Leadership Giving

Leadership giving is an outgrowth of annual giving.  It begins with the cultivation of a new donor, often as a recent alumnus of your school, and ends many years down the road with a very substantial legacy gift that this person will only have one opportunity in his/her lifetime to make. 

 

In between is a long process of stewardship that demands year upon year of continuing attention.  To the annual fund director and staff, as you know, leadership giving is about what is happening this year and who is giving the most to your annual fund. 

 

But this thinking can be very short sighted, and smaller and more malleable nonprofits are very susceptible to this mindset.  A “malleable” nonprofit is one whose mission has less connection to the past history of the institution like many social service agencies, community based arts organizations, etc. 

 

From the individual “leadership” donor’s perspective, however, there may a 60+ year relationship with the institution, from graduation to a final bequest.  If you miss even one year in that time span, the chances the donor will ever return to your donor pool, drop by nearly 40%.  That is staggering!

 

Most colleges and universities do a solid job of managing leadership giving as a part of their annual giving programs – at least when compared to many other nonprofit institutions.  But at all levels, developing and sustaining good annual fund practices relating to leadership giving is vital to your future success.

 

The most essential components of sound leadership giving are:

 

1. Recognition of the long term stewardship involved, and the importance of attending to key leaders each and every year;
2. Wisely connecting the overall process and execution of the annual fund effort itself with leadership gift and other major gift solicitation;
3. Properly identifying the levels and individuals to target for the gift amounts and reasons they should make a leadership gift;
4. Updating and maintaining the best data possible to be sure you know how, when and where to be in contact with your pool of leadership donors;
5. Employing effective donor research and wealth screening to continually cull out new prospects for leadership gifts;
6. Maintaining the message and purpose of the annual fund clearly in all communications with leadership donors and prospects; and
7. As always, properly defining roles and utilizing staff at each step in the process of securing the leadership gifts you require.

 

By carefully constructing the leadership giving portion of your annual fund program, you will achieve greater success each year and gain long term stability in your development and advancement efforts.

 

For help with data cleansing and wealth screening issues, contact Brian Lacy to meet your needs.  Or for assistance constructing donor cultivation plans, plus mentoring and training staff in leadership gift solicitations, please contact Andrew Thompson at Elusen.