Major Gifts Initiative
SRG’s Major Gifts Initiative promotes enduring change at participating stations, involving staff and board in raising unrestricted, annually renewable gifts of $1,000 or more. Some participating stations are just starting up a major gifts program. Others have a moderately successful program in place (including some that are combined with public TV in joint licensees).
Launched in June 1998 with twelve stations, the Major Gifts Initiative focuses on teaching staff and board how to enlarge and enhance the ways they can raise bigger gifts now and in the future. Participating stations receive training, professional counsel and support during a learning process sufficient to acquire and test new skills critical to their future success.
The Major Gifts Initiative will achieve clear, measurable short-term results during the term of the project. It will also demonstrate far more significant long-term results after the formal project ends.
Project Overview
The Major Gifts Initiative (MGI) is a benefit of membership in the Station Resource Group. The first round of the MGI is a thirteen month effort (June 1998 – June 1999) for up to twelve stations. SRG plans a second round for additional stations in early 1999.
MGI assumes that participating stations see this as a next step after achieving a stable and growing annual base of membership support, especially where memberships at and above the $250 level have been introduced and embraced by the community. Participating stations should also have an established underwriting program that provides a stable income source. With SRG acting as project manager, Carol Eddy and Claudia Chouinard of Results Group will deliver the training and expert major giving counsel mentioned in this summary.
The Major Gifts Initiative builds on the success of SRG’s Leaders Partnership project last year. Five SRG members, WBEZ, WBUR, WRKF, WUWM and Vermont Public Radio collectively increased their major gift revenue by more than $371,000sixty-two percent over the previous year.
The stations in the Leaders Partnership exceeded the modest goals they set at the beginning of their project. Several believe they have seen strong longer-term results in areas tangential to this project: bequests and planned gifts, new opportunities for corporate and foundation support, and membership upgrades at the $250 to $999 levels. These pilot stations reported that the project helped board and staff leadership become more aware of the impressive potential for larger gifts and far more motivated in seeking these gifts.
Just as with the Leaders Partnership, participants in the Major Gifts Initiative will develop clear, compelling answers to the question, "Why should I make a large gift to your station? What will be the benefit to me and my community?" And, perhaps most importantly, they will see first hand that the general manager, staff, and board members of every public radio station can be enormously effective fundraising resources.
We learned through the Leaders Partnership that this investment in staff time is the single most important factor affecting station success in this project.For stations to achieve the maximum benefit from this project, development staff and the general manager must be ready to make a significant commitment to both the time and process needed to cultivate and solicit major gifts. One fundraising staff member should expect to spend at least twenty hours each week on this work.
In many communities, public radio is not yet considered on a par with a museum, hospital, or university as a high priority for generous philanthropic gifts. The Major Gifts Initiative will help stations take steps toward changing those perceptions in their community, first within staff and board and then among donors and prospects.
SRG stations participating in the Major Gifts Initiative will enjoy learning new professional skills individually and from one another. Working in this group will increase performance through peer interaction and the sharing of new ideas. The success of this collaboration will provide solid experience for future SRG projects.
Getting Results
If a station makes the necessary investments in staff and resources, full participation in the work of the SRG Major Gifts Initiative has the potential of achieving a 200% return on first-year expenses—including both in-house and project costs. Start-up programs may require up to two years to see this return. The true benefits of expanding major gifts project will be seen over the course of two to three years. As programs gets stronger, the return on investment should increase as costs per gift decrease.
The project’s intent is to increase major gifts of $1,000 or more in addition to ongoing fundraising efforts, not to support one-time projects or to launch a temporary campaign. The $1,000 figure was selected as a minimum level for personal solicitation of major gifts based on the experience of the pilot stations. Some stations may well have the opportunity to attract gifts at a much higher level even in the initial year.
