Tag Archives: major gift

How to get from $250k to $40m

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You *want* to read this story about how the Wishard Foundation took a donor prospect from “If you’re coming to ask for money, I don’t even want to meet with you” to a $40 million naming gift. And when you’re done come back to this post and I’ll tell you what the prospect researchers were doing behind the scenes!

Where’s the Researcher?
Okay, if you look at the Wishard Foundation Staff page you won’t see a prospect researcher listed, but with that many gift officers and a manager of development services you’d at least expect a gift entry person, so let’s just speculate that there is someone with at least partial responsibility for research.

Getting the Edge with Donor Profiling
The president comes back from meeting a multi-millionaire who tells him to come back with a fundraising proposal and to make it “bold”. I betcha President Vargo was HOT for every scrap of information that could be found on Mr. and Mrs. Eskanazi. In my imagination I can see that prospect researcher sweating it out hour after hour, posting questions on PRSPCT-L, calling her APRA colleagues for tips and finally, hopefully, being a part of the conversation with the president about how much to ask for.

Identification – The First Step
But we all know prospect research happened MUCH earlier in the process, right? Somehow Mr. and Mrs. Eskanazi were identified and qualified for a $250,000 first gift. President Vargo’s amazing feat was to establish high affinity in one meeting. Granted, there was luck involved (they were looking for a legacy opportunity), but Vargo was ready. Mr. and Mrs. Eskanazi were identified and Vargo told a really powerful story. Pair that up with luck and presto! The Wishard Foundation received a $40 million gift. That is success!

Do you want a Professional Prospect Researcher?
If you don’t have a prospect researcher in-house, do not lament! Aspire Research Group can help you from identification all the way through to the ultimate solicitation. Check out our rating, profile and consulting services. Unfortunately, our magic wand is out for repair so we can’t manage the luck part right now, but we’re working on it.

Prospect Research Has Always been Mainstream

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When asked by Blackbaud’s NonprofitTrends blog, Jay Frost tells it straight: prospect research has always been mainstream. And it feels so good to hear someone else saying it! Every time you find a quick company bio or a phone number on your prospect you are performing prospect research.

But Jay doesn’t stop there:

The danger in not making the distinction between the type of cursory review most offices do and the kind of work performed by a professional prospect research unit is that they miss opportunities, ask for too little and, because they are spending time looking things up rather than seeing donors, they ask less often than they could. All of these things put organizations without professional level prospect research at a significant short and long term fundraising disadvantage. [emphasis added]

So what does that mean to you as a fundraiser? You have to research stuff on your own because otherwise it wouldn’t happen, right? But Jay is not advocating all or nothing. I like to use the plumber analogy.

I am a do-it-yourselfer and I am not afraid to plunge a clogged drain or change the washer on a faucet. But if I told you that I was an expert plumber because I could plunge a drain or change a washer you would definitely have to stifle a giggle. And if I attempted to repair a leaking supply pipe I could end up wasting hours of time and end up in a pool of water.

So learn some basic search techniques and find what you need for that first donor prospect visit. But as cultivation deepens and you involve leadership or begin approaching the solicitation, don’t skimp on professional prospect research. If you need help identifying prospects for your campaign, don’t wait until you are struggling to reach your goal. Use professional prospect research before you risk thousands, perhaps millions, in gifts.

Aspire Research Group sells a fabulous how-to tool, Search Tips for Fundraisers, that has been helping fundraisers use their time effectively. At Aspire Research Group we recognize the fundraiser’s reality and craft solutions that empower you to effectively close on your major gifts. Check us out sometime at www.AspireResearchGroup.com.

How to Find Giving History

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A great way to qualify a prospect and gain insight on a donor is to learn about the person’s giving history with other organizations. This demonstrates philanthropic inclination and aids in determining how much to ask for. But where do you find this lucrative information?

The Vendors
There are vendors who crawl through the web and/or scan and index printed donor recognition reports (NOZA, DonorSearch, iWave, WealthEngine). You type in the name and maybe some other criteria, and the software lists all the gifts found that match that name as a donor.

