Major Gifts Checklist
We know how it feels to get a major gifts program off the ground -- so we're here to help!
Use the following list as a resource to check yourself against the priorities we suggest focusing on when you're launching into major gift work.
Step 1
Do you know who your prospects are? See our blog here about getting yourself organized. Create a prospect portfolio (a list with helpful fields) and organize it with your best, or highest capacity, prospects at the top. Use the data that you have in your files or in your database combined with information that people close to you have about these prospects when you make your list.
Step 2
Understand your organization's strategic priorities well, and know the internal partners who are driving them. Do you have a department chair who will be heavily involved with implementing a new, high-priority program? Is there a physician at the helm of a new space being created? Perhaps your program director or curator is the most knowledgeable about the organization's next priority. Sit with that person every week and learn as much as you can. These relationships are important to your success in making a case to prospects -- not only to articulate the initiatives to prospects, but to pull these partners in as you can to assist in cultivating relationships.
Step 3
Have the time to get the in-person meeting on your calendar. Strive to have several in-person meetings weekly. We have some tips for getting the meeting in this blog, but don't shy away, too, from using donors and board members who might know your prospects to make an introduction for you so that your chances of getting an in-person meeting quickly are even better.
A sample email message to a prospect may look something like this (notice it’s concise and saves the pitch for the meeting!): Hi, John. I hope you’re well. I’m reaching out with hopes of finding a time to connect by Zoom or in-person; I’d like to thank you for your gift to Organization (or talk about Organization, as Susan mentioned to you from her own involvement), and share more about our plans for this year. It would be great to know you better and understand the things with which you’re involved. Does next Thursday or Friday at 9am happen to work for you? If not, please propose what might. I’m happy to come to your office or a nearby coffee shop, or send you a zoom link. I know you’re very busy so thank you for considering the time.
Step 4
Role play. Practice. Ask yourself the hard questions that might come up in conversations so that you are prepared with a response, or better yet, so you know to lead with messaging around any areas of question or concern at your organization.
Step 5
Be ready to stay organized and document your work. Information about your donors and prospects needs to live in a well maintained database. Your meeting details need to be written down and circulated. Before you even head out on your first visits, get your group in the habit of documenting what you know.
