July’s post comes from Tracy Martin, the Advancement Services Coordinator at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business

In the world of donors, of course, not all donors are created equal. However, using the savvy information included in this article you can capitalize on donors of any size. I hope you find it both entertaining and informative.  

You might be a student leadership donor if…….

You have influence over your classmates and can give a dollar!  Leveraging the information from student applications is helpful by reviewing engagement with non-profits and fundraising positions. Students in these roles already get the importance of philanthropy and therefore can help further spread the philanthropic mindset through peer solicitation. Oftentimes you can also capitalize on student leadership to ‘infect’ the rest of their classmates with their philanthropic spirit. With this group in particular, playing up participation rather than dollar amount is key.

You might be an annual fund donor if………

You can give a dime that you found on the ground to the organization of your choice. This is a tricky, yet simple, category of donors. The simple answer is, no matter what organization or capacity to give, everyone engaged with your organization should be an annual fund donor. By supporting your cause, program or school- each donor is saying with affirmation that they agree with your mission and they want you to continue to succeed in all you are doing.  Generally speaking, these are your first time donors, young donors and perhaps your aging donors. These are likely your donors that give more of their time and talent perhaps because they cannot give much past their annual gift. This only shows their passion for your organization!

However, it’s not as sexy as say naming a building or having a professorship named after you. What you can glean out of your annual fund donor lists are the following things. Trends in increased giving levels over time can indicate deeper engagement and loyalty. By examining the times of their giving, you can estimate the appropriate time to solicit them once instead of inundating them with continual solicitations and save your organization valuable dollars. Focusing on time and amounts can reveal that they may be a potential planned gift prospect also. This will be discussed in the planned gift segment. By combining this information with birthdates of their children, you can also anticipate increased giving as their children approach coming to your school or upon graduation from college.

Even when a donor is being solicited for a major gift, continue to keep them in your annual fund pool unless they have declared they are not interested. When you continue to keep them as an annual fund donor, you can also leverage their standing in your community to demonstrate to other annual fund donors their potential to grow.  This goes back to the old Fabergé shampoo commercial. “Then you tell two friends, and they tell two friends, and so on and so on…” (Yes, I realize I am dating myself greatly!)

You might be a major gift donor if……………………..

Your passion is matched by your capacity and inclination.  I’m sure everyone is well versed in how to identify a prospect with the potential and having given to similar organizations like yours. That’s the easy part.  But what else can a major gift donor do for you?

As mentioned in the section above, they have the potential to influence other annual fund donors and potential new major gift donors. Do they have a nice office space or second home or connections to an upscale country club? How about an interesting collection of art or cars? Have them host an event where they declare they are going to lead a challenge to assist you in securing new major gift donors. Let them throw down that gauntlet! If your organization gets 50 new donors giving at your major gift threshold, this leader will give a larger than usual gift to commemorate the occasion. Keep in mind that this is different from a matching opportunity in that no one that gives at the new level will receive any credit, soft or otherwise, from your leadership donor’s gift. This will keep the accounting simple on the backside.

Leverage these donors with higher capacity to host a small event to include potential new major gift level donors or assist in stewarding a circle of annual fund donors. Again, using awesome space can only enhance the mood.

You might be a planned gift donor if…………………

You are approaching the 72 year mark where gift planning can be counted in full. Many of them have been sitting quietly at the lower threshold of your annual fund pool for years without raising any eyebrows. However, their steadfast giving speaks for itself. Some may be your worker bees who have worked diligently beside your staff for many years in eager anticipation of the next time they can give of their time to your cause.   Still others will be those that made their money quickly and planning is essential to them while they still have a large sum.  This is another category of prospects that should be considered with all donors, at some point.

There has been a noticeable increasing trend of prospects in their mid-forties who have begun looking philanthropically at their estate planning. While you might be able to capitalize on the value, you can capitalize on the timing. Eventually this will pay off for your group.

Once they become a planned gift donor, no matter the age, treat them special from your annual fund donors. They can also be leveraged as you would your major gift donors by inviting their friends to special events, and so on and so on.

You might be a worker bee prospect if…………………

You just can’t resist when the call for help arrives. These are the steady Eddies that are always there for you, rain, shine, sleet or snow. They don’t mind pitching in by mentoring, helping with events, speaking at an information session or cheering for your leadership.

These are your core people who will give more when they can, but you should always value the fact they give of their time and themselves! They likely will have you in their will, speak kindly of your group to anyone they know and will be there when the chips are down.

They will give annual fund gifts; some even major gifts. These are the people for whom Distinguished Awards are created! Give the people what they want!

You might be a connector if……………………….

You are a mover and a shaker in your industry, circle of friends or community. These are the “who knows who of the who’s who.” They are seated on several boards, chairs of committees and can influence many with a few tweeted words. Use them to open doors that might otherwise remain closed.

Ask them to make introductions, host dinners whereby you may meet future prospects interested in your organization or even ask them to submit a list of friends they’d like to invite to something honoring their service to your organization.

You might be sour grapes if…………………………

You claim you’ll never give another dime unless they bend to your wishes or complain about everything the organization does even when they do get it right!

It’s hard to do, because we are ever hopeful. However, sometimes you just have to know when to quit. If they never take a call or meeting, or when they do- it’s to complain about something that was on Facebook or other social media about your organization; it’s time to just back off and leave them alone.  You can’t win them all.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this quick and dirty way of sorting your prospects into apples, oranges and pears.  May you enjoy the fruits of your labor and there be few sour grapes!

Joyfully submitted,

Tracey Martin