The capital campaign began having trouble when fundraising could not keep up with construction inflation, and the project stalled in 2004.

In 2008 the Lear Theater secured federal funding from two tax-credit sources and reactivated the local campaign to raise the required $5.4 million in matching funds needed to complete the campaign. The Lear board needed to replace the image of a stalled project with a vision of an exciting new asset to the Reno arts community.

Although Cathy had experience with several previous campaigns, the Lear Theater decided to engage professional help in preparing the campaign plan and particularly the case statement. The theater contracted with Linda Lysakowski of Capital Venture to develop these important pieces of the campaign. The result was a comprehensive, vibrant document that has been priceless in terms of building solid support for the project.

“The case statement is not intended to be a marketing piece; it is the document from which all campaign materials come.”

The Lear Theater’s case statement is nine pages long—longer than most because the theater had a negative public image to overcome. It's made of up warm stories, analytical data, financial information, and even a construction timeline. It covers all the bases of what potential donors might want to know.

Cathy noted, “The case statement is not intended to be a marketing piece; it is the document from which all campaign materials come.” It broadly spells out the argument for supporting the Lear campaign; these broad points can then be tailored to different audiences and used for specific fundraising vehicles, such as grant proposals or marketing materials.

In developing the case statement, Cathy recalled,

We worked closely with Linda. We provided a hoard of information, and she sorted through it to determine what was most important. She looked at it from a fundraising perspective to determine what a potential donor wanted or needed to see. This was a different perspective from that of our marketing and program committee members, who had their own opinions about what should be included. Unfortunately, often a case statement is sent from one committee to another, inevitably resulting in a hodgepodge of ideas, focuses, voices—hardly the way to develop a compelling argument for such an important undertaking. Because Linda maintained control of the case statement, the tone was carefully crafted for consistency, and the document flows seamlessly.

The Lear Theater is now kicking off its campaign for leadership gifts and was able to announce that it has raised $6 million in federal funding. So far the reaction has been positive and the public no longer sees the campaign as stalled and unworthy of investment.

The biggest advantage of having a professionally prepared case statement is that grantwriting is much easier. With all the campaign information already organized in one place, the grantwriter can easily tailor the information to the required format. "We have written similar funding applications to the local arts commission for the past several years," Cathy reported. "This year we were told that it was our best application ever, and all we did was take the information directly from our case statement."

Cathy learned of GiftWorks years ago while working for a Boys and Girls Club. State legislators wanted consistent reports from programs operating across the state. When the organization began using GiftWorks, the project took off and funding was awarded. Cathy now uses GiftWorks Premium, which gives her unlimited ability to segment donors and tailor the message to different donor groups. “Having all your information in one place and being able to create and sort categories gives us more time to spend approaching donors and interacting with the community. We can generate special reports where all the data is in one place, not on several different spreadsheets. I think I’ve referred 15 or 20 agencies in the Reno area to GiftWorks.”

Ellie LaCasse, a friend of GiftWorks, is officially retired from fundraising but is forever a community volunteer.

Developing Your Case for Support: A June 16 Webinar June 8, 2010 By Mary Pat Donnellon

by Ellie LaCasse

Write a case statement. It sounds like a painful assignment that you can put off until you're planning a major fundraising campaign.

Think again. Fundraising expert Linda Lysakowski, ACFRE, tells us that you need a case statement in place not only for a capital campaign, but for each of your fundraising initiatives--your annual drive, planned-giving projects, and so on.

Linda explains the importance of writing a case statement before you do anything else:

Typically an office has one person writing grants; another working on a brochure, letters, and direct mail; a CEO writing a speech for the Rotary Club; somebody else doing a Power Point, a website, etc. They’re each looking at your fundraising from a different angle and thus they're giving mixed messages. So when a Rotary member goes to the website he is confused about the different messages he’s received.

The case statement gives the compelling reason someone would want to give. Of course, as the fundraising effort rolls out, it will be translated into many forms, according to the audiences approached. But the initial thinking has to be stated clearly—and all versions must come from that same beginning statement.

If a case statement is so crucial, why do so few fundraisers prepare them? Linda says that there are several reasons. Some organizations don't have an overall strategy that encompasses each element of their program; development staff may misunderstand what motivates donors; sometimes fundraisers simply don't set aside the time to get it done.

To learn more about writing a case statement, please join us for Linda Lysakowski's free one-hour webinar, Developing Your Case for Support, on Wednesday, June 16, at noon Eastern time. You're welcome to invite others in your organization to join in, but space is limited, so register now.

