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A Major Gifts Initiative for Public Radio

Most public radio stations have built impressive bases of annual member support in the gift range of $25 to $365 per year. But few have, until recently, ventured successfully into the territory of larger gifts and of campaigns beyond membership drives.

When Federal funding to public broadcasting was under siege, in opposition led by the late Senator Jesse Helms, a pilot project and subsequent projects to launch major gifts programs was created by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s Future Fund and administered by Station Resource Group. The project was designed and executed by Results Group International, which won a nationwide search for counsel to spearhead this ground-breaking projectthat ultimately impacted 21 public radio stations nationwide.

The goals of the Major Gifts Initiative project included, to:

·        Build new capacities to attract larger gifts and to lessen dependence on tax-based funding

·        Raise station awareness of the need to focus less on donor transactions and more on donor relationships

·        Focus on annually renewable gifts of $1,000 and above, in addition to bequests, other planned gifts and special gifts

·        Develop a 12-month plan with each participating station

·        Develop a competitive case for support for new and increased gifts

·        Involve the chief executive officer, chief development officer and key community volunteers in station fundraising, typically for the first time

·        Show stations how to identify their best prospects for larger gifts

·        Deliver hands-on teaching, training and coaching to enable the station to achieve its goals and to execute its chosen plan

The funder stressed that dollar goals within the limited 12-month time frame were important but secondary to learning and capacity-building goals.  As consultants, we stressed the incentive value of early and measurable gains in new dollars, and we focused on the “experiential learning” value of getting participants out into the community face to face with their donors.

The much-heralded project ran over a period of 4 years in three different project iterations. Quantitative reporting during the project was done quarterly (not of much use in showing Major Gifts results) and proved to be a real challenge for participants. Project reporting was confined to gifts that were requested (no windfalls were included), no value of planned gifts or gift intents was tracked (though these were many among participating stations) and only activity by donors at $1,000+ was measured. Reporting cycles were at odds with the varying fiscal years of participants, and many stations found accurate reporting nearly impossible without the ability to reconcile to a fiscal year total.

Project participants received direct hands-on assistance for 12 to 18 months. Anecdotal data during and after the project pointed strongly to excellent results in the short term and even better results in the longer term. We at Results Group were curious to see if hard data supported this “buzz”, so we offered to conduct a follow-up study. In  2003, Results Group received permission from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to review confidential reporting data on file at CPB and to compile data covering  3 fiscal years representing “Before, During & After” the Major Gifts Initiative project for public radio.

After conducting telephone interviews with participants in all three of these categories, we put our data on the top achievers under the microscope and studied them even further.

Patterns of Major Gifts Achievement

On the face of it, there were no trends in size, market, geography, longevity or programming that distinguished the most from the less successful participants. We observed some economies of scale in organizations around the $3 million annual budget mark that enabled them to make especially effective use of major gifts as a resource….but much larger and much smaller participants were also highly successful.

The project’s overall pattern of achievement was a deliberate and steady increase, a modest ramping up of capacities and a solid return on immediate investment.

When we broke this pattern down, we discovered that first-year gains and second-year gains varied widely.

Upon further study, we discovered that participants fell into three very different patterns of achievement, defined by their ultimate results as Triple- Digit, Double- Digit or Zero Sum Achievers.

 The project’s overall pattern of fundraising achievement was driven and mirrored by the Double- Digit Achievers, whose slow steady progress marked the overall results.

These participants were successful immediately and were able to sustain their success at substantially the same level when intensive counsel and coaching ended. They “internalized” the lessons learned during the project and carried forward new fundraising patterns established by the national project.

A second, smaller group of participants showed a remarkable pattern: dramatic gains followed immediately by even more dramatic losses. Because they lost all they gained—and then some—we called these our Zero Sum Achievers.

 These participants were successful immediately but did not sustain their progress, losing key project-trained individuals or simply losing interest when the project funding ceased to be available. Because project entry was by invitation and not competitive, this group included some who lacked interest in fundraising and participated largely due to industry politics.

The third and perhaps the most interesting group comprises around one quarter of participants who were strongly motivated and ready to expand their fundraising. These participants achieved modest first year gains, but took off in their next year to achieve record-breaking triple-digit fundraising gains.

These participants achieved success and built on it immediately and dramatically. They excelled at removing obstacles both internal and external and focused on action steps. We found that first successes were a definite incentive that spurred and inspired leadership toward more active and more aggressive steps into the community. These participants were the true role models of the project.

By group, the Before/After results varied from -21% to +188%. But reviewed individually, the Triple- Digit Achievers posted Before/After increases that ranged from 70% to as high as 444%! What did the top Triple- Digit Achievers do differently that enabled them to profit so quickly and handsomely from their new major gifts programs?

Lessons Learned from Triple-Digit Achievers

Here’s what the super achievers do that their less successful peers do not:

100% of Triple-Digit Achievers work from a written long range plan for 3+ future fiscal years, versus just over half of the lesser achievers. These Achievers set specific income dollar goals, and 100% hold staff accountable for goal achievement, versus just 23% of lesser achievers. Time and again, we see measurable plans and goals as the biggest motivator of solicitors and donors. If you can measure it and articulate it, often you can achieve it.

 “We don’t have time to plan,” you say. Yet, larger gift donors want to know where you are going and how their gift will help you get there. Top achievers used long-range plans and measurable goals as an internal motivator and an external lever, to turn supportive patrons into truly philanthropic partners.

