Episode 166: Getting Over the Hurdle of Perpetual Cultivation and into Solicitations

Thank you so much for your time as you join this edition of "Around with Randall." I want to talk today about what I see as probably something that's been very consistent but I see it growing in some of the work that I do, and that's what I will maybe label the ever growing evolution of cultivation. I'm seeing more and more gift officers, relationship builders, those that are charged with deepening the connection with certain people in the community, and community you can define as small, or national, or international, really struggling with moving from any just continuing cycle of cultivation into actually soliciting someone. And what's happening is several things.

Number one, good opportunities are being missed, which good fundraisers, leadership know is something that with a decreasing number of donor possibilities overall, again I keep coming back to it, but if we see are seeing less than 47% of the households from the latest number, I think it'll drop below that when we get the right numbers for 2023. When we have less people giving we need to maximize the ones that are interested. And when there's this constant churn of cultivation, leaders are saying we're letting good opportunities go by. So one effect is not very good ROIs or that aren't advantageous to saying why we're efficient and effective.

The second thing is the growing size of portfolios, that we have all of these portfolios that are just growing because we just keep cultivating people. We think that we're cultivating people and we're actually not. We'll get to that at the very end in terms of blessing and releasing. The other part of it is that it's putting a frustration on prospect management. It's interesting. In some of the larger shops that I'm fortunate enough to work with that I'm hearing more and more often from the prospect managers that we're giving you names and they're somewhere in the process, but that your portfolio is growing. And we know you're not doing the things that you should to get those people to solicitations. The real rub or consternation comes from gift officers saying to prospect management, you don't do what I do so how would you actually know, and prospect management not being fundraisers, not able to articulate why they're seeing these growing numbers. And so we have less dollars, less efficiency. We have growing population, and we have kind of an internal fight occurring because we have a lot of people that were just constantly cultivating, and that leads us to where I see some gift officers more often than not, and that is by analysis, what is it that I should do next. I have all of these people, some of whom I've talked to recently, some of them I haven't, some who have plans, some that don't. And so you're left with a lot of indecision on multiple fronts. Leadership's looking at opportunities, just generically, saying why aren't capitalizing on them. Gift officers are looking at all these people and the growing pipelines and growing portfolios and saying oh my gosh what am I supposed to do? Internal data infrastructure, prospect management is saying we don't think you're doing the work, and the gift officers are pushing. All of this is leading to what are we supposed to do about it, and I do think we have too much cultivation. And it's really become a lot more obvious that the challenge is the move from cultivation to solicitation, and that's what we want to talk about today. How do you solve that? And this is going to be a longer, tactical piece, because the first part we're going to talk about what the solution is. The second part is how do you overcome obstacles within that solution.

So let's jump right in. What is the solution? The long lost art of the soft ask. Soft asks are meant to frame the next step for the donor, and really for the gift officer or the relationship builder. If done correctly, I want to telegraph if I'm representing the organization what we're going to go to next. And this is where fear becomes a part of it. People are afraid to ask, generically, I'm talking about society, the idea of fear of asking for money. It ranks up there with fear of heights, fear of snakes, people don't like to talk about it, don't like to talk about money. So what do gift officers do? Well they don't use the soft ask. Normally if they get to an ask what they end up doing is asking for a lot less money than they should because it does two things. It makes the gift officer feel better that there's a more likelihood that the gift will come to fruition. And number two, it speeds up the process for those gift officers that can actually overcome that issue instead of pushing into passion, which we've talked about on these on previous podcast. Instead of pushing into what moves the donor or donors, they say well would you would you consider $2,500 gift. And for someone who's used to giving $50,000 or $100,000 away a year $0200 is like, sure. I mean it's almost like an afterthought. And if they give a million dollars away, they ask for $10,000. If they're given a million dollars away a year, why isn't your organization, why aren't you pushing into that $250,000 range? And that's because there's a fear factor. It becomes easier, more more likely to be yes, and more transactional when we decrease the amount. And this is where the soft ask becomes the most important. So the scenario in any situation that we're going to talk about today is that you're cultivating someone. You've got to know them. They're qualified. They're generally interested in what you're talking about. They've kind of indicated interest in a specific project, or issue, or campaign initiative and you're at this moment where they kind of think something should come. And you know you need to give them something, and that's the soft ask. It sets up what's coming next.