Do it Yourself
You can do the same thing using search engines, but it can be a bit hairy if your prospect has a very common name. And you won’t find old listings that have been removed from the internet. Using Google, click on the Advanced Search link found somewhere near the search box. This gives you a form to complete. Fill in the blanks under Find web pages that have… as needed. Try different combinations of the prospect name, including maiden and nicknames. But the real magic happens under the Need More Tools? options.

Search within a site or domain
You have a few ways to play with the Search within a site or domain option. You can choose just “.edu” or “.org” or you might choose the domain of an organization you know your prospect has an affinity with such as “afpsuncoast.org”. Once you start to fool around with these options you will find what you want much more quickly.

What if I don’t find any giving?
Just because a vendor or your own searches do not turn up any record of giving does NOT mean your prospect does not make gifts. Many organizations never publish the names of their donors. Does your organization publish donor lists? If you do not find any giving, and even if you do, you have a few options still available to you to determine philanthropic inclination.

  1. Does the person volunteer, serve as board member or is involved in some other way with charitable organizations? (Don’t forget church membership here.) People who are involved are more likely to give.
  2. Does the person attend lots of charity benefits and events? Sometimes an area has a culture of charity events and donors are not really asked for other gifts.
  3. Check for Federal Election Campaign Contributions (www.opensecrets.org) because these donations are correlated positively with charitable giving.
  4. If you know where she went to school, search that domain for your prospect’s name. Many schools publish every alumni donor, regardless of gift size.

Should I Do it Myself?
If you are a fundraiser, using these tools can give you a quick information edge as you qualify and cultivate your donor prospects. But you will find that if you get carried away trying to do all your own donor research two things are likely to happen:

  1. You will spend less time cultivating, asking and stewarding your gifts, which results in fewer gifts; and
  2. You will be much more likely to ask for smaller gifts than you might if you were better informed about your prospect.

Do I think you should know some basic prospect research techniques? You betcha! It’s a life skill these days. Just make sure you spend most of your time with your donors, not behind your computer screen.
(Re-printed from the July 2011 e-news: Information Seeking)

Tips and Trends from Bob Carter

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I am on an airplane trolling through the little notebook that I take everywhere and found my notes from Bob Carter’s talk at the APRA Florida conference. I’m realizing just how much of what he told us is showing up in the stories of the people I have been researching lately. I have to wonder if others of you are seeing these up close and personal too.

Bob Carter of previous Ketchum fame, has his own shop now, Of Philanthropy, and it is a fitting name for what he has to say. He is an engaging speaker with a global outlook. Best of all, he makes good practical sense.

The Best Solution
Carter mentioned that philanthropists are trending towards being married to the solution instead of the institution. I’ve heard this spoken of as a generational trend as well and it’s probably both, but I have written up a few donor profiles recently that demonstrate this emphatically. While the largest gifts go to the charity the donor is closest to and trusts the most to achieve the mission, giving is not guaranteed and is quickly shared with innovating organizations. Are you communicating your effectiveness at  implementing the solution?

Direct Involvement
Many speakers, not just Carter, have been talking about donors being more involved for a while now, but it has only been recently that I have seen it firsthand as so intrinsic to some donors’ giving. I heard Carla Harris speak at the AFP Florida Caucus’ Planet Philanthropy conference and she donates the proceeds of all of her gospel albums. Her occupation is Wall Street banker!

And more than usual I have been writing up donor profiles demonstrating this kind of it’s-a-way-of-life giving. I am also seeing more and more donors who don’t just give, they serve in four or five or even more volunteer capacities at the same organization!

Leveraging
Carter told the APRA Florida researchers that for every major gift there is no excuse for not getting three or four more from that donor’s network. Nothing new there, but it gave me a good kick-in-the-butt about priming my clients with possibilities when I send them a profile in preparation for solicitation. Depending on the client and the relationship I can do more than name-drop in my profiles, I can be part of the ongoing conversation and strategy.

Jennifer Kehoe of the University of Central Florida shared a great story at the APRA Florida conference about how her research department was able to add value to a major gift donor’s cultivation *throughout* and without which a gift would have been unlikely. Prospect researchers are fundraisers too – we want the big “YES” just as much as the fundraiser!

