Pivoting in 2020: Flip the Focus onto Donors

Identify, Inform, Involve, Invest, and Impact. These five simple words have guided many a fundraiser.

Typically when talking about impact we focus on telling donors stories about the impact of a gift on those who benefit. Three things prompt me to suggest that you pivot or flip the focus onto donors:

1. Ron Schiller’s book Belief and Confidence (Ron is with Aspen Leadership Group).

2. Kathleen Loehr’s book Gender Matters: A Guide to Growing Women’s Philanthropy.

3. Brian Saber’s (Asking Matters) recent Facebook and email posts about visiting with donors.

What do these seemingly disparate items have in common? They speak to a reality:

Fundraisers impact the lives of donors.

If you have seen Rent or heard the finale Seasons of Love you know that we all have the same number of minutes in a year 525,600.

Many of those minutes are taken up by the day-to-day – working, sleeping, and eating. Other minutes pass by while we are working full time, taking care of children, attending to an elderly parent, or planning a memorial service for a family member. In most cases, minutes fly by at a fast clip!

When you meet with a donor you are using up their minutes! This time is precious because it can’t be reclaimed – that time is a gift.

As you prepare to connect with donors do you:

1. Consider the sort of impact that the donor hopes to have?
2. Ask the donor, as Ron suggests in his book, what THEY hope to see transpire as a result of making a gift?
3. Write appeals from the perspective of a donor, considering what they would like their resources to accomplish for those you serve? For more on this visit Tom Ahern’s site.

Today I invite you to flip the focus and remember that She is Not Your Donor! If you can’t answer the above questions schedule some visits.

1. Let the donor know that you are not coming to ask for a gift but to say thank you for their support.

2. Indicate that you hope to learn why the donor chooses to support your nonprofit.

3. Ask what they hope to see transpire as a result of their current or a future gift.

Finally, thank the donor for giving of her time because it is one of the most precious gifts of all.

How have you flipped the focus onto the donor? What was the result? I hope to hear from you because we can all learn from one another.