Ellie LaCasse, a friend of GiftWorks, is officially retired from fundraising but is forever a community volunteer.

Asking Styles: A New Idea in Fundraising June 7, 2010 By Mary Pat Donnellon

by Andrea Kihlstedt

Have you ever thought that if you were only more confident, more extroverted, less shy, more articulate, funnier, more serious, more handsome, younger, older . . . then you’d be able to ask for gifts?

Well, think again. The task of becoming a successful asker is not to change who you are or how you act or look or behave. All you have to do is understand your style and ask in a way that works for you.

Yes, each of us has our own personal asking style. If you know your style and use it to shape the way you ask for gifts, asking will be easier, and you’ll be more successful.

Your asking style is based on a combination of the way you interact with people and the way you most naturally make decisions. To determine your asking style, look at the simple chart below. Along the vertical axis place yourself according to whether you are an extrovert (top) or an introvert (bottom). On the horizontal axis place yourself on the right if you make decisions intuitively and on the left if you are analytical.

Your style influences many aspects of how you solicit gifts. It influences your selection of prospects, the way you prepare to approach them, how you articulate the case, and the way you follow through.

For example, my business partner, Brian Saber, with whom I have developed this material, is an introvert who makes decisions intuitively. Looking at the chart above, you can see that he’s a Kindred Spirit. Brian has spent his career in fundraising soliciting major gifts. To hear him tell it, he does not prepare a full presentation for his prospects. Rather he stays open to what they tell him and is able to respond and shape his asks in real time.

On the other hand, my client Maleka Lawrence, development director of Harlem RBI in New York, is a Mission Controller. She is comfortable when she is thoroughly and completely prepared and has a carefully crafted case that includes ample detailed information.

Both Brian and Maleka are very good at soliciting gifts. They are good at it because they have learned to use their natural styles to the fullest.

No matter what your asking style, you can be a successful asker. If you solicit gifts in a way that best suits you, you will be more likely to be willing to get out and ask. And in case you have forgotten, getting out to ask people for gifts in person really does raise more money.

On our Asking Matters website, you can see a video of Brian talking about his asking style--and many other videos of people like you talking about asking and giving. Take a look at askingmatters.com.

Andrea Kihlstedt is a well-known author, consultant, presenter, and development coach. Her book Capital Campaigns: Strategies that Work is a standard reference now in its third edition, and her new book, How to Raise $1 Million (or More!) in Ten Bite-Sized Steps, is an inspiring, quick read that makes major gift fundraising seem doable. Andrea is the cofounder of Asking Matters. You can reach her at andrea@askingmatters.com.

Building Your Major Giving Program: An Interview with Scott Lyons May 11, 2010 By Mary Pat Donnellon

Young nonprofits usually get their funding from special events and grant-seeking. As the organization grows and their dreams expand, they might add an Annual Fund. Only after this do they begin to think about starting a Major Giving Program. They know, or they’ve learned, that a Major Giving Program is the best way to maximize their funding potential. (We’ve all heard that $41 to $136 trillion will be passed to the next generation over the next 50 years!) But it sounds like a "major" effort; and it sounds complicated.

"It needn’t be," says Scott Lyons, presenter of the next free GiftWorks webinar on May 20: "Major Giving: Building a Sustainable Program." And, he should know. Scott recently oversaw the development and implementation of the Major Giving Initiative, a national project to build sustainable major giving programs at 111 PBS stations! And you can share the project’s knowledge and tools at www.MajorGivingNow.org.

The first foundation of an effective program is a dedicated core of volunteers who know your community and will open doors for you to build relationships with major giving prospects. The other foundation of your program will be designing a system to manage and track those relationships—and see them to fruition.

In your general strategy, you’ll need to a way(s) to collect and harvest information about donors. (Identify people with a strong interest in and affinity to your organization, family relationships, etc. Identify people with financial capability to give—say, business owners, residents of a certain zip code, people serving on Boards of other organizations). You’ll also need the ability to filter reports so that you can select your most likely prospects: those donors who have given $200 in the past three years, or whose total giving equals $5,000, or whatever criteria you select.

Once you’ve narrowed the field of prospects, you’ll need to gather knowledgeable friends of the organization who can help you highlight those most likely to respond positively and plot a strategy to begin your cultivation. And you’ll need a "tasks" tickler system to track when contacts are to be made, next steps in building the relationship, invitation to visit the site, meet the President, etc. Says Scott, "As with most things, once you’ve laid out the needs, the resources, and the strategies for your Major Giving Program, the implementation and maintenance can fall right into your existing routine."