Collaborating
How do you get in with the philanthropic in-crowd in your community? Carter suggests a collaboration. The donors want it and I have watched one of my clients use a collaborative project to successfully promote the organization’s commitment and excellence to the in-crowd of philanthropists in her community. Leveraging the collaboration, donor research and excellent cultivation, she has brought her organization’s fundraising from barely there to million dollar gifts.

Provocative Ideas
But maybe the comment I liked most was when Carter talked about an organization that invited its best donors to a fundraising training. I am no longer surprised when board members show up for my Introduction to Prospect Research trainings. When board members and major donors become educated about fundraising it only makes them more effective givers. I have to wonder what other unusual cultivation activities fundraisers have begun using!

What have you been doing and seeing lately?

Dating Donors, Data Mining & Donor Profiles -oh my!

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Roxie Jerde, President & CEO, Community Foundation of Sarasota County

by Jen Filla.

I had the pleasure of hearing Roxie Jerde speak at the AFP SW FL luncheon on May 10, 2011. She is the new president and CEO of the Community Foundation of Sarasota County, having previously been with the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation. She packed a lot of information into her 20-minute slot. Thank you Roxie!

First, as the new person on the block, she made an interesting comment. She told us that she will not accept offers to meet for coffee or lunch. Instead she invited herself into our organizations. That really resonated with me. Since moving to Florida I have spent a lot of time getting to know the organizations operating in my area and that has meant of lot of driving and a lot of tours. For someone who works on billable hours this is an expensive investment! But I have never left a visit with an organization and felt it was a waste of time. There is so much culture, pride, and action packed into the buildings and places where fundraisers realize their missions.

Roxie also reviewed the Giving USA statistics, which reflected giving in 2009 (2010 is due out in June). Here’s a breakdown of giving in the U.S.

  • Individuals -75%
  • Foundations -13%
  • Bequests – 8%
  • Corporations -4%

Ho, hum, yawn, we’ve all seen this before. BUT have you actually gotten the statistics out of your own donor database? This kind of data mining yields key information you *must* know to create an intelligent fundraising strategy. Does somewhere around 75% of your funding come from individuals? If not, why? Every organization is different, so it might not make sense for your percentages to match the country’s giving overall, but if you differ significantly you’ll want to investigate whether you do indeed have the best strategy for your organization.

Roxie Jerde

Peppered throughout her presentation Roxie referred to the donor gift cycle as dating. Yes, most of us have heard this before too, but Roxie took it to a new level. In a previous position she and her staff used the dating terminology instead of the usual fundraising terms. It was endearing and funny to hear her talk about how blind dates can work too (prospecting), what it’s like to be newly married and still in the honeymoon stage (a major gift) and then, down the road, planning for your golden years (planned giving). Words are powerful tools and using dating words can create a much needed shift in how we interact with our donors.

Near the end of her presentation Roxie talked a little bit about asking for a major gift. She mentioned the uncertainty around how much to ask for and the drawbacks of asking for too much or too little. Being as passionate as I am about using prospect research to inform cultivation and solicitation it was all I could do to sit quietly. Profiles! DONOR PROFILES! I wanted to shout.

Donor profiles provide an awe inspiring amount of information to aid in determining an ask amount. Time and again fundraisers have told me how much more confidence they have asking for the gift when they can base it on known assets *and* their gut feelings. Development shops using prospect research, including donor profiles, ask for and receive larger gifts.

Too many human services and other similar organizations are not receiving their share of million dollar gifts and it is not because they don’t attract million dollar donors. It is because they don’t ask for million dollar gifts from their very own donors who are capable of giving them.

If you want to find out how Aspire Research Group can help you find your million dollar donors, just ask us! Call 727-231-0516, email jen at aspireresearchgroup.com or visit our website for more information, www.aspireresearchgroup.com

Cooking up Planned Giving with Julia Child

Discussion, Major Gift Teams, , , , , ,

by Kate Rapoport.

I met Julia Child when I was a senior at Smith College. It was the first annual Julia Child Day at Smith, an event designed to honor Ms. Child and the revolution she had brought to the way Americans think about food. Julia Child was a Smithie herself, having graduated in 1934 with a degree in history. Even in her old age, she was a force to be reckoned with, her strong voice carrying as she talked to her many admirers. She had had an affection for Smith in the many years after graduation and had decided in her later years to include the college in her planned giving.

