Your nonprofit’s ideal donor doesn’t trust you. I’ll let that sink in for a second before unveiling the happier news. If they’re independently and securely wealthy – the sort you must court to benefit from the Major Gifts Fundraising model – they’re familiar with the typical dog-and-pony show from charities perpetually panhandling for donations.

You’re better than that! So before you think about nonprofit donor cultivation, you must stand out above the fray by appealing to wealthy benefactors as people with honorable goals for philanthropy. They’re people – people with fat wallets, but people first and foremost.

So now for the bright side. Your nonprofit’s ideal donor doesn’t trust you … yet. In this blog, we explore how to build that trust.  

“Relationships should be built on trust and truth.” — Sophie Kinsella

Nonprofit Donor Cultivation: Building an Individualized Plan of Care for Funders

Before reaching out, a proper nonprofit donor cultivation strategy requires individualized plans of care for each prospect. Each donor is unique, with distinct needs and preferences for discussion. To show your respect and personal interest in them – as people – approach donors with those in mind. Remember: their philanthropy is all about them doing good with their money as they see fit. It’s not you or your organization.

In Major Gifts Fundraising, nonprofit leaders like yourself are charged with building relationships. Nonprofit donors with the financial firepower to build and sustain community missions likely have many “suitors” vying for attention. They’re used to “elevator pitches.” They’ve been burned in the past by giving big gifts toward big plans to “change the world” that ultimately go nowhere.

They’re hesitant and more discerning now, but still willing to give for the greater good. You and your prospective funders stand on a very important common ground: the need to find the right partner in philanthropy.

Finding the Right Partner in Philanthropy: Steps for Nonprofit Donor Cultivation 

Plans of care have the same advantages as your advancement calendar: you have a known schedule of activities and can allocate your time accordingly. (Related reading: 3 Steps to Raising Big Money AND Having a Life Outside Work.) Each individual plan of care and its multiple points of contact are carefully mapped out to fit your schedule so you can manage your time – and take the time off that you deserve!

The first step to creating a plan of care is to determine each step’s objective. Touring a facility, volunteering, or personal financial investment may or may not be the right first step. Other possible objectives include, but are not limited to: 

• Board membership
• Committee membership 
• Campaign cabinet membership 
• Campaign visitor
• Foundation giver 
• Corporate underwriter
• Local advocate 
• Advisory council member

The list is virtually endless. The point is to get nonprofit donor prospects involved in your agency’s work so they become vested in its success. Excite them about your vital community mission through direct participation.

Plans of care will take the form of task maps that intentionally move a person through the cultivation process and into greater friendship with you and your agency. Points of contact can include:

• Phone calls 
• Personal visits 
• Onsite tours 
• Targeted mail
• Newsletter
• Civic gatherings 
• Facebook Invitations 
• Banquet events
• Letters or postcards 
• Private receptions

Again, the list is endless. Be creative. Notice email communications aren’t on the list. Emails don’t count. Emails get lost in the shuffle and are too impersonal. Instead of sending an email, make a personal communication.

To get you thinking the right way, here are three sample plans of care for nonprofit donor cultivation: 

Sample Plan of Care 1 

1. Awareness event invitation
2. Personal visit
3. Reminder postcard
4. Voicemail message
5. Awareness event
6. Request for a meeting at the event
7. Thank you for attending and follow-up on promises
8. Call to arrange for a visit
9. Visit, lunch, tour
10. Thank you for attending and follow-up on promises
11. Golf
12. Thank you for attending and follow up on promises
13. Major gift
14. Board service
15. Signature fundraising event
16. Thank you for attending and follow-up on promises
17. Campaign cabinet service
18.  Thank you and follow-up on promises

Sample Plan of Care 2

1. Awareness event invitation
2. Personal visit
3. Reminder postcard
4. Voicemail message
5. Awareness event
6. Request for a meeting at the event
7. Thank you for attending and follow-up on promises
8. Call to arrange for a lunch
9. Lunch
10. Thank you for attending and follow-up on promises
11. Feasibility meeting
12. Thank you for attending and follow-up on promises
13. Home visit
14. Major gift
15. Signature fundraising event
16. Thank you for attending and follow-up on promises
17. Estate gift
18. Thank you and follow-up on promises

Sample Plan of Care 3 

1. Awareness event invitation
2. Reminder postcard
3. Voicemail message
4. Awareness event
5. Request for a meeting at the event
6. Thank you for attending and follow-up on promises
7. Call to arrange for a visit, lunch, tour
8. Onsite tour
9. Thank you for attending and follow-up on promises
10. Civic meeting
11. Personal visit
12. Thank you for taking your visit and follow-up on promises
13. Child’s sports game
14. Table host
15. Signature fundraising event
16. Thank you for attending and follow-up on promises
17. Major gift
18. Thank you and follow-up on promises

It seems like a lot of steps, right? Not really, if you take the time to know your donor prospects and nurture them in the right way. You’ll notice many of the steps are simply thanking them for routine connections. To me, that sounds more like enjoying a new friendship than working. 

You’re strengthening the connection between your donor and your nonprofit over time. What better way to build trust? At each point of contact, build rapport and involve the donor meaningfully in your mission. Help them become ambassadors for you.

It takes six months to properly cultivate all your awareness event guests. Once you have cultivated every prospect that has agreed to be contacted, it’s time for a signature ask event. 

Next Steps: Nonprofit Donor Cultivation in Major Gifts Fundraising

Attend a Major Gifts Ramp-Up virtual event. MGRU’s live 2-Day Virtual Conferences will challenge everything you believe about nonprofit fundraising. Over 17,000 nonprofit CEOs, COOs, CFOs, CDOs, staff, board members and volunteers have experienced Major Gifts Ramp-Up. Check out the upcoming events! Be sure to mention Joanne Oppelt in the “How You Heard About Us” section.