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by Robert F. Sharpe, Jr.
 Recently
I was reviewing the conference program for a national convention of development
executives. There were at least five sessions related in some way to what the
presenters referred to as “making the ask.” The presenters promised
information on subjects such as preparing for the “ask,” timing the
“ask,” deciding who should make the “ask,” dealing with objections after
making the “ask,” and many other related topics.
There
is no shortage of valuable information on “making the ask.” In today’s
environment, however, I believe more time should be devoted to “making the
thank.”
I
have noticed that whenever professional vocabulary begins to transform verbs
into nouns and/or nouns into verbs, the subject at hand may deserve closer
scrutiny. I worry when I hear that someone is preparing for an “ask” in the
hopes that a donor will “gift” an asset, especially when little or no
consideration is given to making the “thank” if the solicitation should
prove successful. While I am not recommending that “making a thank” become
part of our working vocabulary, I believe many programs could benefit from
revisiting the way they thank donors for their gifts.
I
am reminded of one institution that has implemented programs where donors of
significant amounts are thanked by a number of individuals, including the CEO,
Board Chair, Vice President for Development, the development officer assigned to
the donor, the staff executive in charge of the program to be benefited, and the
researcher, professor, counselor, or other person whose work would actually be
funded by the gift. It is obviously impossible to thank all donors in this way,
especially for an organization that receives hundreds, thousands, or even
millions of gifts each year. In some cases, the time and effort spent thanking
the donor could actually consume more resources than the amount provided by the
gift.
Unfortunately,
some programs go to the other extreme and fail to thank many donors at all.
Their reasoning is that it would not be prudent to spend $2 to thank a donor for
a $10 gift—thereby expending 20% of the donor’s gift in the acknowledgment
process. As valid as this argument seems to be, I have observed that
organizations that make attempts to thank as many donors as possible tend to
raise more funds in the aggregate at lower overall costs than those that do not.
For
example, one client that enjoys a large amount of bequest income each year
discovered that 25% of bequest donors had made average gifts of less than $10
during their lifetimes. Further study revealed that the average size of bequests
from those persons was no less than the overall average.
Somewhere
between thanking donors six or seven times for one gift and not thanking donors
for smaller gifts at all, there must be a happy medium. Most nonprofits have
addressed the issue of thanking the majority of donors in some manner. Few fail
to at least thank donors of substantial amounts.
In
today’s world, when more nonprofits than ever are asking donors to give from
assets and incomes that may be increasingly uncertain, it may be a good time to
re-examine the ways in which we thank donors, especially where the largest and
the smallest gifts are concerned.
Ten
years ago, a friend who had just assumed responsibility for all fund raising for
a smaller organization called me and said that she was under a good deal of
pressure to show increases in funding. She was newly responsible for a program
that she said was “a mess,” and she didn’t know where to start.
The
first step I recommended was to obtain a list of the 500 largest gifts her
institution had received the previous year and determine the dollar amount of
the smallest of these gifts. I suggested she set aside an average of 30 minutes
each day to make two phone calls to donors who gave at or above that amount. To
facilitate her calls, she requested that every new gift above that amount be
immediately brought to her attention, including a photocopy of the check, if
applicable.
In
250 working days she was able to call and thank 500 donors. She reported the
conversations were for the most part easy and pleasant. After thanking the
donors for their gifts, she explained she was new to the organization and would
like to learn why they decided to offer their support. She then sought their
advice concerning ways she might generate interest among other potential donors.
With
the largest gifts, she instructed that the check be held until she could at
least attempt to thank the donor. When she could reach those donors, she let
them know that she had not yet cashed their check. She took this opportunity to
explain that they might save more in taxes by making their gift in a form other
than cash. While most still chose to make their gift by check, they did not soon
forget the conversation.
This
work, along with other diligent efforts, paid off. Funding to the organization
grew 25% the first year and doubled in three years. The number of gifts of
securities dramatically increased. She discovered excellent volunteers, some of
whom eventually became board members, and she made many friends in her
community.
Her
development staff now numbers ten. The percentage cost of fund raising is much
lower than when she began. A $30 million capital campaign is nearing a
successful completion, and a full-time planned giving officer is on board to
help many of the organization’s friends make their gifts more effectively. Ten
years ago there were four donors giving more than $1,000; today there are over
400. Needless to say, the development officer is still there, having survived
two CEOs, and she still enjoys her role immensely.
How
did this happen? There are many reasons, but this person would tell anyone it
started with a frightened young development officer in a one-person shop
thanking donors.
Ironically,
the positive reinforcement and energy that comes from first learning to “make
the thank” can provide the courage and confidence required to “make the
ask.” What better way to start a day than a conversation with someone who has
recently made the decision to make a large gift to your institution? While it is
of course important to find as many new donors as possible and to learn to
effectively “make the ask,” I can still think of no better advice for a new
development officer struggling to succeed than to start by thanking those
persons who have already chosen to make the cause one of their priorities.
It
can be equally important to make sure that donors of smaller amounts are
appropriately thanked. If nothing else, this can be done as part of the
solicitation of funds. Donors can be told in a tasteful way that the
organization would like to devote its funds to the advancement of its mission,
and for that reason they will not be receiving an extensive acknowledgment
package. Fundraisers may still want to write or call long-term donors or donors
of relatively large amounts.
Computer-generated
thank-you notes and receipts also have a place in working with large numbers of
donors of smaller amounts. The best programs, however, make major distinctions
when working with the longest-term donors of any amount.
In
some cases, having volunteers make thank-you calls may minimize costs. In fact,
some of the donors initially called to acknowledge larger amounts may agree to
help thank other donors. Even if long distance phone calls are involved, the
typical call can be made for no more than the cost of a first-class stamp.
It
is important to remember to treat all donors with the respect they deserve.
Thanking a 25-yearlong donor who is only able to give $1 in the same manner you
thank a $10,000 donor may yield tremendous benefits when that person decides how
to distribute her $150,000 estate. It is not uncommon for such persons,
especially the childless, to leave the entire amount to one or more charities. A
personal letter from the CEO thanking such donors for their 25-year commitment
or a phone call from a volunteer will likely further strengthen their commitment
to your institution. Imagine the donor’s thoughts regarding that organization
when an attorney asks him or her about charitable priorities. Such donors may
also decide that a gift annuity or other life income gift might help them be
able to give even more during their lifetime.
A
review of the gift history of the donors who left bequests and/or entered into
gift annuities with your organization last year will in many cases make
believers out of those who doubt the wisdom of carefully thanking long-term,
older donors of small amounts.
Obviously
each organization must develop “thank you” programs that are suited to its
unique circumstances. If there is one thing I have learned, however, from over
25 years of experience as a development officer, as attorney for donors, as
attorney for institutions, as a board member, as a consultant, and last but not
least, as a donor, it is that the organizations that shine are the ones that do
at least two things well: They devote as much or more energy to retaining donors
as acquiring new ones, and they invest as much time and other resources in
making the “thank” as they do in making the “ask.”
This
article is excerpted from Session I of Major Gift Planning I. Visit www.sharpenet.com/seminars
for
information about upcoming offerings of this and other Sharpe seminars.
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