stewardship Archives - Helen Brown Group

August 6, 2020 By Helen Brown

Credit where credit is appreciated

On occasion, a prospective client will ask “How much money has your company helped your clients raise?”

That’s a tricky question, because the truly honest answer is, “I don’t know.”

Some clients hire us simply to provide profiles and we don’t usually hear what happens after the fact.

If we’re working with clients on a dedicated basis – meaning that one of our team works with them side-by-side over a period of months or years – it’s a lot easier. We can trace the donations of the people we’ve identified for them and come up with a figure. Or, as happens more frequently, the fundraiser we’re working with calls to celebrate the donation – and that’s like the sun beaming through after a full week of rain. Pure joy.

We also do prospecting projects, of course, by hand and through our Data Insight team. But again, we rarely hear the long-term results of those projects 18-24 months down the road (the usual time from identification through cultivation to gift).

We would love to hear, of course, but as is the way of things, our clients are focused forward, not back.

And also, (going back to the original question), when you work in prospect development you’re entirely at the mercy of the action and skill of the fundraiser, dean, executive director, volunteer, etc., to convert that prospect to a donor. You could identify the Gates Foundation for a world-class malaria and TB charity with a connection to a program manager, but if the fundraiser doesn’t act on the prospect, that research work had zero impact.

Of course, prospect development often does have a huge impact, and there are lots of ways we can measure it, including…

Number of new prospects identified
Number of prospects identified who went on to make a gift (and why? what did they have in common?)
Estimated capacity of newly-identified prospects
Number of reports completed
Number of prospects rated and assigned

…and more. But those ways are presented in statistics, produced at our desk, provided monthly or annually in a report. Not the most super-exciting reading for the recipient, nor is the report something that generally causes the reader to call the research manager to exclaim their praises. But, you know, those stats can be kind of a big deal.

What we need, especially now, are examples of ways to communicate and celebrate the impact of prospect development.

Many times staffers will hear exciting news about a big gift in office kitchens or hallways before the monthly announcement at the all-staff or major gifts meeting. But with a pandemic going on and all of us working remotely, those moments of shared joy aren’t happening. We’re cut off from colleagues, physically isolated, and working in a vacuum. It’s hard for those moments of celebration to happen. Which means it’s even harder for staff to stay motivated and feel part of the big picture.

So especially now, when those gifts happen, how can leaders share them? How can fundraisers help prospect development folks feel valued? How can PD managers keep their teams motivated? We need to find every way we can. And honestly, the endorphins that flow with sharing that kind of joy is good for all of us, sharer and recipient alike.

How does your team creatively share celebrations now? How do you as a manager make sure that your team stays inspired – and credited – for their part in making those moments of success happen?

October 10, 2019 By Helen Brown

A missed opportunity – and how to avoid it

“Ruby Red Horse Chestnut Trees – Backlit blossoms” Photo by Rod Raglin

A few years ago in the late spring I went to a botanic garden and saw a tree in bloom that just knocked my socks off. I love gardens, but I’ve never before just stood staring at a tree for a good five minutes. I knew that if I ever had the opportunity to plant a tree in my garden, that was going to be the one I picked.

Four years later, here I am, looking up the tree on the web, planning the purchase.

Turns out this particular tree, Aesculus carnea or red chestnut, has a few different varieties, including ‘Fort McNair,’ ‘Briotii,’ and ‘O’Neil’s Red.’ I wanted the exact same one, so I contacted the botanic garden to find out which cultivar I’d fallen in love with.

Fell in love

I actually wrote those words in my email to the contact-us email address for the gardening staff: “There is a tree in your garden I fell in love with…”

Now if that’s not a potential donor begging to be asked for a donation, I don’t know what is.

I did get a response – and it was exactly 9 words:

Aesculus × carnea ‘Briottii’

red horse chestnut hybrid

[Responders Name]

As a future tree owner, I was thrilled. As a fundraising professional, totally crestfallen.

“I’m so happy to hear that our Briotii delighted you!” they could have written. “In case you’re ever interested, we have an adopt-a-tree program and you could take care of our Briotti as well as yours!”

I mean, wow. What a missed opportunity.

And honestly, this isn’t a rare case. I think that we in fundraising are all so busy doing what we’re doing that we don’t take the time to think about the other stakeholders within our organizations who could help us.

As fundraising professionals – especially in small nonprofits – we need to do a better job of raising awareness so that everyone on our team recognizes a potential donor engagement situation when it bops them on the nose.

We prospect researchers have maintained for decades that we’re fundraisers, too, even if we’re not usually interacting directly with donors, and I’m pretty sure that any one of us would be prepared to represent if an opportunity came our way.

But there are loads of people in various roles across a nonprofit that interact daily with the general public, with members, volunteers, visitors, students, alumni, grandparents, etc. They all support the fundraising effort, perhaps without even being aware of it.

Every one of those people could benefit from a brown bag lunch from the front-line professionals on recognizing funding opportunities when they fall in their lap. Just as we prospect research pros provide brown bag lunches to educate the front-line teams on what we do, every fundraising shop should do a dog and pony on how to be a great adjunct fundraising team member.

I’m not talking about training staffers to be fundraisers, just noticers with license to help.

I get it, you can’t train someone to care about the sustainability of the nonprofit they work for if they aren’t personally invested. But for those who are invested, raising awareness of how they can help could make a big difference.

