Last month, The Agitator featured a post on checklists, spurred on by the interest in the book “The Checklist Manifesto” by Dr. Atul Gawande. Denny Hatch created one for direct marketing which you can see here.
I was thinking how great it would be to create one for Major Gifts – I love lists – but then I got to thinking.
Face-to-Face solicitation isn’t like direct marketing. You can never plan for every contingency. You can never have all the chess pieces in place. If you wait for everything to be just right – your board to be engaged, your case statement to be perfect, your ED to be excited and ready – you will never start talking to your largest donors face to face.
So, I won’t create a 58 item list like Denny did for Major Gifts. Instead I have three things that you should check off before you start cultivating your most-invested donors:
1. Find out what interests your donors in their lives. Whether it be mountain biking or dogs, what common ground can you establish to start you relationship off on the right foot?
2. Know your case, have a few stories, and be honest about what you don’t know.
3. Have a way to keep track of your donors and your next steps to cultivate them.
With these three things in mind, get started, learn from your mistakes, and be ready to be inspired by your donors. But, most importantly – just do it. You don’t need a checklist!
