Are you ready to RUMBLE!?!?! (2 of 2)
⚒️Julie and I welcome your prayers as we continue to try and sell our home of 21 years! Operation "Land the Airplane" has now become Operation "Holding Pattern" while we wait out the market... Thanks for all of your well wishes and encouragement during this summer of disruption and excitement. I'll continue to be on pause for audio recordings for the forseeable future.👷
In the meantime, you can listen to previous recordings by visiting The Breakthru Podcast
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This post is in honor of my friend and mentor, Phill Butler.
March of 1996 was the start of my career as a major gift fundraiser with Interdev, a boutique, strategic mission agency led by Phill Butler. Interdev’s highly efficient and leveraged mission was to partner with ‘great commission’ organizations and accelerate the potential of reaching more people with the gospel of Jesus.
My first day on the job I learned that Phill had arranged for me to be mentored and coached by Norm Edwards, a veteran major gift fundraiser. That relationship lasted for close to 2 years and proved invaluable in my professional formation. I also was able, within 1 month of joining Interdev, to join Phill and some of our high networth donors on a vision trip to the Middle East. Looking back on this experience I realize that Phill intentionally invested thousands of dollars to set me up for success in my new career. Over the next six years I remained on a steep learning curve as my skill and knowledge grew. It was a privilege to share in the work of increasing our reach to 92 operating partnerships, involving over 3,000 organizations around the world.
Reflecting on my time at Interdev, I am convinced there is no substitution for ‘external readiness’ in order to accomplish an organization’s mission.
- Phill made sure Interdev was ready to adequately support a major gift fundraiser.
- Because of strategic training and equipping, I surpassed the average ‘16 month’ stay as a major gift fundraiser for one organization.
- Through Phill Butler’s vision and Interdev’s financial investment in ‘external readiness’, I have sustained a career in the world of major gift fundraising for more than 30 highly satisfying years.
How does External Readiness impact an organization? In a capital campaign, it means you will conduct interviews with your largest givers and best prospects to determine their proclivity to participate in the campaign. Like a good attorney, your performance is determined through discovery prior to the trial so you are fully prepared to respond when questions arise.
Unfortunately, many nonprofit organizations hire a major gift fundraiser without conducting external readiness. Their hope is that the energy and charisma of a new hire will attract new dollars.
External readiness means:
✍️Strong and Inspirational Messaging of the Vision and Mission😯
Your messaging must have people sitting on the edge of their seats, asking to know more, beginning with the people recruited to raise major gifts. Their excitement and passion to support the mission and vision has to be contagious.
Phill's vision and mission for Interdev was clear, inspiring, and motivating, giving me confidence to build trust with active and prospective major givers.
🤝Strong existing network of potential givers and connectors🧑🤝🧑
If you are hoping that your hire will bring a new portfolio of major givers, you will almost certainly be disappointed. Plan ahead to assess the current network of supporters, including those who have significant influence and connections.
Phill was incredibly open handed in introducing me to Interdev’s top donors and influencers. His preparation allowed me to quickly build a pipeline of potential major givers for Interdev. I was able to develop a system for networking and connecting. Do you have "activated" connectors who can facilitate new relationships? (Check out this Connecting Worksheet for help).
❤️Ready to build sustainable relationships with major givers🛫
Major gift fundraising is highly relational. It requires understanding the personal stories, passions, and motivations of givers. This means your new hire will need a generous travel budget in order to spend time face to face with givers and prospects. It means they will lead vision trips. It means playing with people, and perhaps going on a ski trip to Vail or fly fishing in Montana.
Phill reserved a substantial budget for travel, vision trips, and technology. He understood the importance of investing in face to face interaction with major givers and prospects. He believed in financing opportunities to play and splurge on beautiful feasts of blessing.
🧾Specific goals and metrics which define the fundraiser's success🏁
Clear, measurable goals and success metrics must be established. This includes fundraising targets, the number of new major givers to be identified, and the level of engagement with existing supporters. These benchmarks are vital in evaluating performance and aligning team efforts with the organization's overall strategy.
Phill expected my first two years to be focused on activity rather than financial results. He understood the need for developing our strategy before realizing a return on investment. It paid off. By the end of my third year I was personally responsible for bringing in over $500,000 of new giving (for an annual budget of less than $3 million).
Phill passed away in April 2023. I’m so grateful that we were able to meaningfully reconnect before he died. We fondly shared our memories of working together. I believe he took sacred pride in the success of my career.
I am praying today especially for those of you looking to hire a major gift fundraiser… now that you’re ready to RUMBLE!!
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If you haven't taken advantage of some of the resources I've created to help major gift fundraisers, take a look now! Initial calls with me are free and "no strings attached". Sometimes folks feel like they need to wait and not 'bother' me until they have a pressing issue. No need for that...just make the call. 🕺
Here's where you can access a lot of content for free:
* Follow me on LinkedIn - You'll get short pro-tips and reflections on major gift fundraising every day between 5-7am pacific.
* Breakthru Newsletter - As you've seen here, these are longer weekly posts (audio and written) sent directly to your email.
* Breakthru Blog - the newsletter from the previous week gets posted here each week for everyone (so email subscribers get it a week early).
* Breakthru Podcast - Interviews with high net worth givers about how we as fundraisers can get better at inviting them to the party. And audio readings of Breakthru Blog posts.
Before getting to the PAID stuff:
My opinion is that no small ministry with a tight budget should be spending more than $3-5k (total) for major gift coaching/consulting. Most of you will be good-to-go spending far less than that. This was a major issue for me when I was a frontline fundraiser - major gift consultants were an expensive 'black-box-of-confusion' for me. That stops now.
Here's the PAID stuff:
* Online Catalyst Course - This is a full brain dump of my 28+ years of experience - good, bad, ugly. It's built around the fundamentals, the sacredness, and the fun, of major gift fundraising. It's infused with Henri Nouwen reflections. Many people can take this course and they will be 'cooking-with-gas' and not need any additional coaching from me on the core systems. I'm grateful that this course has gotten *great* reviews.
* Live coaching with me - I refer to this as "brain rental". The ROI on live coaching, as you might imagine, is extraordinary.
Finally, be sure to connect with my colleague Ivana Salloum. She's super awesome and can help with scheduling and access to resources, etc.
I look forward to hearing about your good work!
Blessings,