86% of Triple-Digit Achievers actively asked for major and planned gifts from their publics, creating explicit giving levels and giving clubs, versus just 30% of lesser achievers. It’s the fundraising Golden Rule: you don’t ask, you don’t get.  Top Achievers used their print, online and on-air platforms far more explicitly in promoting giving programs and in getting out the word that they seek gifts of this type. 

Major and planned gifts promotions for these clients worked like “direct response.” When they were received or aired, the phone rang on Development staff’s desks. One lesson learned concerned non-cash gifts. Stations that explicitly promoted gifts of securities, property, insurance policies and retirement funds got these gifts along with comments like, “I had no idea you would accept a gift like this.”

100% of Triple-Digit Achievers worked hard at recruiting and training capable volunteer fundraisers, especially as Governing Board members. More than 4 times as many Triple- Digit Achievers had Governing Boards with higher buy-in and greater corporate ‘ownership’ than Advisory Boards.

The average annual income derived from Board giving was 10 times (yes, ten times!) higher for Triple- Digit Achievers, giving their new major gifts programs a political and an actual leg up. Triple- Digit Achievers derived around 2% of annual income from Board giving, while other achievers averaged around a quarter of one per cent. 

The disparity in Board giving is a good lens through which to consider major gifts advances. Nonprofits tend to resist new programs, and there is often internal pressure to show immediate results. A new program relies for its first successes on the champions and donors within its own leadership. While some participants ‘cleaned house’ and re-invented their Boards, most worked with the most willing and capable members and let attrition handle the rest over time.

Triple-Digit Achievers more quickly achieved a meaningful percentage of the operating budget in their major and planned gift programs. This resulted in higher program credibility, less dependence on public funding, and a greater ability to attract the trained and experienced staff and volunteers capable of taking the program to the next level.  There seems to be a point of “critical mass” achievement around 15% of annual operating funds where major gifts program income is not easily replaced and the program investment begins to be perceived internally as justified.  

Twice as much time, around 9%, was spent on major gifts work by the CEO/GM of Triple-Digit Achievers than by that of lesser achievers, along with almost twice as much time spent “out there” in the community (30%) versus within the organization’s four walls.

Successful fundraising starts at the top, and there is no substitute for the attention and attendance of the chief executive in contact with donors and prospects. The most successful CEO/GM’s came to know their top donors extremely well and found their face to face time with them most rewarding. Perhaps the most successful fundraising GM in the group keeps a list of the top 12 donors at all times and phones them with no agenda several times each year.

Triple-Digit Achievers devoted 68 professional staff-hours per week to major and planned gifts work, versus 48 hours per week for their peers. And of that time, Triple-Digit Achiever staff spent more than twice as much time “out there” (27%) in the community versus behind their desks.

100% of Triple-Digit Achievers made it their business to know every top donor by sight and by name; only around 60% of lesser achievers made this a priority.   One distinguishing characteristic of the Triple- Digit Achievers is their quicker acceptance of the fact that face to face contact is absolutely required to build a winning relationship with a donor.

Triple-Digit Achievers saw immediately that an annual major gifts program was just the ground floor and expanded far more quickly than their peers into capital, project, endowment and cash reserve fundraising in addition to annual gifts. In addition, they saw more readily the huge untapped potential of bequests and planned gifts and ramped up these programs more quickly and more explicitly.

57% of Triple- Digit Achievers now have 7-figure+ campaigns in progress or in feasibility stage. None of their participating peers plan foreseeable campaigns. Triple- Digit Achievers expanded beyond annual fundraising earlier and have achieved cash reserves and/or endowments equal to an average of 35% of annual budget, while project peers have amassed reserves averaging less than 5% of annual budget.

Keys To A ‘Climate of Achievement’

From the top of the organization down to the switchboard, Top Achievers created a can-do climate of achievement that helped them to outpace their project peers.  No individual element of this climate is particularly challenging but taken together, the elements create a momentum that builds.

 This is not a “big bang” approach, not a single huge gift or windfall that galvanizes the organization. Instead, it’s a steady pace of constant incremental expansion that over time pays off handsomely.  

Top Achievers learned quickly how and why to assess themselves, noting every 12 weeks or so that they’d taken the next critical steps and could implement new and perhaps more aggressive steps that led to their overall goals. This ability to do what we call “plan-measure-replan” helped them keep their perspective and not be side-tracked by day to day issues.

They also shifted the culture of the organization from an “inside” focus on technology, product and process to a more “outside” focus on community, prospects and donors in what was perhaps the most critical element in their success.

We called this a “culture of cultivation” and a “climate of achievement” and it worked only when it started at the top of the organization and flowed down through the organization chart. This shift altered the internal value system of the organization, putting a far higher priority on community and donors than ever before. When such a culture and such a climate was perceived, staff and solicitors felt more encouraged to try new things and to step into uncharted territory.

Change is difficult for everyone under every circumstance. Whether it’s getting into shape in your personal life or taking your nonprofit to the next level, change requires a high degree of commitment and an acceptance of the fact that Rome wasn’t built in a day. These Top Achievers committed themselves to success and backed it up with the policies, resources and attention sufficient to produce measurable results. Once they could see a return on their investment, they took action immediately to build upon their gains, creating a forward momentum that has positive impact inside the organization as well as outside in the community. 

Every nonprofit can create its own ‘climate of achievement’ and can use the Best Practices of these Top Achievers to realize the kind of dramatic fundraising increases that these Achievers did. Does it start at the top? Yes. Does it require teamwork? Yes. Do you need a competitive case for support? Indeed, you do. But with these elements in place, every nonprofit can craft a roadmap toward success with major gifts, create a forward momentum and grasp the potential of triple-digit income growth.

We invite you to email comments to get@resultsg.com

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