For Impact gives our office the ‘push’ needed
Nick Fellers | August 23, 2010
I have used several For Impact concepts. Persistence for getting visits, flow of visits, how to ask. I have used so many of the techniques that I can’t remember them all. I am grateful that For Impact is willing to share their ideas openly to help the development world. I will leave you with two stories.
I remember calling the donor many times and thinking is he ever going to pick up. Let’s call him Jim. After several calls I also remembered a nugget posted on For Impact about a persistence contest they once had and how it took 60 some calls to get a hold of a donor. Following that same line of thinking I kept trying…my attitude is we are making a difference, folks have the need to give, and once people hear our story they will respond, so I kept trying for several months. Besides, Jim had been giving $1,000 per year for the last 20 years. We were just never able to get a visit. Jim is from a small town in Iowa and I decided to try and see if one of our donors might be able to help us get a hold of Jim. Bob was also a farmer and lived near Jim so I called Bob. Bob said “Jim’s my neighbor”. I told him how I was trying to call him and just wanted to meet Jim. Bob said…you are not going to believe this part…well let me give you his cell phone number. This was the start of something special. I called Jim on his cell…he was on his tractor. He was reluctant to meet. I told him I had to meet him and tell him about the students he was helping…I told him I was planning to be in his area the next morning and asked if I could stop by. He told me if it rained I could call him…it rained and I called. After an hour visit I asked Jim if he ever thought of us in his will…he said he didn’t have one. Jim is almost 70 years old and has never been married. I said what is your plan and Jim said the state has a plan for his estate. It took about a year and a half to build the trust but in the end he let us help him create a will and he put us in his will. We will receive an estate gift of several hundred thousand and we are now talking with Jim about a major gift. Keep calling…it is worth it.
On a recent donor visit I had planned to ask for a gift of $10k, with the intent for this to be an annual gift. The visit went well but we were really candid about some of our challenges and earlier in my career I would of chickened out of making the ask. Plus the donor had recently sent us a check for a nice gift but I felt they had much more capacity. After one of our leaders had explained the state of our institution I looked at the donor and asked if we could turn the conversation towards a possible gift. He said didn’t I just write you a check and smirked. If it wasn’t for all I have learned with For Impact I would have backed off but instead I said yes you did and we are grateful but I would like to talk about something more significant and get an idea for how you might want to help in the future. I asked the donor for $10k for our annual fund…we have a new giving club at this level (another For Impact idea). I shared that we needed 30 families to take to help us raise $1 million this year for the annual fund. I was hoping he could help us in this area and that we could also count on this gift from him the future. He said jokingly “for the rest of my life” and I said know but the next five years would be great. I would never of pushed forward helping us secure this gift in the past…learning what to say and how to say it from For Impact has really made a difference for our institution. Just ask!
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About For Impact
We help "nonprofits" fund their visions through training, coaching and consulting based on 25+ years of experience and $1Billion+ raised directly and $1Billion via coaching/training. For Impact is also our message, our commitment and a movement.
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