All About the "Ask"SM Blog

December 6, 2011

Are You Ready to Take Advantage of the December Online Giving Spike?
by Diane Remin
You don't want to overlook year-end online fundraising--and specifically the last three days of December.  A seminal study by Network for Good and True Sense Marketing found that online giving spikes during disasters and during the month of December. The study is based on $381M of online giving from 66,470 nonprofits during 2003-2009. Get your free copy at www.onlinegivingstudy.org.
November 7, 2011

Major donors are in your midst
by Diane Remin
How can smaller nonprofitsengage potential major donors? My mantra is, "pick up the phone." Who do you call? Anyone making an annual fund gift of $1,000 or more.  Don't have anyone like that?  Then drop down to $500 or even $250.
November 2, 2011

Get on the plane!
by Diane Remin
You likely know the answer before you call fundraising counsel for advice. “Yes,” get on the plane and complete your major gift solicitation in person. Fundraising counsel for nonprofits of all sizes share this call in common: A NY-based client gets on the phone and says, “Well, we have this donor in CA and oh, the travel, I was just out there last month….” “How much is the gift for?” we inquire. “$50,000” answers the client, who then adds, “I know. I know.”  It’s a quick call for us.  We only utter two words, “How much?”
April 14, 2011

Breathing Your Way to a Major Gift
by Diane Remin
There’s only so much you can do about your major gift prospects’ passion and excitement about your work.  But there’s plenty you can do about your prospects’ connection to you. Creating rapport is a key ingredient of relationship-building.  Thanks to the research conducted by the Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) community, we know that physiological “matching” builds rapport.
December 21, 2010

Major Gift Cultivation & Solicitation: Say "yes" to the coffee
by Diane Remin
When the donor offers you refreshments, say "yes."  The first few minutes of a major gift cultivation or solicitation visit set the psychological stage. With the offer of refreshments, the prospect is taking a step toward you.  Accept. Your acceptance is building the social bond. You are also modeling “yes” mode.
December 7, 2010

Major Gift Cultivation & Solicitation: Compliments Count
by Diane Remin
The prospect’s environment often reflects areas of deep passion. Build rapport quickly by paying an authentic compliment.
August 12, 2010

50% of assets: The new benchmark for philanthropic major donors?

by Diane Remin
Through the Giving Pledge, initiated by Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, 40 billionaires pledged to donate 50% of their wealth to charity.  Will 50% become a new standard? I don’t believe we’ve ever had a peer-driven giving standard for the wealthy. From the religious community we have 10% tithing.  But tithing was not designed for the wealthy—quite the contrary. Many people of very modest means generously tithe.   From the financial advisory community comes the 1-3% of asset rule.
July 22, 2010

Prospect Research by the Numbers for a Small Nonprofit
by Diane Remin
High quality prospect research—learning everything you can about your major gift prospects—pays for itself many times over. It is a key best practice used by successful major gift programs.  Prospect research is important to: 1)      Learn more about the donor, especially financial resources, inclination to give and connections to your organization you may not have known about
July 6, 2010

Print collateral is the baby blanket of the major gift process

by Diane Remin
The “printing beast” is a well-oiled machine. But when it comes to major gifts, paper does not produce the gift. You do.
June 22, 2010

Major Donors are out there! Giving USA 2010 estimates individual giving at $227B in 2009
by Diane Remin
GIVING USA 2010 estimates $227.41B of individual gifts in 2009.  As always, individual giving dominates total charitable contributions, accounting for 75% of the total.  Surprisingly, individual giving remained relatively stable between 2008 and 2009, falling a scant 0.4%.  Total giving fell by an estimated 3.6%, with bequests (-23.9%) and foundation grantmaking (-8.9%) experiencing the largest drops.