Different stations can benefit from the project in different ways, such as:
For those already regularly cultivating and soliciting donors at the $1,000 and above levels, this program will help select and train the strongest team of solicitors, improve skills in identifying and qualifying prospects and enable stations to set and achieve higher annual goals.
For stations launching a new major gifts program, this program will speed the planning process and will walk them through the first critical year of their new program from concept through achieving their goal.
Station boards should increase their personal giving, understanding their role at the station in a new way and in some cases, adopting a board giving goal of 100% participation.
If a station’s major gift program is combined with public television (i.e, joint licensee), this program should motivate solicitors and donors to attract more contributions from radio listeners.
The project is designed to help stations develop an annual major gifts campaign to increase unrestricted operating income for stations’ general budget. For stations considering a capital or endowment campaign, SRG recommends that such campaigns take place at a time other than the MGI project year. If a station has completed a special campaign, this project will help integrate those intensive efforts into annual operations.
Depending upon the level of participation in the work of this project, stations can reasonably expect to achieve at least a 50% increase in gifts at the $1,000+ level. Stations in the Leaders Partnership achieved a 62% increase as a group during the first project year, with many stations doubling their gifts from board members and their top donors.
At the conclusion of this one-year project, the successful station can expect some or all of these outcomes:
Major gift income will be integrated as an ongoing income stream in fiscal budget and planning. The board and management group will understand how a major giving program fits together with other fund raising programs, including capital and endowment campaigns.
In meetings with prospective supporters, the general manager will better demonstrate confidence and clarity in describing the station’s mission and its value to the community.
Board members will exhibit greater understanding and commitment to the goals of the station, and some will become major givers and active solicitors on its behalf.
Fundraising staff members will have built the foundation for a growing base of major gifts support, with systems in place for identifying, cultivating, soliciting and recognizing major donors.
If the station began with a major gifts program in place, the program will have become stronger, more cost-effective and more focused on the most promising opportunities for growth. Stations may see significant increases in the size of the gifts they receive.
Non-fundraising staff, including on-air hosts, will contribute to the "culture of cultivation" at the station and will be more at ease meeting and talking with donors and prospects.
Members and prospective donors will learn that the station cares about their needs and relationships to the station, not just about the station’s needs.
Major donors will tell the station that they feel a greater sense of partnership with the station and that they understand better what it is that is actually done there.
Major gift income will show signs of growth at a more rapid rate than other income sources.
A few "surprise" relationships will unfold that may open opportunities for significant support in the near future.
The benefits of this project, both inside the station as an institution and outside in the community, can be powerful. These results are perhaps best described with a few comments from the general managers and development staff of the stations who participated in the Leaders Partnership:
"The project has forced us to rethink how we ask donors for money and how we show our appreciation. I also think it is beginning to force us to rethink how we expend our development energies. I have found myself more directly involved in this effort than I had previously been in fundraising. I also believe that our development team has to rethink the way they spend their time."
"This project has gotten people to start thinking ‘big’! Instead of always viewing public radio as the grassroots organization worthy of only a $25 to $100 gift, we now have people thinking that $500 to $1,000 is a more appropriate annual gift."
"[This project] helped us understand the kind of personal relationship that the donor wants, and that the station needs to provide and develop with them. Some of these people have been waiting a long time for the station to ask them for larger gifts, to show that we care."
"[We now] have specific proof and realization that a major donor program can be a real benefit—[we’ve got] real results . . . . "
"This project has become an office team effort—[even the] receptionist is aware of who the major donors are, what letters and materials are available for them and—most important—how to answer their calls, visits and questions."
Are You Ready?
SRG stations participating in the 1998-99 Major Gifts Initiative must have:
At least one professional development staff member in place who can devote 50% of his or her time during the project year or twenty hours per week to major gifts work and can serve as Team Leader for this project. A Development Department with professional staff and diverse responsibilities is a plus.
