How to Prepare for a Major Gifts Call

By: Sarah Osman

The most effective fund development programs focus on one-on-one personal meetings leading to meaningful relationships. It is through these relationships that an organization can identify the aspirations and passions of a benefactor and naturally lead them to a major gift.

So how do you prepare for a major gift visit? First, you need a prospect.

Identifying Prospects for a major gift solicitation should begin with careful review of existing benefactors.  Generally, 10% to 20% of annual fund donors will become major gift donors.  Additional names of individuals and foundations in your organization’s database that have never given should also be considered when identifying prospects.  As your organization makes new contacts, these should be inputted into your database and considered as well.

Ongoing efforts to identify other prospects should also include referrals from face-to-face visits, reading local and regional newspapers and magazines, area non-profit newsletters and annual reports, and networking with leaders of other Catholic organizations.  In addition, a college campus ministry should work with their university’s development staff on ways to reach out to its alumni and current students’ parents.

After you have identified major gift prospects, you will want to Qualify Your Prospects. Board members, Leadership Council members, and other volunteers can play a significant role in assessing the best prospects based on known relationships and the prospective benefactor’s linkage and interest to your organization.

Some key things to identify when qualifying a prospect – awareness of organization’s mission and contribution to society, interest in organization’s mission, volunteer involvement, commitment to the future of your organization, financial capability, and giving experience.

Next, Create a Strategy with your development team. Preparation is the key for any major gift solicitation. Creating a strategy and timetable for each prospective major gift benefactor will keep your development team organized and on-task.

You are essentially planning for: “The right person asking the right prospect for the right gift for the right program at the right time in the right way.”

Now, Schedule a Meeting! Tell the prospect why you want to meet with them – to tell them how the organization has used their prior gifts, to give an update on the organization’s accomplishments, and to speak about another gift.  As you speak to your prospect on the phone, be sure to keep it short.  Just schedule a meeting. Avoid having the meeting over the phone.

As you can see, there is a significant amount of time put into preparing for a major gift visit. 1. Identify prospects, 2. Qualify your Prospects, 3. Create a Strategy, 4. Schedule a Meeting. Your organization will increase its chances of securing a major gift, if the proper preparation has taken place.

Look in the May issue for information on the actual solicitation visit!