Too often I hear of an “us” and “them” mentality between
donor relations professionals and gift officers. Gift officers promise their prospects the
world, whether it’s feasible or not, conforms to legal guidelines or not. Timelines mean nothing to them, everything is
urgent, and database coding or documentation is optional. It’s a wonder we can even co-exist!
I’ve spent more than a decade in donor relations, years of
real job satisfaction and growth. So why
would I ever want to take on gift officer responsibilities? What could tempt me to venture over to the
dark side? One reason is that long
tenure in the same job. I need new
challenges, and I want to learn new skills.
The other is practical: gift officer experience makes me more marketable
and beefs up my resume.
What are some of the advantages of training donor relations
staff as gift officers?
1.
Let’s go back to that stable job history. There’s an alarming rate of turn-over among
gift officers. Recent figures peg the
average lifespan of a gift officer at 16-months! By contrast donor relations staff tend to
have longevity.
2.
Who better to talk to donors about the impact of
their philanthropy than the people who have been writing about it? We can recite first-hand stories of students’
lives that have been changed because of scholarship aid, and research that was
made possible because of grants.
3.
In some cases we already have relationships with
key donors. We know the story of their
engagement with our institution because we wrote the keepsake book celebrating
their gift.
4.
I don’t know of any institution that would turn
down an offer of more gift officer outreach.
Especially with the trend to decrease the portfolio among gift officers,
there’s a need for more hands on deck.
DISCLAIMER! Even with
these reasons, you’ll be hard pressed to get your boss to agree to give you a
prospect pool if you don’t already have a strong donor relations program in
place. You shouldn’t ask for new
responsibilities if your department hasn’t already mastered the four pillars of
donor relations: acknowledgements,
stewardship and impacting reporting, recognition, and engagement.
Once you get the green light, start out with some easy
prospects. Retirees are a great, often
untapped donor population. Usually they
still live near your institution so there’s minimal travel involved, and they
are prime for a planned gift conversation.
What about qualification visits?
Someone with the title “donor relations” may have easier access to a loyal
annual fund donor than a colleague with the words “gift officer” on a business
card. Do you have donors to your
institution that are in the stewardship cycle with a multi-year pledge on the
books? Perhaps you could visit them on
an annual basis and free up their primary gift officer.
I’ve carried a prospect load for 18 months. In that time I’ve learned a few thing:
·
Getting appointments is hard! I’ve had to develop a thick skin as prospects
refuse to reply to my emails and phone calls or make excuses why they can’t see
me.
·
Gift officer travel is exhausting! Crack of dawn flights, long days jam-packed
with visits, attempting to make a connection with someone who may not be
terribly engaged with your institution.
·
It takes time to develop a relationship! Only now, after several visits, do I feel
that I’m making headway with some of my prospects.
I have a whole new appreciation for my fellow gift officers,
and at the same time, I think I’ve developed a little street cred with
them. I’ve learned it’s not the dark
side where gift officers are, nor is the grass green over there. And I think I’m a better donor relations
professional because of it.
This wonderful guest post is courtesy of Mary Solomons, Senior Director of Donor Relations at Skidmore College. I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
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