In Nonprofit Essentials: Major Gifts, Julia Ingraham Walker outlines the different types of planned gifts. These include gifts of marketable securities, donated art or other real property, charitable lead trusts which provide a stream of income over a period of years to the non-profit and then revert back to the donor at the end of the agreed upon time, and real estate that is gifted to the non-profit which the non-profit then sells.

Ms. Child chose the planned giving option of donating her house to Smith College. In 1990, she entered into an agreement with Smith, formally donating her house to the college, but keeping the right to live in it for her lifetime. She had lived in her home since 1956 and had filmed one of her famous cooking shows in the kitchen. The kitchen itself Child left to the Smithsonian, giving Smith the right to sell the house after her death.

In 2002, Ms. Child decided to move back to California, her childhood home. She accelerated her gift, giving her home in Massachusetts to Smith while she was still living. The proceeds of the sale of her home supported the construction of Smith’s Campus Center. Ms. Child died on August 12, 2004. An etching on a window of the Campus Center Café honors her generosity to Smith. Of the many ways to honor a donor, I think that that was a fitting tribute to Julia Child, who is rumored to have cooked for her friends and classmates while at Smith. There has also been a Julia Child Day every fall since 2003, continuing to honor the impact she made on Smith and the world.

The choice that Ms. Child made to give Smith College her house allowed her to make a significant gift to an institution that she strongly believed in supporting, while allowing her to live in her home until she made the choice to go home to California. That is the beauty of a planned gift. It gives a donor the chance to support a non-profit organization with a major gift, while still allowing her to use her resources during her lifetime.

Yes! You Can Still Raise Major Gifts Without a Wealth Screening

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I sat next to Heidi Shimberg, VP of Development and Marketing for the Glazer Children’s Museum, at the Suncoast Chapter meeting of the Association of Fundraising Professionals in March. She told me an amazing story. In September of last year the Glazer Children’s Museum held its grand opening. Only six months later, they have a whopping 6,000 members!

Her fundraising dilemma? To do a wealth screening on 6,000 people would put an unhealthy bulge in the budget. “So why not filter your list and send a smaller number of records to be screened?” I suggested to Heidi. She had thought of that, but when you are brand spanking new, what do you filter by? She felt that if she filtered by wealthy zip codes or addresses, she might miss some “hidden” prospects. It troubled her.

As I was driving my cat to the veterinarian the next morning, my conversation with Heidi was on my mind. Then the light bulb went off. Heidi might not need a prospect researcher on staff, but she sure needed a prospect research strategy. She was averaging 1,000 members a month!

When there are no big dollars in your budget how do you get smart – and still get big dollars in gifts?

Depending on the amount of pressure to raise funds, Heidi has some fun choices.  She could go for the wealth screening and decide on a fundraising strategy for cultivating people with known wealth – maybe joining a special society as a first step and/or one-on-one meetings. Armed with the wealth screening she knows exactly who can give and won’t waste any time approaching members who can’t give.

Or she could swing wider and filter her list by addresses, making a first contact without any real wealth information. Cultivating more people in small groups instead of one-on-one would allow her to find “hidden” donors in her community. Ask the Benevon people about that one. It works.

I can hear you calling me to account. “But Jen, you have not addressed Heidi’s concern about missing the hidden prospects in her member list!” Well here’s the answer. Without a giving history to the Glazer Children’s Museum or any other history (like event attendance etc), Heidi cannot know a crucial piece of information – affinity, or how close someone feels to the museum. It’s just too new. You can’t screen for that on a newborn list. What she can do is methodically approach prospects while developing her entire member list.

Going from “A” to “Z” contacting 6,000 members is foolish. Heidi knows this. Picking 1,000 and working them in small groups will have Heidi training another gift officer next year when her well-stewarded member list, which has also been solicited for unrestricted operating dollars, gets filtered again for the next 1,000. And since she started with her best prospects, she can now feel better about having a trainee cultivating the “B” list. By year five there isn’t likely to be a “hidden” prospect, especially because now there will be money in the budget for a wealth screening on a well-kept donor/member database!

