Dynamite
Donor Visits:
An Interview with Joanne Singh
Part II: Making the Most of Personal Meetings
Joanne Singh has more than 20 years of experience in development
including positions at Smith College and Hollins University. She
is currently the Associate Vice President for Development at Berea
College. In addition to her managerial duties, she continues to
meet individually with several donors per month.
Berea College in Kentucky, founded by abolitionists in 1855 as
the first coeducational and interracial college in the south, serves
students of high promise and limited financial resources—80%
from Appalachia and the rest of Kentucky. Because the college does
not charge tuition, it relies on income from its endowment and
from gifts, 80% of which come from non-alumni donors, including
over 1,000 new friends each year who find the mission compelling.
The Woolbright Group spoke with Joanne about some of her most
memorable meetings with donors and the ingredients for a successful
visit.
WG: Sometimes getting a donor to agree to a meeting is
hard. Tell us about a time when persistence paid off.
JS: It came to our attention that a multi-year
donor of $500 was the owner of a successful company. He returned
none of my voice mail messages. On my next trip to his area, I
went to his office and asked to see him, admitting that I had no
appointment. Remember, this is the same strategy that he no doubt
expects from his sales staff! Soon, I was escorted to his office
and advised that he only had 15 minutes.
An hour later, he was thanking me warmly for coming, showing me
around his company, had made an open offer to Berea of his company’s
product as a gift in kind, and agreed that he might actually visit
Berea with his wife. He also doubled his contribution, although
I purposefully did not solicit an annual fund gift because I wanted
him to understand that we saw him as a major gift prospect.
Another story: I called a family foundation last fall when their
giving went from $200 to $1000. The donor told me that visits weren’t
wanted or necessary, that they give because they like the mission;
she also thought maybe her grandmother attended Berea.
When I returned to campus, our archivist found that the grandmother
had attended Berea’s Foundation School for her 12th grade
year and had married a Berea graduate and physician. It was fun
to send the family copies of the grandfather’s correspondence
from our files. A few months later, we found an article from a
Berea Alumnus magazine from the 30s that featured the grandfather,
and I sent a copy of that along with the dates of my upcoming travel
to the donor’s area. The next time I called, I got the appointment
and was able to deliver a letter and certificate from our president
welcoming the donor into Berea’s Heritage Society, a group
recognizing those who support the college because of a family connection.
WG: What gets accomplished in the ‘ideal’ donor
visit?
JS: Our Berea Fund gift officers consider the
visit a success if they:
- thank the donor for past support,
- ask for a renewed or increased commitment,
- talk about the importance of testamentary gifts to Berea,
- update the donor on what’s happening on campus and make
Berea come alive with personal or student stories, and
- listen and watch for cues that would indicate a planned giving
or major gift prospect
Those doing major gift work consider the visit a success if we:
- have moved a donor a step toward becoming more involved—emotionally
and financially –with Berea,
- can begin to determine whether it might be possible and what
will be required to move a new donor friend from an “annual
fund” relationship with Berea to an “investor” relationship,
- obtain a commitment from the donor to visit campus,
- set the stage with a purpose for additional meaningful contact
or for the next visit,
- have in some way helped the donor to experience Berea and understand
the role his or her gifts play in our mission,
- come away with a new, renewed, or upgraded Berea Fund commitment,
and
- we have let the donor know the importance to us of having Berea
in the will.
WG: Tell us about an appointment that didn’t go
as well as you hoped. How did you handle it?
JS: I recently took two students to meet a donor,
thinking that this was the final step before a large solicitation.
Every previous step had gone picture perfectly. Upon picking us
up at the airport with her foundation advisor, this donor’s
first comment was “Well, after reading your president’s
report, it seems clear that Berea does not need my money!” I
reminded her of our earlier conversations about how Berea—because
we don’t charge tuition—is dependent upon endowment
for everything and cannot begin any new programs unless they are
endowed. I also pointed out that this particular report was really
a look at the past decade of accomplishments.
The restaurant was noisy and a chatty waitress interrupted our
conversation constantly. The donor talked at length about her other
philanthropic interests including battered women and genocide victims.
I was seated too far away to engage her effectively. Instead I
just let the students tell their stories. One was a single parent
living in our Sustainable Living Ecovillage Complex with her young
son; she had escaped an abusive relationship and spoke articulately
of how Berea had changed her life in every way. The other was from
Bosnia; she spoke of the emotional damage inflicted on her family
by the war and her goals to study peace and conflict resolution.
As we said goodbye, I told the donor that I would be calling her
soon to talk seriously. She groaned, but agreed with a smile. We
always must remember that we are operating on the donor’s
timetable, not necessarily the institution’s timetable.
WG: What questions do you find most helpful to ask donors?
JS: Since we meet with large numbers of non-alumni,
I always ask “How did you first become involved with Berea?
Then, “What has caused you to stay involved with Berea?” and
then “What would it take to bring you closer to Berea?”
WG: Tell us about your favorite donor visit.
JS: The best appointment I ever had was with
a donor who had responded to direct mail with two $100 gifts and
then a $300 gift. Our research indicated that he had high capability,
so I called him. He agreed readily to meet for dinner, and when
we sat down, he said, “By now I’m guessing that you
have figured out that I have sent a couple modest gifts to Berea
out of curiosity. And I’m also guessing that you are here
to tell me that I am indeed supporting what I think I’m supporting.” Within
minutes he was asking what airport he would fly into when he came
to visit the campus.
Interested in staff training or coaching
on donor outreach? Contact The Woolbright Group at info@woolbrightgroup.com or
585.787.0325.
|
