Hi friend, welcome back to Nonprofit Courage Lab. Julie here, and I am so excited to talk to you about how to get more major donor meetings. So, this is all about practical things that you can do, what you might be currently doing, that's keeping you from getting more meetings. and tactical things you can be doing that will actually get you more meetings. And how you can really be creative and be more of yourself.
So, here are a couple of reasons why you might not be getting enough meetings with potential or current major donors. Number one, you're not asking for them. So, it might just be because you don't prioritize reaching out to people and asking them to meet with you. If that's the case, let's talk about how you're spending your time. The second is, you, the way that you're asking isn't that great, kind of sucks.
And I want to help you create more time in your schedule to ask for meetings, and then I also want you to do a better job. I want to help you do, optimize the quality of your outreach to donors. So let's start with the first one first, which is your time. If you're not spending enough time reaching out to Major donors for meetings. What are you spending your time doing?
So look at your calendar, look at the meetings that you're a part of, look at your inbox and all of the, the outgoing sent emails that you've recently sent. Let's say the last week, two weeks, go through there and see what is taking up your time. What are you really spending your time on? And there's a huge liability in. Not building relationships and meeting with people one on one. You are sabotaging your donor retention. Which we all know by now, in 2024, good grief.
Please prioritize the donors you have first before you go out and get new ones. Or what will happen is, you're creating a leaky bucket. You're constantly filling it up with water, but you got holes in there. So the new donors that you get, you will lose because you don't take care of current donors. We know this, right? We get this? So take care of the current donors first.
And that will set the stage for when you bring in new donors, you will have already built the habit of taking care of donors. If you do not take care of your donors, someone else will. Can you say that with me? If we don't take care of our donors, someone else will. Meaning, if you don't have time to take care of them and steward them, build relationships, report back on the difference that they have made giving to your organization, then you won't have those donors for very long.
So your time will be freed up. Don't worry, friend. Let's make time, get rid of things that are on your plate, and set yourself a goal. If you're currently asking for zero meetings on a weekly basis, let's amp it up to one meeting. Ask for one major donor meeting or two major donor meetings a week. If you're asking for three to five and you want to get more meetings, Ask for six or seven, ask for eight, challenge yourself, set a goal and decide I'm going to meet with as many people as I can.
I'm going to reach out and put it on my calendar, first thing, top of the day, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, or Monday, Wednesday, Friday. First thing in the day, I'm going to ask for donor meetings. Boom. There you go. That's your strategy. Ask for meetings at the top of the day. If you want something to get done that you typically put off, do it first thing in the morning. Do it first thing on your workday. So let's say you are asking for five meetings a week, ten meetings a week.
You're going for it. But you're not getting the responses. Maybe you're getting ghosted. Maybe people are like, uh, I don't have time. Here's the deal. So let's optimize what you're doing when you're reaching out. The first problem is typically, donors don't know why you want to meet with them. Like, it's not clear the purpose of the meeting. That may sound really obvious, but you are likely not being clear. So let me break it down for you. Get right to the point. Personalize it, of course.
Drop in their first name. Hey Sarah, please dear god don't say hope this email finds you well. Bleh. That is a surefire way to be ignored. Do you know how many emails a day your donor gets? Do you understand that the reason we are so, we have such short attention spans now, is because our, Um, expectations have elevated to the extent that we don't have time for boring crap anymore. If it doesn't entertain us, if it doesn't capture our attention, we don't pay attention to it.
If it isn't of high quality, our standards have elevated as a result of having such high saturation of content in the market. We are the most advertised generation to ever live on planet earth. So you have got to find ways to stand out.
Consider that when you email a donor, that you are marketing and you're also pitching in the same effort that you put towards creating a proposal, towards crafting your ask and pitching a donor for financial contribution, you should also put that same level of intention. into asking for their time. You are pitching them your time.
You're saying, will you spend 30, 45 minutes, 60 minutes with me, as opposed to spending time with your kids, spending time with your spouse or partner, spending time taking a nap, spending time making money. With your team in your business, whatever it is that they're going to be giving up doing. So you, it is a pitch, my friend. And when you're pitching, you cannot be ambiguous. You cannot be vague. You will be so frustrated with the results if you're vague.
So cut out the hope this email finds you. Well, no, but first of all, nobody writes an email and thinks, Oh, I hope this email finds you ill and on you down on your luck. And nobody's writing an email like that. So it's just safe to say, you know, we all hope that the other person finds that person. Well, okay. We're, we're all hoping that. Right? We don't need to say it. It's fine. It's just like saying, Hey, I'm following up. I know I'm guilty of this too. Okay? You're not alone.
Obviously you're following up. You don't need to tell me what you're already doing. Hey, I'm just emailing you today to remind you. Yeah, no shit. You're emailing me. We're wasting precious attention. If that's the first thing that people read. They'll delete it or ignore it. We have to get right to the point. Hey Sarah, so here's the deal. I really want to meet with you because you have been giving to our organization for five years. And I am a new development director. And it's so important.
That I report back to you the difference that you've made over these last five years and to share the vision of where we're headed in the future. You are such a loyal, important supporter of ours, and we wouldn't be where we are without your help. It's imperative that I meet with you and that I share what's going on with our organization. So you see, I've set. a really clear intention as to why I'm asking for their time, and then I'll say, Hey, Here are the times and dates that I'm available.
Do you have 20 minutes to hop on Zoom? Or can we jump on a phone call for 30 minutes? Or, hey, would you be willing to meet in person? I'm happy to come to a, a location that's convenient for you. I know you're located in this so and so area. There's a great coffee spot near you. I'm happy to grab coffee, coffee with you for 30 minutes. the following dates and times. So you're making it really easy for people to say yes.
