How to Communicate Well with Major Donors

Learning to communicate well and at a deeper level with your major donors is important to grow your base of support. Do you know why your major donors and prospects would care about what you do?

Consider Donor Motivation

When it comes to what motivates your major donors, think about these questions:

• What relationship do our major donors and prospects have to our mission and our people?
• Are they linked to us because they have used our service, because they know a board member, or because a family member served as a volunteer?
• Do they have an altruistic interest in what we do because of a religious consonance, family tradition, or connection to friend?
• Are they capable of making a significant gift that can change the future of our organization, or are they at some lower rung on the donor ladder?

Donors often have their own personal motivations for giving and want to be respected for those motivations. They certainly want to be thought of as authentic human beings and not just as “deep pockets” or dollar signs. Many also are willing to volunteer for service in a variety of ways. Are we making it easy for people to gain access so that they can feel a part of the work?

The FORM Acronym

In order to meet the needs of donors and prospects, and to learn more about whether a prospect is compatible with us and capable of contributing to our organization, we need to engage in some transitive communication. 

The acronym FORM reminds us that we can talk with anyone, in any place, about at least four things:

1. Family
2. Occupation
3. Recreation
4. Money

When you have conversations with potential major donors, we need to seek transitive conversations. In other words, this is not idle chatter; we want to move from a position of ignorance to a position of knowledge for both parties. 

FORM is designed to learn valuable and applicable information from a prospective donor. Ask about their family to learn those connections and secrets; ask about occupation to help assess current income and asset value; ask about recreation to ascertain the level of disposable income; and ask about money to ascertain comfort levels, degree of involvement in investments, and knowledge of things financial. 

The MORF Acronym

There is a second acronym to keep in mind, known as MORF. Understand that this is not linear. We don’t do FORM and then MORF. It’s the development officer’s or board member’s job to fit these eight constructs into intelligent conversation.

MORF means:

1. Mission of the organization
2. Opportunities for support
3. Resources that are available
4. Friends with whom you can network

Communicate what you are accomplishing in the community as you fulfill your missions. Suggest that there are opportunities to invest in innovative and effective programs or expansive buildings. Assure them that you have the infrastructure to succeed and have done due diligence on need and necessity. Finally, ask them, “who else should we be talking to about our mission and opportunities?”

Board members should have a leading role in conducting transitive conversations. But everyone involved in the organization can do this. Certainly the CEO, staff, and volunteers can have a part, too. The next very important step is to be sure that the substance of the transitive conversation is recorded and entered into the prospect’s file!

Other Ways to Motivate Your Major Donors

What other sorts of things get people going? We can help prospects and donors to feel good about what they are doing in other ways as well.

Consider asking how a prospect feels about his or her involvement. Some people are motivated by being challenged. Others might like to be leaders and offer a challenge match for a certain number of dollars. Still others like to be the ones to meet the match. Some prefer to have more options to choose from. And some like to have fun and help put on events. It pulls them closer to the core of the organization.

Building a Relationship from Your Organization’s Perspective

We’ve talked about meeting major donors’ needs to motivate them. Let’s look now at the process of relationship-building from the organization’s perspective. There are things that organizations need and want from their donors and volunteers:

• What are some of the things they can volunteer for?
• Have them talk you up and tell your story to friends and colleagues.
• Meet some of their like-minded friends. These people could become prospects, and then donors or volunteers themselves. Try to meet others, too—influencers, government officials, corporate and civic leaders—to build goodwill.
• Have them ask people to make a contribution of time, talent, and/or treasure.

Good relationships are the result of open communication. Using the FORM and MORF acronyms as reminders can help you build bridges to current major donors and even new prospects. 

CDS has been a leader in nonprofit fundraising for the past three decades. Contact us if you need more intensive help with your major gift fundraising, strategic planning, or in preparing for a capital campaign.

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