If we could all start out with the very best prospect research tools, so much more could happen. But that’s not reality and it doesn’t have to stop a fundraiser like Heidi from exceeding her major gift fundraising goals.

Aspire Research Group wants to see you succeed. If that means a one or two-hour consult to brainstorm for a mean-and-lean strategy, we’re all about it. Call us today! (727) 231-0516 or email jen at aspireresearchgroup.com.

The Friends of a $55 million Donor

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by Jakki Aviles

David Alan Tepper, founder of Appaloosa Management L.P., has recently announced that, through the David Tepper Charitable Foundation, he will be making a $3 million gift to Feeding America, one of the nation’s largest organizations that fight hunger.

Tepper’s philanthropy did not start with hunger-relief organizations. A gift he is probably best known for is his record $55 million gift to Carnegie Mellon’s business school. Tepper attended the school to receive his MBA, but certainly did not come up with the idea for the gift completely on his own. He was prompted by a friend and former professor, Kenneth Dunn, to donate. Tepper was convinced, but was also driven by naming capabilities– the school is now named the David A. Tepper School of Business.

Friends, however, seem to be the main source of motivation behind Tepper’s generous gifts. According to the Clark-Garwood Patch, Tepper was introduced to the hunger-relief area of philanthropy by a friend, Kathleen DiChiara, who is the founder and president of the Community FoodBank of New Jersey. She asked Tepper for his help in a campaign and he, in turn, got together $2 million between himself and others in his company.

According to an article in PR Newswire, the FoodBank is part of a larger network: Feeding America. Through being introduced to the hunger movement in his home state by Ms. DiChiara, Tepper was made aware of a larger cause that was in need of gifts. Feeding America tapped into a valuable source in Mr. Tepper. He is motivated by the causes his friends encourage, and was already donating to Feeding America’s hunger movement on the local level.

Perhaps the most interesting and valuable aspect of a donor like Tepper is his enormous wealth. The David Tepper Charitable Foundation first became interested in hunger in 2006. In a rather short amount of time, the Foundation moved from a local charity to donations to the national charity. As Tepper’s giving progression has shown, he is capable of giving to all sorts of hunger charities and does not need to be dedicated to just one. His wealth allows him to give on a level that many only dream about.

Tepper’s wealth and wide-range of interests should be a major clue-in for fundraisers looking for donors. As he has demonstrated, his engagement in charities like Feeding America is relatively new, and highly influenced by a friend dedicated to the project. As a fundraiser you need to be careful not to overlook the social networks within your reach. Although Tepper may not have come up with the idea to give to hunger based on his own inner passion for the cause, he is still giving– in large amounts. Who’s to say he could not be influenced to put his money into another great cause?

Are there any David Teppers lurking in your donors’ social sphere? Would you know if there were? Predictive modeling, wealth screenings and donor ratings all focus on the names you have in your database. The social reach of your board members and existing major gift donors might not reveal a David Tepper.

At Aspire Research Group we have helped organizations use prospect research to find their David Tepper in two ways:
(1)  Researching an individual identified as wealthy and/or interested in the mission – Sometimes a fundraiser will read about a David Tepper in their community (you are reading local and philanthropy news sources, right?!) Through in-depth research, Aspire Research Group focuses on business, volunteering, giving and social relationships. Using this information the fundraiser can begin to connect the dots back to her organization, with Aspire Research Group providing quick follow-up answers as part of the profile service.

(2) Exploring the relationships of someone known to the organization – Especially with major gift donors, a fundraiser will come to Aspire Research Group looking to find ways to leverage the donor’s business and social spheres of influence. Being informed before sitting down with the donor helps to keep the meeting focused and productive.

If you want Aspire Research Group to help you find your very own David Tepper, give us a call at 800-494-4132 or email jen at aspireresearchgroup dot com.

Gift acceptance: Boldly look a gift horse in the mouth!

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Prospect research is all about finding assets and drooling over the gift possibilities, but at today’s AFP Suncoast chapter meeting, I heard all about the challenges of accepting some of those non-traditional assets as gifts. Two accountants from Gregory Sharer & Stuart, Catherine Mary Sullivan and Amy Mierzejewski told us to be prepared to boldly look the gift horse in the mouth!