So in that example that I just gave you, I specifically said, I'm asking for 20 minutes of your time over the phone. I'm asking for 30 minutes on zoom. I'm asking for 45 minutes in person, whatever it is. If you just say, Hey, I'd really love to meet with you. When is a good time? You're giving them Homework, because now they have to go on their calendar, they have to figure out, and then you didn't even say, Okay, well, I'm assuming, do you want an hour of my time?
Well, I don't have time for that. You know, it's like, let's make it really crystal clear why we're meeting, what is the purpose of the meeting, and then how much time you'd like. And when you're available. So that's typically missing one of those things, or if not all of them and why that person. So at the very top of the email, I'm saying, Hey, Luis, I'm reaching out to you. Because you have been X, Y, Z. You, it's obvious that philanthropy is a priority for you.
You know, let's, if they've been a loyal giver, then that is true. That's the case. The question to ask yourself when you're thinking about crafting this email is. What do I notice about this person? Like, what do I notice about them? Do I notice that they are loyal? That they are committed to our work? Do I notice that they always comment on our posts on social media? Do I notice that they always come to our events? Do I notice that they are connected to a lot of our board members on LinkedIn?
Do I notice that, what is it? What is it about them? Can you go on their social media and find things about them personally? Do you see the past meeting notes of your teammates and colleagues, um, who have met with this donor and things that they've said about them? Can you say that in the email? Customize, personalize, and show them that you see them. That is the game changer.
And then they'll know, okay, this isn't a canned email, I'm not being sent this email along with a thousand other people. This is personalized. This person who's reaching out to me actually sees me. And this takes more intention, it takes more time, but it's also more fun. Like, writing a boring email is boring. It's probably why you're putting it off. How can you incorporate more of your personality and more of who you are in writing an email? I'd love for you to think about that.
And just ponder and wonder and explore within your imagination. How can I be more of myself? How can I show up as more of myself? So, something that I love is, I love to read. Personal development books, self improvement. I love to listen to podcasts and I'll talk to my donors about that over email, as if I am in a conversation with them and we're in a dialogue and I'll say, Oh, Hey PS, I just finished reading 10 X is easier than two X by Benjamin Hardy. Check it out.
It changed my life or whatever it is that I went, I'll just personally share some thing that I think is a value to any human being, because that's how I want to show up in relationships. That's who I want to be with my donors. So how can you.
Be more of yourself, and how can you show the donor that you see them, that you notice them, you understand them, you've done your homework, you've done your research, and you're not just reaching out because they're rich and they have money and they've been giving and so you need to meet with them because that's your job. Blech. Right? No. Because. They're important. That's why you're reaching out. Because you want to report back on the difference that they've made.
Or if they're new, because you perceive, or you could say, this is one of my favorite phrases, it seems like. Right? So I don't know you, but this is how it seems. It seems like you are on the same mission we are. It seems like you really care about this issue, and it seems like you are a leader in your community.
And so for those reasons, I'd really love to meet with you and get to know you better, and understand And get your perspective on what we're up to and how you might want to be involved in what we're doing. Do you have 20 minutes in the next couple of weeks? Here are some times that I'm available to hop on zoom. I just gave you the copy for an email. You're welcome. So give yourself a goal of how many donor meetings you're going to ask for on a weekly basis. And then.
Spend just a bit more intention, a smidge more. What would it look like if you spent just 2 percent more effort and intention in writing these emails? That it would actually be fun for you to do, and it would be a bit more, a skosh more creative than what you've been doing. And just that little tick of a difference can yield you exponential results.
And I always like to book more meetings than what I actually hope that I will need, because of course people cancel last minute, they reschedule last minute, things happen, life happens, and meeting with you, sadly, is not one of their top priorities. So you're likely to get canceled on or rescheduled. You already know this. You already know this. It's normal. It doesn't mean that they don't want to meet with you. It doesn't mean they don't care.
It's just that your thing is not their full time thing. Okay. So don't take it personal. Just let it roll off your back and keep going and reschedule it and then over schedule yourself so that you actually have, you know, three to five donor meetings a week or whatever your goal is. So if I want, if I want to end up with five, I'll try to get six or seven. Knowing that I'm going to have a couple drop out and that's okay.
Okay. So improve your emails so that they don't suck by getting really crystal clear on the purpose of the meeting and showing the donor that you see them. Why them? Why do you want to meet with them specifically? And call it out. Don't be vague. Don't be generic. Tell them specifically them, Luis, I want to meet with you because of these reasons. And when you're really clear on the purpose of the meeting, that's going to change everything for you. And then follow up, follow up, follow up.
It's not just enough to follow up. It's that the follow up needs to be of the same quality as your initial outreach. And I like to do every five, every, every week, once a week, five to seven business days, I'm following up. If after the third outreach, I'll follow up maybe every 10 to 14 days, every two weeks ish.
And you can decide if a donor is someone who you need to let go of and disqualify and put on the back burner for now, or if it's someone who you really think, listen, I need to get a meeting with you. Do your best to compel them to meet with you. Tell them why you think that you need to meet. Is it because you know that they really care, you know that they are a leader, and they have influence, and that meeting with them could change everything? That they're so values aligned.
Name the values that you share. That they, that you read in an article that they said something about how, you know, this particular issue really matters to them. Quote that. Show them that you read that article, that you saw what they said, and that that's why you're insistent on reaching out. So I've, I, I absolutely love doing this. And when I'm a frontline fundraiser, I just have this chip on my shoulder.
That I'm going to get meetings, even with the people who are impossible to get meetings with. And it's a really fun game to play. So try to think of it as that. Try to think of it like, wow, what are the creative ways in which I could get this person's attention? That obviously it's not going to betray the truth. You need to be honest, but also creative. And I wonder how that creativity and how that intention can transform the outcome for you. Happy fundraising, my friend.