![]() ![]() They are pleasantly and professionally persistent.A former friend and mentor of mine (we’ll call him Harvey because that’s his real name) once told me that the secret of his success was that he was “a bulldog” – when he sank his teeth into something he simply didn’t give up. #Major gift manager job description professional#If you aren’t effectively managing relationships, you’re not a fundraiser, you’re a professional visitor. Juggling a significant number of donors simultaneously quickly becomes complex, and anyone lacking strong organizational skills will soon be dropping balls. The role of the major gift officer is to strategically manage relationships in order to lead donors through increasing levels of commitment and support. ![]() Less obvious but equally important is the need for good management on the relational side of the equation. It’s easy to see how organizational skills apply to the systems side of the equation (such as prompt processing of gifts, regular and systematic communications, etc.). The art is in the relationships, while the science is in the systems and processes. Success in raising major gifts is equal parts art and science. Top-producing major gift officers trust their instincts and listen to their intuition, particularly as it grows with experience as they continually learn and incorporate new reference points into their understanding. We have found the same to be true in major gift development. Studies show that successful salespeople are almost always intuitive thinkers. Everyone uses both intuition and logic to make decisions, but most of us are hard-wired one way or another. It sees the big picture first, not the details. Are you a left-brain or a right-brain person? The left side of the brain processes information in a sequential, logical manner. When interacting with donors it’s good to be smart, but it’s even more critical to be emotionally intelligent. It’s the ability to recognize your own emotions and act intelligently, and to read other people’s signals and react appropriately, and it’s a critical ingredient to the success of top-producing major gift officers. Emotional intelligence is not the same as simply being friendly or having good social skills. There’s something called emotional intelligence. Do you ever wonder why the smartest people sometimes don’t get as far in their careers as others who never excelled in school or academics but get along well with people? There is more to success than just being smart. Top major gift fundraisers understand that truth, respect, and honesty with donors provide the basis for long-term success and serve their donors accordingly. It isn’t something you do to people it’s something you do for and with them… In this context, developing trust and rapport is a critical precedent for any selling activity, and closing a deal becomes a victory for both the seller and for the customer.” Success in major gift development isn’t driven by skills or techniques it is relational, not transactional selling (think investment advisor versus car salesman). Willingham explains it this way: “Selling is a mutual exchange of value. Major gift development is essentially an elevated form of salesmanship, and one of my favorite books on the topic is Integrity Selling, by Ron Willingham. They are good listeners gaining rapport with their prospects and getting to know them and “what makes them tick.” When the time is right, they are not afraid to ask, presenting donors with giving opportunities that fit their motivations and objectives. They zero in on donors’ emotional and personality needs as well as their rational needs. Sellers understand that emotional connections are equally if not more important than information in influencing giving decisions. Tellers tend towards “information-presentation”, making a rational case for a gift. Successful major gift development officers are almost always “sellers”. ![]()
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