Raising money from High Net Worth Individuals

Simon Burne

August 2010

• Major donor fundraising is just as much about the donor as it is the project

• You don’t need bricks and mortar

• People make this more complicated than it needs to be!

• Knowing what to do; deciding what to do; being disciplined = success!

• 7 Steps & Moves management are all you need.

• More professionals and fewer volunteers

• Increasingly volunteers cultivate & professionals ‘close’

• Higher expectations

• Doing more with less

• Involved in higher solicitations

Challenges Good News

• Multi-year pledge reluctance

• Economic environment uncertainty

• Foundations stretched

• Corporations dropping out

• Everyone is doing it!

• Still giving

• Relationships and Leadership counts

• Stewardship is key

• Trust and confidence in your organisation is key

• More potential donors

Seven Step Strategy

Seven Step Strategy PLUS

1.

Discover

2.

Research

3.

Introduce 5.Ask

6.Thank

7.Maintain

LeadershipRole

Suspects Prospects

Some rules of thumb

• Ten suspects will yield one prospect

• Seven prospects will yield one gift

• 50% of major donors will give again

How many donors do I need??

Gift Size Number Value

Donors

£5m 1 £5m

£3m 2 £6m

£2m 4 £8m

£1m 6 £6m £100k-£1m 20 £5m

Total 33 £33m

How many donors do I need??

Assumptions

Prospect Conversion 8 to 1

External Conversion 25 to 1

Prospect Research

Wealth Band Matches Conversion Gift Level Total

£50m+ 2 0 500,000 125,000

£25-50m 6 1 250,000 187,500

£10-25m 10 1 100,000 125,000

£5-10m 112 14 50,000 700,000

£1-5m 768 96 10,000 960,000

Influential 355 44 10,000 443,750

Total 1253 157 2,541,250

Critical success factors

• Powerful Case for Support – just what do you want the money for?

• Excellent research

• Excellent cultivation

• Making the ask

• Loving your donors

• Asking again

Finding your prospects

Developing a Prospect Hypothesis

• Describe the sorts of people who:

• Have the right levels of wealth

• Have evidence of philanthropy

• Have some connection to the cause

• Are active in fields other than their work

• Have business interests whose brands fit with you

Researching your prospects

• Start with your database – they already love you!

• Use research companies or employ a researcher

• Use all published information

• As names come up, ask your trustees and existing supporters if they know them

Cultivation

• How to meet them?

• Go where they go

• Hold an event they would like

• Use celebrities

• Ask for a meeting

• Events

• Staff well

• Brief and debrief fully

Cultivation

• Assign a staff member to each MD

• Provide them with the information they ask for

• Invite them to a project visit

• If they come, you’ve got them!

The ask

• Many volunteers hate this

• Best done by a professional

• Know the right level of ask

• If in doubt, ask them

Follow up

• Thank

• Inform

• Involve

• Report

• Surprise

• Celebrate

What is leadership?

• Wealthy donors influencing other wealthy people to give

• Wealthy donors who will use their networks

• People will follow leaders – lead gifts are critical

• Big donors will push average gifts up – small donors will pushaverage gifts down

Secrets of a Leadership Forum

• Excellent Chair who has made a big gift

• Clarity of purpose

• Clarity of targets

• Time limited

• High-powered

• Exclusive