Let’s find all the wealthy people in town!

Is this your major gift strategy?

Big donor to save the day?

You know. You look up every large property owner in town and create a list. Or, how about you excavate other folks annual reports and assume, hey why not.

When you live in a small town or city, this strategy is especially compounded. There are only so many so-called big donors to go around. And, it seems as if everyone is courting the same people.

Well, I have news for you. This is not the case.

There once was some helpful advice that I remember reading, “Don’t look for wealthy people and hope some will be your friends. Rather look at your friends and hope that some of them are wealthy.”

You have friends already giving to you in your database.

Do you know who they are?

Do you want to spend your time courting someone who has no interest in your particular “cause” just because they are wealthy?

Do you think that just because someone is wealthy, they are automatically going to hand over $100,000 as their first gift to you.

Do you think that you can go out and ask someone to give on the “first date (contact)” for a large gift to support a capital project and get it?

And, yeah, I know, you think Bill Gates and Oprah are going to come around too!  Been there done that one.

I contend that you must look in-house first. You have all the prospects that you need, right in your existing supporter base. You just need to look deep for them. For the pure fact is that most major donors start out as low-level givers. They test the waters; you know or, maybe, up until this point that is all you have asked of them. Did you know that if you ask a person face to face, they may give ten times the amount they give through the mail?

But the common denominator is having a common link with the organization.  They need to know you or at least like you first.

And, don’t expect “pie in the sky.”

Just because a donor gave $100,000 to one organization does not mean that he or she even cares about what you do.

But, you do have folks who do care. And, I bet you, they are already giving to you.

Look and look deep!

And, if you already knew this…pass this information along to someone who needs to read it.  We all know someone like that, right??

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