How Events Can Ruin a Major-Gifts Program

It's not surprising to me that many major donors do not give as they could to the causes they love. The primary reason they don't is because major-gifts officers (MGOs) don't ask them to. And one of the reasons that doesn't happen is because they invite their major donors to an event instead.

Here's how it works. The MGO has a cluster of very good donors on his caseload. Rather than do the hard work of identifying each donor's interests and passions and creating an ask that is tailored to each of them, he decides that the best way to "get major donors involved" is to invite them to an event.

So a great deal of time and money is spent organizing an event (remember, as an MGO you don't have much time, so this takes away from your care of caseload donors) to which a certain number of major donors are invited.

A very nice program is delivered along with an activity and/or snacks or a nice meal; an inspirational talk is given by a program person or the leader, and the event comes off flawlessly with a net economic result that either just covers cost (hard costs, not all the labor, which is also a problem, by the way) or gets some return in the range of an ROI of 1:2.

In the meantime, the major donor goes home, and nothing much has changed in the relationship between her and the organization. I agree, some stewardship has happened but not much more.

I, generally, don't like events in major-gifts work because:

1. They are organized more for donor cultivation and stewardship vs. real fundraising. The proof is the financial result. I know, if the event is used as part of a longer-term strategy this statement may not be true. But then show me an event that is part of a longer-term strategy vs. just a one-time event.
2. The content of most events is geared toward the event vs. the cause. It is about golf, or the run, or something. And the donor comes to it focused on the event, not the cause. Plus, the event is geared to a one-time, small transaction at the event vs. a larger ask.
3. Major donors are more likely to give less at an event than they would if they were approached by the organization in a one-on-one setting. Why? Because the group dynamic of an event diminishes the energy of the individual's relationship with the cause. In a group, an individual major donor often thinks, "Goodness, with all these other people addressing this issue, I really don't need to engage at a high level." I know, the reverse of this can also be true, i.e. "Wow, with so many jumping on board with this, I think it's a good idea for me to participate." But, this one point can swing very easily the wrong way because of how the event is organized.

At this point you might ask: "Richard, are you just plain against all events?"