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Know Your Donors
As
nonprofit development
professionals, we've come to know that this is a good rule for us as
well...know your donors and prospects too. Reseach is finally respected
and understood in the fundraising process; we have greater success with
our solicitations when we know more about our donors.
It's
unthinkable
now to go to a
major gift meeting without knowing as much as possible about the people
you're going to meet with. Hours are spent Googling and pouring over
written and digital information so we can be comfortable with the
potential major giver and also know what else we need to learn about
them before we make the "ask".
Recently,
I've
been preparing
two separate presentations/trainings on the differences in Generation
Y, Generation X, Baby Boomers, and the "Greatest Generation" as Tom
Brokaw dubbed the GI Generation.
It was
fascinating
to look back
at the occurrances during their "formative years" that produced the
differing and sometimes similar ways that the different generations
have of looking at information and life in general. Knowing this
information makes it easier to customize a solicitation to a more acceptable and meaningful manner that improves
the chances of getting the sought after donation.
That's
why it's
astounding to
me when I find a nonprofit that has not appended it's database with
easily acquired information such as age, marital status, income level,
etc. This is just the basics.
Recently,
I was
told by a
development director that they didn't know who to notify about the
re-implementation of the law that makes it possible to contribute up to
$100,000 directly to charity from an IRA in
2011 because they didn't
know who was 70½ or older.
And
every once in
a while I'm
stunned when an invitation is being prepared and no one at the
nonprofit knows if the invitee's spouse is alive and living with them.
Unbelievable
(but
true)! And
the information is so easy to attain.
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