Because really big gifts – one-time donations of $1 million or more – get the really big press, there’s a misperception that giving on so grand a scale is increasingly commonplace. Truth be told, 7-figure (and more) gifts are far from the norm. There were just 1,955 such donations worldwide in 2012.
That’s the headline in the Million Dollar Donors Report 2012. A collaborative project of Coutts, a UK-based private bank and wealth management firm, and the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, the report is the first to track million-plus giving globally.
The findings of the report are fascinating, although not particularly encouraging for the majority of CEOs, board members, and fundraisers – those associated with small to mid-size organizations in particular. That’s because million dollar and up gifts cluster in a few segments of the nonprofit sector.
Again in 2012, higher education was the big winner, with disaster relief organizations a close second. Even within these sectors, it’s a few organizations that scoop up the bulk of the big money.
According to the report, “the vast majority of these organizations received only one donation worth $1m or more (816 non-profits, or 83% of all unique organizations). A handful of organizations received more than one gift, with the biggest beneficiary receiving 16 separate gifts – most of them earmarked for disaster relief in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.”
SCALING EXPECTATIONS
Before you pack up your hopes and head for home, consider this. Most charities – small to mid-size organizations in particular – don’t need million dollar gifts to prosper. A steady stream of 4 and 5-figure donations will more than do the job. So what if the behemoths among us yawn at gifts of $5,000, $25,000, or even $100,000. For rank-and-file charities, donations in these amounts are precious, even transformational.
In other words, major gifts in many amounts are just as sweet to the recipient organizations. It’s a matter of scale. And that makes the advice section of the Million Dollar Donors Report 2012 useful to all of the nonprofit community.
Here’s what the wise (and wealthy) ones have to say.
Don’t be afraid to spend money on fundraising. Many charities are reluctant to invest in this, but it pays off in the long term.
Give a lot of thought in advance to how you will acknowledge your major donors and discuss with them whether they want to be recognized.
Donors are people who possess assets and resources beyond money. Involve your donor in the charity and listen to their interests.
Extend relationships with donors beyond the fundraising team. Philanthropists will often want to meet senior management as well as people on the front-line of the charity.
Dream big about what you would do with a million dollar [major] investment – and then have a clear and easy way to communicate this strategic vision. Know what you would do with the money if it were offered.
Planning and intentionality is part of what earns you the right to be considered for large gifts. You need to have a plan for the future, whether it will take many gifts over a decade or one million dollar gift.
The personal networks of your organization’s board are very important. Identifying potential donors is not about cold-calling, but about relationships. If someone is willing to refer you and leverage their personal network for you, that’s a huge endorsement.
Full transparency around your operations and your spending is non-negotiable. You must be a good steward of the money – even more so than with your own money – as this is someone else’s money that they have entrusted you with.
Be an expert in your field. Donors need to know that you have a good intellectual understanding of the issue or problem at hand, and a good operational understanding of how you are going to attack that issue.
Attracting a million [major] dollar gift will take a very long time. Develop a relationship and develop trust with the potential donor. Be patient – be realistic about how long it will take to cultivate this size of donation.
And one more for the list, this one from me. Be truly grateful for every gift received, even if the donation is less than you had anticipated or what the organization needs at the moment. The surest foundation upon which to build a major gift program is “thank you.”
I’m can’t promise that a flurry of thank you notes/phone calls/visits will catapult your organization into the million dollar club come 2014. But you will do better with major donors, however you define the term. That I guarantee.
Anywhere in the world. Any year. Any donor. Gratitude matters.