And who knows, maybe one of them will contact the fundraising office and say “Hey, I just got an email from a woman with a question about our red chestnut tree. I get the feeling she might be interested in our Adopt-a-Tree program. I’m not sure if she’s already a donor. How should I respond to her?”

January 10, 2019 By Helen Brown

Prospect research can be stewardship’s best friend

Photo by Md. Tareq Aziz Touhid [CC BY-SA 4.0], from Wikimedia Commons

Last week, my colleague Angie Herrington shared a personal stewardship horror story. Bad stewardship is a theme that’s all-too familiar in fundraising, as our industry’s frightening donor attrition numbers witness.

It doesn’t have to be that way. Adrian Sargeant’s eye-opening research (coupled with good old common sense) shows that even the tiniest bit of effort to keep an existing donor has exponential benefits, especially compared to the financial drain of trying to acquire the donor in the first place. It just straight-up saves time and money being, well, good at being good to people who are good to you. [Read more…]

January 3, 2019 By Helen Brown

Hello, I’m your new donor. It’s time to make a change.

In my experience, donor research and stewardship go hand in hand. In fact, a little bit of research can take even the most routine stewardship efforts to a whole new level. This week, my colleague Angie Herrington describes a recent stewardship fail on the part of an organization she wanted to support for a lifetime. They lost her, though, and in this article she offers great advice to help guide nonprofits on the value of just doing a little research to keep donors close. ~Helen

Semper Fidelis Memorial Park, photo by Ron Cogswell

A year ago, I lost a dear member of my family. Not long after, I knew I wanted to do something to remember her while helping another. This was going to be my first gift, a significant one for me monetarily and personally. After doing my research, I found my answer with a personalized paving stone memorializing our loss, honoring our longtime and dedicated doctor, and with a portion of the gift going to a hardship fund.

Within seconds of pressing send, I felt an unexpected and absolute high! The personal pride and joy made my heart swell and I was immediately thinking about my next gift. I remembered prospect strategy meetings and discussing a donor’s answer to the “what’s your passion” question. I finally had MY answer.

As a fundraising insider, I should not have been surprised by the following months. Several weeks later I asked about the timeline and if the doctor would be notified. A boiler plate acknowledgment letter was mailed.

Three months later I emailed and learned the order was delayed. Six months after I made the gift, I sent another email and was told it would be sent to the engraver any day now. It included a firm “we’ll contact you when it’s installed.” Ouch. [Read more…]

November 23, 2017 By Helen Brown

More Giving, Thanks to Thanks Giving

When I read this week’s featured article by Kathy Mills on the Apra-Carolinas website, I knew I had to ask share it with you today. Kathy is Senior Donor Identification Analyst at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, and I wanted you to read her description of the way that their prospect research and annual giving teams partner together.

They’re making relationship magic – joining their talents to give sincere thanks to donors, and it’s a great lesson – for this season and all year round.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours, and warm thanks to Kathy and the kind folks at Apra-Carolinas for allowing us to re-share this!

The Impact of Thanking Annual Fund Donors

When I was younger, my mother forced me to write thank you notes to anyone who had given me a gift for my birthday. It seemed like a chore at the time, but as an adult, I came to appreciate when I was thanked for sending a gift – and I certainly remembered those that never thanked me. Today, sometimes a simple “thank you” seems like a dying art.

As nonprofit organizations, it’s critical that we thank our donors promptly. That $25 annual fund donor could turn out to be a $25,000 donor in the future if he or she feels appreciated right from the start. But every organization sends a thank you letter. What if you took it one step further? [Read more…]

September 22, 2016 By Helen Brown

Interviewing Venture Capital and Private Equity Professionals

Sometimes secondary research just doesn’t cut it. As fundraising professionals, we all know it’s important for us to understand the context of our prospects’ lives. But as much as you can read about private equity, venture capital, and all the other finance-related professions, nothing beats actually talking with people in that industry to find out how they would like to be cultivated and stewarded. I’m particularly delighted this week to shine a light on a project that University of Chicago researchers, Amelia Aldred and Namrata Padhi, undertook to interview professionals in the finance industry. In this week’s article, Amelia and Namrata share the questions and answers about these professionals that we all want to hear. ~Helen

The problem and our solution

In 2015, our prospect research team hit a wall when it came to understanding venture capital and private equity professionals. Like many of our research colleagues, our team read hundreds of articles about venture capital and private equity industries but we couldn’t find information specifically about venture capital and private equity professionals’ attitudes and behaviors regarding philanthropy, nor could we find information about compensation and wealth beyond a general industry overview.

Our solution? Change our research methods. Instead of reading, we directly interviewed venture capital and private equity professionals about their career path, compensation and wealth accumulation, networks, and how all of these factors affected their approach to giving. [Read more…]

June 11, 2015 By Helen Brown

Act like it’s not our first time at the rodeo

John Paulson’s gift of $400 million to Harvard has released a surprising amount of ill-will and petty sniping around fundraising water coolers. Around our virtual instant-message water cooler, HBG Researcher Rachel Dakarian and I started talking about Paulson’s gift and donor intent (the inclination rating we discussed previously here on The Intelligent Edge). I asked Rachel to create an article covering our thoughts, so with thanks, I turn it over to her:

You probably saw in the news recently that Harvard University announced its all-time largest donation: a $400-million gift from John A. Paulson to support the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. [Read more…]