Taxes and audits are not easy lunch conversation, but Catherine and Amy walked us through the important parts of a gift acceptance policy and why we should have one. Talking to donor prospects is always a delicate dance and having a gift acceptance policy gives you:

*  A graceful way to let the prospect know you’ll be inspecting the opportunity with counsel and possibly decline the gift
*  Talk about who needs to pay for the costs incurred by accepting the gift, such as appraisals and valuations
*  And lets the prospect know your organization is a good steward of its mission by accepting only the gifts it is capable of using

As part of the conversation, Catherine and Amy touched upon the many issues that arise with gifts like gold coins, real estate, gift annuities and more. And of course, it was quite clear that they are accountants and we are fundraisers – which is to say that if I ever had to consider accepting an unusual gift, I would definitely call Gregory Sharer & Stuart for their expertise and NOT try to do it myself!

Prospect research is the same way. If you just need preliminary information to make a first visit with a prospect, Google away. But if you are going to ask for big-hairy-scary-gift, you need to call on someone like Aspire Research Group to provide you with a donor prospect profile that will make sure you walk away with the major gift that rewards your organization *and* respects the donor.

Do you need a donor prospect profile? Contact Aspire Research Group today.

A Call to Donors Who Can Appreciate the Mission

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“The worst thing for artists is not to have the money available to carry out the ideas they have in their heads,” says Mark Bradford, explaining the thought that went into his $100,000 donation to create the Artists2Artists Fund.

Bradford would know. An article in the Wall Street Journal describes him as once being a financially struggling artist himself; one who was greatly helped by the award of a $50,000 fellowship grant from nonprofit organization United States Artists (USA). It’s important to him now to make available monetary grants for other artists who are in the same spot he once was.

An artist born and raised in Los Angeles with two degrees from California Institute of the Arts according to art21, Bradford is the lead donor to the Artists2Artists Fund of USA, which is designed in an innovative way as to best use social networking for community fundraising.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the  Artists2Artists Fund will be financed by established artists, and will match funds received through USA Projects, which is a social-network fundraising website. Artists can create their own pages on the website, where their works and ideas for future works will be displayed. People donate money for a specific artist to USA, which matches their gift. Of the funds raised, 81% goes to the artist and the other 19% covers program and website expenses.

So how does a nonprofit come by a donor as valuable as Mark Bradford? Look to his story. He is someone who appreciates the value of USA’s mission because his success, at least in part, grew from it. Bradford was the recipient of aid, and is now the leading donor to USA’s budding project. And his donation goes beyond just money– along with the $100,000 major gift he provided, he is also helping USA blaze a new trail for arts philanthropy by starting up a social-network fundraising website and encouraging successful artists to give back.

It is interesting that no gift from Mark Bradley could be found to the California Institute of the Arts where he received two degrees. One of Mr. Bradley’s primary motivations to give to USA was giving back. Why didn’t he want to give back to his alma mater? Did the Institute ask? Do they just not publicly recognize their alumni gifts? After a visit to their website I couldn’t even find a place to make a gift. From appearances, it would seem that the Institute missed a golden opportunity with Mark Bradley.

Mr. Bradley’s primary giving motivation appears to be to give back, but he also gave back in a way that mirrors his art and expressed values. In his art he re-purposes paper, twine and other materials he finds out in the world. He makes art possible from various discarded materials. The Artists2Artists Fund takes small gifts from many people and pulls them together to create a matching grant to an artist. Technology makes it possible to turn small gifts into a real opportunity for a struggling artist.

USA recognized that one of its previous aid recipients was now a successful artist. They took the time to listen to his interests and created a gift opportunity that matched Mark Bradley’s needs as well as their mission. Do you have a way to identify those who receive your services and move on to financial and other success? Once you identify the person, do you have a way to find out how to best connect?

Aspire Research Group helps organizations across the country find better ways to connect with donors. By preparing comprehensive, in-depth profiles on donor prospects we have helped clients just like USA learn enough about their prospects to reach out in a meaningful way by identifying board memberships, peers who could solicit, past giving history, wealth and so much more. You can bet that USA did their research before asking Mark Bradley for a gift. Have you done yours?

To learn more about donor prospect profiles, visit www.AspireResearchGroup.com or call (800) 494.4132.