What's interesting is that the pandemic, Covid-19, illuminated the soft ask in the, to me, in the most interesting way. Great gift officers, fundraisers were using a soft ask all the time but in a totally different context, but for the same reason. People began to figure out, as the pandemic was going along, ravaging the normalcy of life, that they couldn't stay away from their donors. And so the pandemic, in about you know March of 2020, in the United States maybe a little earlier in other parts of the world pushes in. Things begin to shut down. Gift officers have to begin to figure out how do they stay close to their people, and genuinely so. Are you okay? Well that was telephone for a while. Then they began to figure out, I got to do something more and they began to use soft asks what as in, and I think about Linda down in Phoenix who did it brilliantly, a couple of people in California who did it brilliantly. I think of some of the people at one of my a longstanding clients Barrow Neurological Foundation did it brilliantly. They started soft asking. Would it be okay if we met somewhere outdoors, kept our distance, just so I could see you and check in on you? They were asking for permission to set up a time to go to a park, sit at a bench, and share a cup of coffee. Would it be okay, cuz I've been to your house, if I came by, brought a cup of coffee, stayed outside, walked around the house and we sat on the deck six, 10 feet apart? Would it be okay? As we got going, and some people adjusted to the pandemic differently than others, that we could meet outdoors for lunch. Could we have a zoom call?

The idea of the soft ask getting to the point where where you're asking for permission for the next step was prevalent for really good gift officers, fundraisers, people who build relationships. We were doing it inside of our families. How can we meet? I did it with my parents, older dad going through some cancer challenges, where I would say Dad if you and Mom want to come over for dinner we'd love to have you. Jay's got a little bit of a sniffle. We don't think it's Covid but we'd love to have you but it would that be okay if we asked you and their answer was, we're 80 years old. I, we can't stay in our house forever because we haven't got forever. And I think back since we've lost dad this last year how important that was to him that he was at the house with the grandkids. He have just stayed inside. That was his personal choice but we soft asked them.

So what do we do for soft asking when it comes to cultivation. First of all it's when to use it, and it's at this moment when you're transitioning from I know that they are interested in an organization. I'll go back one step. They're qualified. They're interested in, have capacity. They're interested in this specific thing and I'm honing in on a dollar figure based on the conversations of they want to accomplish X, Y, or Z. And we know that's going to cost this much money, or we have a campaign. And we they want to be a part of it at this level. It's at this moment the soft ask is, when to use it. Now the question is what do you say? And that's when I think everything comes to a stop. I think, philosophically, as I say this, if you're listening and if others would have the same conversation. I think they understand the premise of a soft ask. Maybe they call it something different.

Number two, I think they generally agree when they should use it in an asking process, but it's when that something needs to be said and then everything stops that's the crux. So what are some examples of soft asks? How can you move into solicitation? It's not as hard as it sounds. Try this. We've had some great conversations. It sounds like you're really interested in this specific opportunity, project, need, capital, item, whatever it might be. Could I bring a formal proposal to you that would highlight how you might like to be involved and do so at the $100,000 level? We'll get to the outcomes here in a moment. Another option, could I send you some information outlining this idea and how you and/or your, the couple, the family, whomever might like to be involved at the $250,000 level? And we could discuss how that could come to fruition. Third option, should we be chatting about how you might like to be involved at the $250,000 level? The most basic one that I think has the most importance or ease, would you consider supporting us at the $100,000 level? Could I bring you something to consider? All of those examples don't mean a lot in terms of an actual gift but they mean everything as to clearly identifying removing the fog of what the next step is, because the answer is going to illuminate a lot of stuff for you. So this brings us to what the result of the soft ask is. First of all, it lets you know where they're at. Number two, it lets them know where they're at, and number three it lets them know where you're at.

I think the fourth thing, though, is based on the first three where you, where they're at, you know, that they know where they're at and they know where you're at. Is, it also begins to clarify what the next steps are. If the answer, and we'll get to this a second, is kind of objections is not yes well then you have a chance to retreat with some dignity and with some purpose to actually be able to take another step in a little bit different direction, both hopefully leading to a gift opportunity. Also if you have someone else involved in this process, a CEO, a physician, a faculty member, a Dean, a department chair, you don't want them to hear no very often because if they actually hear no then they begin to believe, well this doesn't work. A soft ask because you can retreat and say, well they didn't say no, go away. Hopefully we're going to pivot. We're going to go this direction. Gives you credibility, internally, that you know what you're talking about. So the result of the soft ask is about knowing where everybody's at. Everybody kind of is in the same place.

