Success Is Not Haphazard
I find Successful Fund Raising to be one of the most helpful newsletters in our field. It’s like a soup bowl filled to the brim and overflowing with practical bits and pieces you can put to immediate use.
In a recent issue, they listed 10 ways to help you make those calls that generate the gift.
I’ve come up with six of the group of ten I feel are particularly helpful. I tweaked the language a bit.
- Set one day a week aside to do nothing but schedule a minimum number of visits— regardless of when they are to take place.
- Determine the number of days you plan to be scheduled out of the office and making calls. It should be a minimum of fifteen a month. Many more days if possible. Stick to the schedule!
- Be open to early morning and after-work appointments that still allow you to attend to office demands.
- Create a year-long cultivation/stewardship/solicitation schedule for all your probable major gift donors.
- Design a staff competition (that includes your CEO) for the most completed visits each week, month, and year. The competition is based on your objectives for each of those periods.
- Meet weekly with staff. Develop a reporting system to review attempted appointments, confirmed appointments, and completed calls.