Opening the Door to Major Gifts: Mastering the Discovery Call

If you are not feeding new prospective major gift donors into your pipeline on a regular and systematic basis, sooner or later your efforts are going to stall. So, whether you are new to fundraising or have been active in the profession for years, this is a resource that can help you build new relationships and add good prospects to your portfolio.

The book provides specific strategies that will increase your odds for success when you are ready to meet your donors. You will learn to “warm” your prospects so they are receptive to your outreach, to make allies of the gatekeepers who control access to the decision makers, and to conduct a qualification call that is both casual and purposeful. All of these methods are designed to initiate a comfortable and meaningful relationship that will one day result in a significant philanthropic investment.

How important is the task of mastering the discovery call? Take a look at the average portfolio of a major gift officer. A number of industry benchmarks indicate that if there are 150 individuals in a fundraiser’s portfolio, as many as half of them (seventy-five) might be prospects/suspects who haven’t yet been properly qualified. Therefore, it is critical for today’s development professional to become proficient in prospect qualification.

John Greenhoe presents his advice, insights, and tips in a straightforward and logistically sequential fashion. He starts with the reasons why qualification calls are important and then delves into researching your prospects. He then gives practical tips for negotiating voice mail and gatekeepers en route to successfully making the appointment.

Greenhoe also covers the actual format of the discovery call, including suggested scripts that you may wish to employ during your face-to-face visit. He also looks closely at strategies for conducting follow-up calls and then concludes with a look at future trends.

The qualification of donors is, generally speaking, not an easy task. Hard work and discipline are essential. At the same time, bringing new donors to your organization can be a lot of fun. Following the techniques of this book, you’ll meet some amazing people, many of whom will share your passion for your nonprofit.

Bottom line, if you follow the strategies detailed in this book, you will be successful.

About CharityChannel’s In the Trenches(tm) Series

You’ll know an In the Trenches book not just by its cover, but by the author’s fun, upbeat writing style. But don’t be fooled by its down-to-earth approach and ample use of sidebars. In the Trenches books are authoritative and cover what a beginner should know to get started and progress rapidly, and what a more experienced nonprofit-sector practitioner needs to move forward in the subject.