Discovering your donor's motivation to give
In my last article, I discussed a way to talk about the motivations of your donors to give. We covered author Tracy Gary’s four general categories of donor motivation: 1) Obligatory; 2) Social; 3) Heart; and 4) Strategic. These are from her book “Inspired Philanthropy”[1], subtitled “Your Step by Step Guide to Creating a Giving Plan”.
For individual donors, any one - or more - of these motivations may apply when they are considering a gift to your organization. And with the same donor, sometimes motivations to give can differ with each group they support. So don’t assume that when your donor gives to another organization, they will have the same kind of motivation to give to your group.
Why is it helpful for you to know which of these motivations might be inspiring your donor to give?
First, as I discussed last month, some motivations and blends of motivations tend to inspire major gifts more often than other motivations. In particular, I said that “a Heart-Strategic combination is a very strong blend of motivation. If you hear it from a major donor when they talk about supporting your group, you can be confident this upcoming gift will be very meaningful to everyone involved.” Your time will be well spent in cultivating and inviting gifts that are motivated by both “head and heart”.
Second, if you can determine your donor’s primary motivation to give to your group early in your conversations with them, you can gently confirm it with them, and get more information from them about why they are supporting your group.
This helps you and the donor, together, to more easily form the kind of gift that will be meaningful to them and at the same time very helpful to your work.
Your donor’s motivations to give may change over time. For example, you should not assume that a long-time donor will continue to support your group out of obligation. Perhaps their deceased parents always supported the educational institution you work for. As time goes on, your donor’s life and priorities will change and they may find other causes to support that are more compelling for them. Your job might be to anticipate this and engage them in conversation about other motivations they have for giving. Help them convert from “Obligatory” to another motivation that is stronger for them, as they think about supporting your group.
Below are some questions to consider asking your donor in conversation to help clarify their giving motivation for themselves, and for you. As in so many areas of life, timing is important so tap into your emotional intelligence for the right time to pose one or more of these.
What has inspired your giving to [our organization] to this point?
I’d love to hear more about why you care about [our organization]’s future.
What part of [our organization]’s work interests you most?
I’d love to hear about your general approach to giving, not just to [our organization]…
When you make a gift that’s large for you, what kinds of things do you like to see your gift accomplish?
Securing major gifts for your organization takes time and it takes high quality conversations between you and your supporters. Discovering their motivation(s) can be a critical stepping-stone to more meaningful gifts.
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[1] Inspired Philanthropy: Your Step by Step Guide to Creating a Giving Plan, by Tracy Gary, Jossey-Bass, 2007.
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