knowabundance.com

Happy Monday!

So what’s on your “to do” list this week? Planning meetings? Paperwork? Data entry? Responding to emails?

What about meeting with donors? Does that show up on your daily calendar anywhere?

If not, you need to rearrange your schedule.

It’s easy to get caught up in office tasks and loose sight of the most important aspect of our job: building relationships with the people who are supporting our work.

The 2009 study Significant Gifts: Where Donors Direct Their Largest Gifts and Why conducted by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University confirms that, “Donors to charitable organizations give more when they are asked in person and when someone they know makes the request.”

and “People give to people, and especially to people they know.”

But it’s not just about us initiating face-to-face meetings – we also need to be available.

A longtime supporter emailed recently to say she’d be stopping by the office and “hope to see you for a few minutes at least.” I suggested we go out for lunch and she replied that she already had plans and said, “I never think of trying to have lunch with you guys anymore because you all seem so busy.”

Later that week another donor sent an email asking if we “might be available for a bite of lunch or cup of coffee…I know you are busy, busy people, so just let me know what might work for you.”

Both of these messages were stop signs for me. What kind of relationship can we have with our donors if they think we’re too busy to meet with them?

What’s the most important part of our job as fundraisers?

You know what it is, so get out of the office this week. Go enjoy conversations with people who are passionate about supporting your work. Be available.