The 4-Quadrant Theory for Gift-Club Success

Have you ever been responsible for the creation or expansion of a major-gift club at your institution? If so, you understand the importance a gift club can play in the life of any organization.

Many individuals use a passive approach when dealing with a major-gift club. Typically, if a donor gives the amount to qualify for membership, he or she is sent a token of appreciation in the mail. In fact, many gift clubs not only send a thank-you letter, but also send a certificate of membership via the mail. If you received this in the mail without any human contact, would you hang the certificate on the wall, provided it included a frame for hanging? I do not think so.

When I became major-gift director at St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis, I was charged with expansion of a major-gift club. One month before my arrival, my boss hosted a dinner for approximately 30 people to welcome them in a major-gift club called the Seton Society. Elizabeth Seton was the patron saint of the Daughters of Charity. Donors who attended the dinner received a beautiful glass-inscribed bowl with the hospital logo on it. These individuals had given or pledged $10,000 or more to the hospital, and they were, in effect, a charter class of members. My new role was to build the membership of this new gift club.

I loved the challenge of creating a new gift club. I decided to create a new Seton Society Committee consisting of Seton Society members. This committee would meet for one year and was divided into four parts representing the four functions I established for the committee. I purposely kept the committee membership to 12-15 members and always sought to recruit new members from the newest Seton Society members. I found that brand-new donors were always the most excited about the organization. The four-quadrant theory represented having one activity each quarter during the fiscal year that would appeal to various Society members.