(Major Gifts #4) How to Focus on the Right Major Gift Prospects, Not the Wrong Ones

Have you ever found that it’s easy to be distracted when you are working on major gifts?  Certainly, pursuing the wrong donor prospects can eat up a lot of time. 

How do you know you’re spending time on the right people, and not the wrong ones? How do you know that you’re not wasting time and energy? 

There are too many prospects who look so promising, but they never, ever respond. 

It’s a tough call, but the data in your prospect management system can keep you from wasting time on the wrong donors. Your data can forecast which donors are most likely to give now – your immediate major gift prospects. 

We can help you understand this data and identify these prospects, you don’t have to do it alone! Find out how our Major Gifts Intensive can help you work with the donors who really want to give, so you can raise money quickly.

Your Prospect Management System helps you locate your most passionate donors who also have high wealth

This is every fundraiser’s burning question. You can start by tracking their actual giving behavior. Your database can easily tell you: 

• Is this donor current or lapsed?
• How many years have they been giving?
• How much have they given?
• How frequently do they give?

All these tell us just how passionate any particular donor is about your organization and its mission. 

Recency, Frequency, and Monetary (RFM) scores point you to the right donors. 

Tracking the RFM scores (Recency, Frequency, and Monetary) of your donors tells you how much your donor likes your organization. It can tell you how devoted and responsive they are. 

Combine the RFM with wealth screening data and presto: you have a solid major gift prospect list. And those donors who are in the top quartile are your special people – you’ll want to look at them closely. 

We recommend that you start looking at this list name by name. You can reshuffle the priority ranking based on the status of your current relationship with them, and how much you do or don’t know about their capacity to give major gifts.

Bottom Line on Prospect Management Systems:

Successful major gift fundraising takes a structured, organized approach to prospect discovery. 

Raising money from major donors is not really rocket science, but it does take a very carefully organized structure. Without this structure, you can’t effectively manage a portfolio of highly engaged donors.

Your prospect management system will help you identify who needs attention and when, and who is most likely to give it at any point in time. 

In our four-month Major Gifts Intensive coaching and training program, you will set up and refine your prospect management system.

You can have our help to set up your infrastructure, your systems, and a major gifts methodology designed for your organization that will lead you to sustainable success. 

You’ll be able to enjoy many major and transformational gifts, not just this year, but many years to come – if you are well organized. 

We are here to support you. Check out the 2023 Major Gifts Intensive here. If you’re interested, we’ll hop on zoom and see if this program is a good fit for you and your team. Applications close on February 15th, so let us know now if you are interested.