Yes, let’s secure that major gift. And it was done. Wouldn’t it be nice if it all came that easily?
At the Association for Fundraising Professionals (AFP) international conference on fundraising, Priscilla Bratcher, director of development of Carolina Performing Arts at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, offered several views on securing the major gift.
Bratcher used her arts involvement and background to compare the solicitation of a major gift prospect to a theatrical performance: script, casting, and rehearsal, followed by the performance. She said the following considerations are of importance:

• Analysis of your situation and creation of your own standard. Think of the size of the organization and fundraising goals, and additional benefits beyond immediate dollars.
• Prospect identification and research. Research profiles should contain name, address, birth date/place, family members, educational achievement, professional achievement, board/community involvement, other causes supported, wealth analysis, connection with your organization.
• Issues affecting solicitor assignments. These include relationship to prospect, qualifications of solicitor and your intuition
• Training and preparing of volunteer solicitors. This includes formal training sessions, fully informing the volunteer about the case and assigning a staff liaison to support the volunteer. It also includes communicating job expectations to volunteers and starting with the best prospects in order to build confidence.

Share this story

Story tools