One of the original “A ha!” moments when I went through my first fundraising training was when I heard that the appropriate amount of time spent preparing for a meeting with a major donor or prospect was 4-8 hours (not including travel to and from the meeting). Up until that point, I thought that the most challenging thing was to get those meetings scheduled, and the most important part was follow up.
Once I booked an appointment with a donor, I might spend 20 minutes the day before or the day of the meeting giving some thought to the agenda and how I would conduct it. Occasionally, during those last minute cram sessions I would think about something I would have liked to have researched or planned better, but that I couldn’t due to lack of time. But up until that training, it never occurred to me that I was effectively winging it, and that my lack of preparation was making me significantly less successful as a fundraiser.
If one accepts the premise that much more preparation than many fundraisers traditionally do is warranted, as I did when I took that training, then this question arises: what on earth could you do to prepare for a meeting that would take so much time? (Incidentally, I now often spend at least an hour or two preparing for a phone call with a donor; investing 4-8 hours normally refers to an in-person cultivation or solicitation meeting.)
I have now incorporated the 4-8 hour benchmark into the fundraising trainings I deliver, and I mentioned it in my recent books on nonprofit management. People generally seem surprised by the standard, but perhaps because I am seen as an authority on fundraising, they are usually open to trying it out. For some time now, I have been promising my clients and trainees a list of things that I have done, and that other people can do, when preparing for a meeting with a current, prospective, or lapsed major donor. Well, better late than never – here’s a list of 25 preparation activities or techniques (nearly all of which I have used at one time or another):
1. Determine the goal or goals for the meeting (this can be done individually, with input from colleagues, volunteers, and others, or through some combination of both).
2. Brainstorm with staff about potential agenda items and how to present them, and how best to orchestrate the meeting to achieve the desired goals (which often involve getting the donor comfortable and talking).
3. Consult with board members and other volunteers about the donor in general, and about the purpose and plan for the meeting; focus on those people who know the donor or have at least followed their life and career, or who might be flattered to be asked to contribute ideas.
4. Determine who will be in the meeting and then involve them in planning by, for example, doing some role playing, sharing and discussing background documents, and figuring out who will take the lead in different parts of the meeting. (It is best for every person in your delegation to have a lead role in some part of the meeting – otherwise, why include them?)
5. Research what the donor has written or speeches they have made that are in the public domain, and incorporate learnings from what you find into the meeting (even in small ways).
6. Determine if bringing handouts or a slide presentation is appropriate (I normally don’t use them), and if you are going to use them, tailor them for the specific purposes of the meeting.
7. Reconfirm the meeting with the donor or their scheduler 1-2 days ahead of time.
8. Anticipate questions or objections by the donor, and think through your responses.
9. If the meeting is over a meal at a restaurant, review the menu online in advance so you don’t have to spend time figuring out what to order. (You can encourage those joining you to do the same.)
10. Learn all that you can about people who might be asked by the donor to join the meeting at the last moment, such as philanthropic advisers and family members. Remind yourself of their names and how they are pronounced, and of any prior interactions you have had with them.
11. Brainstorm what you could say to the donor that would delight them and draw them closer to you and the organization; don’t stop at 3 or 4 ideas – come up with 10-20 and then choose the very best ones to actually use.
12. Procure some small memento to present to the donor as a gift, something that represents or symbolizes the mission of the organization and/or how important they are to you and your organization. Think about the best way to present this to the donor during the meeting.
13. Review the donor’s recent online and social media activity and tweak your agenda based on what you learn.
14. Consider sending something in advance for them to read (though usually not a formal grant proposal, since it might limit your ability to present your idea and negotiate their role in supporting it).
15. Think about something you would like to ask their advice on during the meeting. It could be something you ask them for advice on in the moment, or something you ask them to give some thought to and then provide their counsel in a future meeting or phone call.
16. Closely review the contact report from the last meeting with the donor, and also at least skim prior contact reports and emails with the donor and people close to them.
17. Make sure that all the follow up items from the last meeting have been completed, and that the donor has acknowledged receiving the things that were promised.
18. Make sure that the level of detail and focus areas you are planning to present are in line with the donor’s stated and observed preferences. This can be discussed when you have a team planning session, as others may have better ideas that you do. (Planning meetings may include people who will not join the meeting but who track the relationship or otherwise may have good ideas to contribute.)
19. Coordinate among everyone in your delegation a similar dress code (business attire, business casual, etc.).
20. Determine whether there is anything that you or your organization has done since the last meeting that the donor may be disappointed by, and decide on whether you will raise that issue yourself or simply be prepared to respond if they do.
21. Make a list of things you admire about the donor that you will try to find ways to naturally include in the conversation.
22. Make sure everyone joining the meeting has the right time and place, and has directions if necessary.
23. Rehearse (even if just silently to yourself) some of the stock phrases that you may employ, such as, “I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t have the goal of ultimately making us your top nonprofit partner” or (in the case where the meeting is going off course) “Out of respect for your time, I’d like to return to the main reason we requested this meeting with you.”
24. Remind yourself of the names of any of the donor’s family members, colleagues, advisers, or friends that you have met and/or that both of you are connected to, including their receptionist (if they have one), so that you can call people by their names or reference them easily and naturally.
25. Do a Google search of the donor and any companies or nonprofits that they heavily involved in.
Are there some pitfalls from this approach? Of course there are, as is the case with almost all of the success strategies I employ and recommend. For example, an overly planned meeting can sometimes lack in spontaneity and leave your delegation unable to deal with unexpected developments. Sometimes, fundraisers feel compelled to show off how much they know about the donor, which can feel creepy. (Better to let your level of preparation come out naturally, and only when appropriate to the conversation.)
I have certainly had many successful meetings with donors that I spent less than an hour preparing for. But in general, the more you prepare, the better results you will have. Among other benefits, coming to the meeting well-prepared is often perceived as a sign of respect by the donor. As you practice this technique, you will improve your ability to use each hour spent on preparation productively, though there is always some benefit to just having an unstructured, meandering session to give breakthrough new ideas time to emerge.
The overarching themes to keep in mind in all major donor cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship, including meeting preparation, are: try to delight the donor, by all means avoid doing anything that makes them feel taken for granted by you or your organization, practice thoughtfulness and consideration, make them feel heard, and perhaps above all, appreciate them for being the philanthropist that they aspire to be (to the extent you can honestly do so).
Finally, don’t beat yourself up if you find yourself 2 days before an important meeting and have done little or nothing to prepare. Just carve out whatever time you can to plan the meeting, and use that time as productively as possible – while looking ahead in your calendar to meetings a few weeks out that you can begin preparing for now so that you can meet this benchmark that has been so helpful to me.