4 Steps my Nonprofit Client took to Secure a $5 Million Gift
I did a really good job of not checking email while I was traveling with family in India the first two weeks of January. But, I knew one of my nonprofit clients was having a huge donor meeting and I was dying to know the outcome!
So, I snuck a few peeks…and saw this!
Here’s the scoop…
I’ve been working with this incredible nonprofit Executive Director and her team for just under one year in a planning and advisory role. We’ve done it all - established multi-year growth plans, a high-ROI funding Model, and overarching revenue strategy.
The most fun? I’ve trained her and her very corporate team in relational fundraising. You know, methodically leading major donors to their best gift, each year.
There’s one major donor who’s come up in most meetings. He’s very mission-aligned but has only ever invested $50K annually. And it was through transactional means. A generous and great sized gift, but he has a much larger giving capacity.
The gut intuition with this guy is to ask for just a little more than last time. And to solicit around the same time he’s always given during the year.
But, what happens when you…
Slow it down? 🐢
Ask him to wait and give until you’re ready to solicit him? 🐢
Listen deeply through three other meetings that year? 🐢
Understand and remove the roadblocks as to why he hasn’t given his best gift yet? 🐢
Well, to answer that, you’d need to ask my client. Or you can read what she sent me below…
Last thing…
When you slow things down, donors gain understanding of what you REALLY need. When you learn how to lead donors through proper, relational solicitations, they'll give their BEST gift to your nonprofit. And they do that over five years sometimes also!
What a way to start the year!!!
How about you? What donors do you need to slow down with? Or, perhaps the bigger question is, do you and your nonprofit team know how to do this? If not, you’re leaving millions of donor dollars on the table.
Pretty proud of this nonprofit client's ROI on my contract! Are you next?
Whenever you’re ready, here are THREE things you can do next:
👣 Follow me on LinkedIn where I share insider info daily — the same lessons I teach my clients about attracting larger gen-ops dollars and diversifying revenue.
🍎 Grab FREE Guides + White Papers — download robust resources you can use to push against the sector’s misconceptions, equip your board, and shift your team into High-ROI fundraising.
📈 Work with me to diversify revenue & secure the gen-ops gifts you need to grow. If you’re a business-minded nonprofit CEO with big growth plans but need to make charitable revenue from investment-level donors a bigger part of your budget, you can apply to work with me here.
