Building Confidence

Synopsis
When is the right time to solicit funds from a donor? Some organizations are always asking for money. This alienates donors and damages relationships. One key to building strong relationships with donors is knowing when to ask for money. Asking at the right time isn’t just about the time of year but also about the readiness of a prospective donor. In this article, we introduce a simple scoring method that gives you the confidence in knowing you’re asking for the right amount at the right time. 

Article
Tim Kurth, Vice President, Ministry Solutions at LCEF, provides insights on best practices for donor relations. 

One of my biggest frustrations comes when leaders of an organization play the numbers game. For example, “If each of our donors would commit just $10 a month, we would have more than enough money for all our needs.” While that statement might be true, it assumes all the donors are both capable and committed to donating $10 per month. This, and other such math games, are akin to me declaring I can raise $3 million by asking every person in the U.S. to send me a penny. 

As shared in previous articles, the number one predictor of generosity is relationship. The better you know your donors, the greater your chances of receiving meaningful support. There is a way to quantify your odds of success. It’s called confidence scoring, and it’s a simple way to determine when to solicit a donation and the right amount to request. There are two confidence scores you should assign to every major donor prospect: 

• Ability to give 
• Willingness to give 

On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being low, what is your prospective donor’s ability to give a certain amount? Ten thousand dollars? This score is the first and easiest score to determine. There are certain markers that indicate ability to give, such as type of employment, value of home and average income in their neighborhood. Additionally, there are simple research tools to determine these things like Spokeo. For deeper donor analysis, you can use research tools like DonorSearch or Wealth Engine. These require a subscription, and results can be uneven for donors to Lutheran ministries. You could go deeper with a company that does the research and analysis for you like The Geis Group  and their Assay tool. Whatever you do to assess the ability to give, you can determine the number pretty quickly.  

The trickier confidence score is determining the willingness to give. This is, essentially, a relationship score. You must discern how connected your donor prospect is to the ministry. If they have an interest in what you do, have sought further details, have consistently expressed enthusiasm for some aspect or the entirety of your ministry, then your willingness score would be quite high. A score of 10 should be reserved for the most enthusiastic donors, but a score of 7, 8 or 9 indicates the prospect is ready to be invited to give. 

For example, if you have a donor with a score of 9 on the ability to give $10,000 and a willingness score of 8; you can proceed to make a solicitation, confidently so. Remember, the bulk of your work in donor relations is raising prospective donors’ willingness score. This is where experts will tell you to invest time with prospects. On average, it takes six to eight in-person meetings and another 10 to 12 touches over the course of 12 to 18 months to cultivate a major donor. That doesn’t mean you won’t receive small gifts along the way. It means you must put in the time and effort to get the willingness score high enough to ask for the largest possible gift from your prospects. 

Learn more about all the best practices in donor relations through LCEF’s Mission Advancement Partnership process, including confidence scoring. Our year-long coaching process builds a solid foundation for donor engagement that will pay dividends to your organization for years to come. Contact me by email and let’s find time to talk: tim.kurth@lcef.org.