To Appraise, or Not To Appraise
A Common-Sense Approach To Address Delicate Subject
By Jennifer Furla, Executive Vice President
Kansas City
Invariably, it happens. You’ve done all the right things in laying the groundwork for a successful campaign. You’ve engaged your leadership in planning and have built a strong case. You’ve attracted the “right” leadership. You have attractive, eye-catching materials that convey the “compassion” in your case. A prospect appraisal committee has been engaged and has made an initial pass at rating your prospects into campaign categories.
Then, it happens. While you think you’ve trained your Campaign Committee on the solicitation process and the importance of a specific ask, a volunteer’s hand shoots up and they exclaim: “I can’t tell someone what to give!” or “Why can’t we just ask for a gift in any amount that they’re comfortable with,”, or “What if they (the prospect) ask where we got the idea we could ask for that amount?”
You’ve just entered the delicate and highly personal topic of “finances.”
We were taught from a young age that it isn’t polite to talk about what you have and don’t have. So, it’s only natural that volunteers struggle with this topic.
And yet, this very issue is at the heart of the fundamentals for a successful campaign. If a campaign is to have any realistic chance of succeeding, for every prospective donor, you must:
- Rate and evaluate the donor’s capacity,
- Seek a realistically large potential (read: stretch) gift, and…
- Provide the donor with a specific ask or suggested gift amount.
A well-vetted list of prospects, sorted by potential gift capacity, keeps us organized and on track. We know that campaigns succeed when they follow a logical order, proceeding to work through engaging and approaching prospects at the highest potential giving levels first.
Whether you use fundraising terms like “Advance,” “Pacesetting,” “Major,” or “Community” gifts, or whether you rate prospects as “A” “B” “C” or “D”, using appraisals to sort and organize your prospect base allows your volunteers to focus on a manageable number of prospects at a time, rather than an overwhelming database of names. By staying focused on one level, you are much less likely to lose track of prospect calls and where they are in the process.
When campaigns start with a groundswell of these “pacesetting gifts,” it builds a solid base. It also builds momentum. People want to join a winning team and the ability to attract top gifts early says that your project is a “winner.”
Appraisals are also important because they give your volunteer solicitors a starting point for a conversation about the prospect’s gift.
If you accept the fact that “the ask” is really only the start of a conversation about your needs and how you hope the prospect will invest at an agreed-upon level to help meet those needs, then “the appraisal” is merely a way of organizing when and how those conversations will take place.
The fact of the matter is that prospects want and need guidance. Prospective donors want to be on par with their peers. They don’t want to be perceived as stingy and give too little; yet they don’t want to give too much, either. By asking for a specific amount, you assist them in gauging where “they fit” in the campaign plan.
Can you ask for too much?
A lovely, dignified lady who was a well-seasoned fundraising volunteer once offered about a prospect and their appraised gift amount: “Oh, they will be very flattered!”
Only once in the thousands of campaign calls we’re reviewed in working with campaign committees has a volunteer reported that a prospect was put off by a specific ask or amount.
What can you do and what should you avoid?
- Rather than refer to a “suggested amount,” ask for a “hoped for” amount: “Given our need, our current opportunity, and your long-standing investment in our organization, we hope you will consider a gift of $20,000 for each for the next five years for a total gift of $100,000, Mr. Jones.”
- Practice your ask so that it comes across naturally and in a way that is confident, but not demanding. There is a reason that we suggest that campaign volunteers “practice” on each other in conducting their “Inner Family” gift calls. With gift solicitations, as with most things, practice really does make perfect.
- Help the prospective donor define his or her gift level in other ways, by discussing how the gift will impact the organization and the project, how it will make a difference, and by suggesting possible naming and recognition opportunities that tie to a donor’s interest or emotional involvement with the project or your organization. Tribute and memorial gifts are ideal for this type of discussion. Family gifts may also be appropriate in considering this option.
- Never imply that a prospect has been “pegged” at a certain giving level. You never want a prospect to hear “Susie, we’ve got you down for …. You’re good for that, aren’t you?”
By taking care to handle a delicate issue with the respect and prior planning that a gift request is due, the issue of “appraising” prospects to ask for specific gifts takes its proper place in your campaign plan.