Number two, it gives you a clarity of the next step. It allows you to retreat, do more education, pivot to a different methodology making sure that you're on point with what their interests are, verifies their level of intent before you ever put anything in front of them. And if you're working with someone, it gives you credibility. So if the answer is yes, it's pretty easy, well what I'm going to do is put this in writing and bring you a formal proposal, because we really respect the fact that you have intent and we want to meet that intent and make sure we're doing exactly what you want us to do. So I'm going to put this into a formal proposal and bring it back to you in five days, three days, email it to you. Something that's the easy one. The more challenging one is what happens if they say no is no, mean really no. And I'll begin and end with the same place. No, go away means no, go away. But most the time the answer to no could I bring you a proposal, usually he's followed by something and the followed by something's really important. No not for this. The retreat point with a soft asset is now you can go back and figure out, what did I miss. Why isn't this the right project? And the easiest way to do that is to ask a question almost immediately. What area or what is of interest to you? Most of the things we've discussed, pivoting into what's important to them, no not for you, that may mean that the wrong person is involved in the support or asking. Who is it do you want to come and talk to you about this?

And this is where Vibrant Vulnerability, my book, there are some people that only want to deal with the CEO. It's not that you're not important, but the value or the chair of the board, or a doctor, or a faculty, somebody who has more impact than the gift officer. No. Well not unless meaning that there's something missing in what I will call conditions. What would make you feel more comfortable? What conditions would you like to have included. No, not this way. That generally means that the type of conversation you're having, the gift vehicle, or the gift process is off. The easy way here, is there another way that would be better for you to make this gift come to fruition? This is where blended gifts come involved or multi-year pledges, along with a blended gift, or a gift from a family and they're all putting in a piece. No, not now, is another one that just means you asked at the wrong time. I use me as always the example. We now change our charitable giving. For business tax reasons we do it at the end of the year so if you ask me in February the answer is you want 20 bucks we can talk, you want $5,000 I'm not making that decision right now. No, it's too much. Well that's pretty obvious, well what level would be appropriate and did you know that there's lots of ways to make that gift possible that may include things you've not thought about.

Pivoting into that Blended gift giving opportunity, the last one is where I started. No, go away, thank you for your time. And I want to finish with what I talked about probably 14, 15 minutes ago. We need to be better at blessing and releasing. It's okay if someone tells you no go away. When a no is a real no, hopefully that happens more in the qualification process. But if it doesn't it's okay to bless and release people. Not everyone's going to be a donor, and the hoarding in the portfolio, that's why this soft ask is so important. Because if you can't get them to accept a proposal then they're not a gift opportunity. They're just, they're doing something else and this is the water off the duck's back. It's not about you, it's about what they're going through. It's about them and that's also okay. Two thirds of the people we work with shouldn't make a gift and yet I sometimes think gift officers think that what they're doing is a failure if they're not running at 80%, which is why they lower the dollar amount. We come back to the beginning and make it easier on everybody. If they just ask for less money instead of pushing in, knowing that the soft ask is there to maximize someone's passion, what they want to accomplish, whether it's grateful patient thanking a doctor, whether it's an alum thanking in a university or higher ed or secondary educational unit for what they did for them, whether it's a community asset, because they feel like they are blessed and they're going to support the food bank because they have lots of food. I don't know but what I think we run into is fear that we can't convert from cultivation to ask. And what I'm telling you is the soft ask permission is the way to do that to make it easier on you.

Take some of these lessons and utilize them and reduce that portfolio, increase the gift asks in terms of size, and reduce the number of people saying no at higher levels because you've given them the opportunity to give you permission to move forward.

Don't forget check out the blogs at Hallettphilanthropy.com, two or three a week. 90 second reads, just things I see and read. Hey, have you thought about this? Hey you might pay attention to this leadership philanthropy nonprofit. Sometimes a lot of them actually have nothing to do with fundraising as they do just with good, being better in life. If you'd like to reach out to me it's podcast@hallettphilanthropy.com. It's going to become more and more important. We get better at this because there are few and few people giving, and what you do, whether it's infrastructure or inside the organization or outside meaning external gift officer, leadership, board, it's a team we need. Teams to be great because there's more and more challenges in our communities. This is why philanthropy could be a difference-maker. Don't forget, some people make things happen, some people watch things happen, then there are those who wondered what happened. You're someone who makes someone, something happen, and the people around you are as well, and I hope that you feel great great about the contribution you make to your nonprofit, to your organization, to your community, because it's worthwhile, and it's important, and it's a difference-maker. I'll look forward to seeing you next time right back here on another edition of "Around with Randall." And don't forget, make it a great day.