A general manager who will devote at least 10% of his or her time (one half-day per week) to cultivate and solicit prospects and at least one board member who will actively cultivate and solicit prospects plus participate in a monthly 90+ minute project meeting with the Team Leader during the project year. (Commitment at the executive and board levels is a success requirement for this project, as only limited and short-term gift results will be achieved without this critical component.)
A clear and discrete external identity as an institution, apart from any affiliation university or other sponsoring organization, sufficient for donors and prospects to know and respect the station as a valuable community asset.
Two excellent—but not required—preparation elements for this project are:
1) prior development of a pool of annual donors at or above $250, representing approximately 200 households or 3% of total membership, and
2) past successful completion of a broadly-based capital or special projects campaign in the community.
This is a collaborative project in two ways. Each station will collaborate with the consultants and with a select group of other radio stations in executing the project itself during this year. At the same time, executive staff, development staff and the volunteer leadership on the board will collaborate at the station and in the community to deliver a new message about fundraising to donors and prospects.
Each station’s Project Team for the Major Gifts Initiative is composed of at least three people: the chief executive officer (at many stations, this is the general manager and in the case of joint licensees could be the Vice President or Director of Radio); a development professional at 50% of his/her time (also the Project Team Leader); and one key member of either the advisory or governing board. Some teams may include another development staff member.
In the best circumstances, these Project Teams will generate wider participation by other board members and senior staff. The best team members are articulate about the station, give generously themselves and can be enthusiastic in asking others to give.
What We Do
At each station
At project launch, Results Group consultants will hold a day-long working meeting and planning session at each station. Visits will be scheduled at the convenience of the station. The visit should include the following elements:
Tour of the facility with brief overview of programming content.
Group meeting with all executive and development members of the Project Team.
Meeting with full Project Team, including board members, possibly over lunch.
Meeting with the Project Team Leader and other fundraising staff to discuss workplan and goals.
Final wrap-up session with staff members of the Project Team.
One Results Group consultant will return to each station about three months into the project and again about eight months in for intensive training of the Project Team.
Joint training and planning sessions
Each station’s Project Team Leader (a member of the development staff) is required to participate in a full day "kick off" planning workshop produced especially for the Major Gift Initiative stations. Other staff Team members, especially general managers, are invited and encouraged to take advantage of this training opportunity. The workshop provides a unique opportunity to meet project peers and to interact with participating Project Teams from other stations.
Phone meetings
Every month, Project Team Leaders will have one-hour working phone meetings with project consultants. Preparation for these working meetings will be required. The focus of these meetings will be to review steps taken in the past month and to outline strategies for the month ahead.
There will be two telephone conference calls with staff from all of the participating stations during the project. These calls will be tightly organized around common themes and emerging challenges of the project.
Keeping Track
Project Team Leaders are required to keep records—a critical component of solid major gifts fund raising. They are asked to:
Fax monthly tracking sheets on top prospects and updated workplan.
Produce a quarterly gift income progress report showing total amount of gifts received and the number of gifts at each level of giving, including actual income-versus-goal.
Provide a quarterly two-page faxed narrative report including original samples of materials used in donor communications (appeals, newsletters, etc.) for copy and distribution to other Project participants.
Project Costs
The Major Gifts Initiative will cost $35,000 for each SRG member in the fifteen month project. This fee covers:
Three one-day visits to the station devoted to intensive working, training, and planning sessions with the Project Team and other station staff and board members. Travel and other related expenses for the consultants are included.
Electronic screening of the top 1,000 donors in the station’s membership.
A full day training workshop with the Project Team leader. Other Project Team members are encouraged to attend as well. This does not include travel costs.
Monthly individual consultation calls with project consultants.
SRG worked with the twelve stations selected for the first round of the project to secure CPB Future Fund support for a portion of the station’s cost. All twelve stations were successful in obtaining a CPB investment of $20,000 toward the cost of their participation.
The Radio Future Fund of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting provided partial support of stations' participation in SRG's Major Gifts Initiative.