When Debbie Johnson joined the Wildlife Trusts as Head of Major Gifts, she’d been working in the charity sector for about 18 months. Her background was in the corporate sector. Fast forward to today, and she’s secured multiple six-figure gifts, helped a young couple become seven-figure donors, and doubled her charity’s major gift income compared to the previous year.
How has she done it?
I had the privilege of working with Debbie on our Major Gifts Mastery programme that started 18 months ago, and recently caught up with her to understand what’s made such a difference. I really liked the way she has taken the principles and techniques from the programme and put them into practice to grow income for her charity.
Here are a few of the ideas we talked about, and the creative ways Debbie applies them.
Focus is power
One of the ideas from the course that had the biggest impact on Debbie’s daily practice was the philosophy of finding ways to add value to relationships with people who care about your cause. Every morning since the course, she has challenged herself to do three things which might deepen relationships with existing supporters and others who care.
That’s it. Three things.
To be clear, these are usually not requests for funding. They’re things you could do to strengthen relationships. A thank you note. A thoughtful follow-up. A small gesture that shows you’re paying attention. While many fundraisers talk about the value of doing these kinds of things, rather than primarily chasing the next gift, most don’t get round to doing them as much as they’d like.
Debbie’s solution was to have a permanent reminder in her diary, highlighted in pink, every day at 9am ‘Three Donor Actions.’
It has had an amazing effect.
In the interview for the Fundraising Bright Spots podcast she shared with me a powerful example. She’d been trying to meet a young couple who’d recently had a baby. They kept saying they were super-busy, overwhelmed with the new arrival. Rather than waiting for them to find time, Debbie did her research, noticed there was a park directly opposite their house with a coffee hut, and sent them a message: “Don’t stress about travelling to meet me. I’ll come to the park, grab us a coffee, and we’ll push the baby around together.”
That meeting in the park, with a takeaway coffee and a pram, was the start of a relationship that has now resulted in over seven figures in donations. And they’re young donors who are committed to supporting for years to come.
The discipline of putting those three actions in her diary each morning made Debbie stop and think: what would make a difference to them? Not what do I need from them, but what would add value to their day, and to their chance to make a difference to a cause they care about?
Increased confidence with donors…
Another practice from the programme that Debbie has made her own is keeping a special notebook—we give each participant a beautiful notebook on the first day—specifically for capturing stories and important pieces of information about your charity’s work.
She calls it her “fundraising Bible.”
In the book she records conversations with colleagues across the organisation, noting down compelling stories about the work they’re doing and where funding is needed. On the programme, we teach a simple four-step structure for storytelling:
a) Who (e.g. a person or environment),
b) A problem they faced,
c) The action taken to address it,
d) Result – what happened?
Debbie has found this a helpful framework when she seeks out stories about her charity.
When she met a donor interested in river conservation, she didn’t just say “we need money for river work.” She painted a picture.
She talked about one town where houses that had been flooded three times in 18 months with six feet of water and she also explained the terrible impact on wildlife.
Then she explained that to tackle the problem, the charity had created bends in the river.
What has happened? It has stopped the water surge, reduced flooding, and created wetlands that benefit wildlife.
This example was one reason the donor felt an increased certainty that this solution can work elsewhere. At the end of the meeting they gave a six-figure gift.
On the programme, everyone discovers that you don’t need to be a natural storyteller. Examples like these show that when you search out and capture real examples, it becomes much easier to give supporters the confidence to donate.
Be yourself
One theme we explore deeply on the programme is the importance of authenticity. As Debbie put it: “Don’t lose sight of being yourself, because I think it’s a very dangerous thing when somebody thinks they have to fit into a mould of what a fundraiser looks like.”
She’s absolutely right. As fundraisers we can receive signals from our environment that we need to sound formal, use fancy words, fit a particular image. But donors don’t want to meet a fundraising robot with all the answers. They want to meet a real human being who is interested in their point of view, and who cares about the cause. The more we give ourself permission to show up as ourself, the easier fundraising becomes.
When Debbie saw a well-known music artist sitting on a bench at RHS Chelsea, rather than hesitate, she took a deep breath and went to introduce herself. She started a conversation about gardening and environmental issues. He asked her to put her contact details in his phone. Two hours later, he came to visit their garden display and spent 15 minutes asking intelligent questions about their work. Half an hour after leaving, he messaged: “Now we’re connected. Let’s keep in touch.”
The conversation is ongoing— and it has happened because Debbie found a way to be herself and be interested in other people.
What’s Possible
Certainly, Debbie is committed and works hard. But as she says, there is more to it than that. She has shown what a difference it makes if you learn practical techniques and apply them consistently.
If you’d like to learn dozens more practical strategies for growing your own major gifts results, Major Gifts Mastery will help, as it helped Debbie.
You can find more information here.
And if you’d like to hear the full conversation with Debbie, where she shares more examples and insights, you can listen to the podcast episode here.
What’s one small action you could take today to improve a relationship with someone who cares about your cause?
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