Exploratory Conversations: The First Step to Long-lasting Philanthropic Partnerships

Six or seven-figure gifts have the power to propel your mission forward fast. But only if there is shared purpose and aligned values between your organization and the prospects you’re pursuing.

But, if you’re a Major Gift Officer, how do you determine early on – before you invest significant time and resources pursuing a prospect – whether there is sufficient interest and alignment with your organization’s mission to suggest they should be pursued for a transformational gift?

The answer lies in the Exploratory Conversation – a conversation you have face-to-face or by phone to learn four things: 

1. Motivations
2. Aspirations
3. Philanthropic interests
4. Impressions of your organization

Let’s explore each of these topics, then we’ll discuss a few strategies for getting the meeting. Finally, we’ll dive into the next possible steps following the Exploratory Conversation.

The Components of the Exploratory Conversation

For a prospect to make a transformational gift, they need to see how their motivations, aspirations, and philanthropic interests align with the beautiful work of your organization. The Exploratory Conversation is where you begin to uncover this alignment and develop the trust and rapport that leads to big gifts.

• Motivations: As individuals, our motivations are what get us out of bed every day. They’re the things that give us meaning, purpose, and a feeling of fulfillment. Every human has intrinsic motivations, whether we are able to articulate them or not. The point here is to understand that each of your prospects is guided, consciously or unconsciously, by their intrinsic motivations. They are seeking ways to give their life a deeper sense of meaning, purpose, and fulfillment. Questions you might consider to ascertain motivations are:
  • What is it that gives your life meaning and purpose?
  • What are the societal problems you want to help solve?
  • What would you say your WHY is—the thing that motivates you every day to do what you do?
    

• Aspirations: If motivations are about a sense of fulfillment, aspirations are about a sense of accomplishment. Our aspirations are about who we want to be, what we want to do, what we want to have, and the legacy we want to leave. Our aspirations tap into the need each of us has for significance—to feel important and needed. Individuals will only give at capacity if they feel that the gift will help fulfill their aspirations and provide that sense of significance. Questions like these can help you ascertain a prospect’s motivations:
  • One year, five years, ten years from now, what are some of the goals you want to achieve?
  • What do you most want to be remembered for?
  • What’s on your bucket list?
    

• Philanthropic Interests: While you’re looking for the prospect to be most excited about your cause, it’s important to recognize that they are likely to have a few causes they care deeply about. By seeking to understand their philanthropic interests more broadly, you'll get a sense of everything that’s important to them and what their biggest priorities are. These questions can help you uncover their most important philanthropic interests:
  • What is important to you when deciding how to spend your philanthropic dollars?
  • With what other nonprofit organizations are you engaged? In what ways and why?
  • What cause is most important to you and why?
    

• Impressions: Learning what a prospect thinks of your organization is an often overlooked aspect of the Exploratory Conversation. It is critical to learn, at this point, whether the prospect knows what you do and whether they believe you’re making a difference enough to want to help. Questions you can ask are: 
  • How familiar are you with our work?
  • What are your impressions of our organization?
  • What aspects of our work do you find most compelling and what can we do to make a bigger impact?
  • Could you see yourself becoming (more) engaged with our organization? In what way(s)?

One very important thing you’ll notice about each of these questions is they are open-ended. That’s because open-ended questions encourage a deeper conversation, allowing donors to speak freely and from their heart.

As you ask these questions, remain focused and actively listen. By attentively absorbing the prospect’s responses, you’ll gain valuable insights into their values, preferences, expectations, and communication style – all of which can inform the Cultivation Strategy.

Now that we’ve discussed what you should cover in an Exploratory Conversation, let’s talk about one of the biggest challenges fundraisers have....landing the meeting.

Strategies for Securing a Meeting

We get it. Securing time on a person’s calendar is a challenge—especially when they’re working professionals with a family. Consequently, fundraisers tend to default to email. But, email will only get you so far. You can’t have a deep, meaningful conversation via email unless you’re prepared to go several rounds…which takes time. We want to save time by maximizing the learning that a live Exploratory Conversation affords.

So what’s the best way to secure an in-person meeting? The short answer is there’s no surefire method or one-size-fits-all solution.  What we can recommend that’s been proven to work more times than not, is to leverage existing relationships to help you get that meeting or phone call if you don’t yet have a personal connection with the prospect.

• Board Members: If the prospect was referred by the Board member, ask that they make a formal introduction by email. You can even draft the email for the Board member, which they can tweak to it make their own.
  

• Senior Leadership: If there’s a member of the Executive Team who already has rapport with the prospect, ask them to request the meeting on your behalf. That warm introduction is more likely to get you a response than reaching out to a prospect you don’t already know. Alternatively, you may find it best to have that executive conduct the exploratory conversation using the strategies we outline herein. (Just be sure to get the rundown on the conversation so you can document it for the record).
  

• Other Transformational Gift Donors: Happy donors love to tell their peers about their favorite philanthropic experiences. As such, they often represent an underutilized resource for securing meetings with a new prospect. As with Board members, you can draft an email your current donor can use to create a bridge to the prospect.

Possible Next Steps

Let’s fast-forward in time. You met with the prospect in person and learned a lot – though not everything…yet – about their motivations, aspirations, philanthropic interests, and impressions of your organization. What’s next?

The first step is to make a decision about whether the prospect should be pursued for a transformational gift. The best way to determine and document this is to assign a Mission Alignment rating. This rating conveys how much their motivations, aspirations, and philanthropic interests align to your organization's mission. You can keep the options simple: Minimal, Moderate, Strong. Your best prospects are those with Strong alignment.

The second step is to determine if their impressions of your organization are favorable enough to warrant pursuit, or if they’re predisposed to become favorable with good cultivation. You don’t have to document this; it should simply be your “gut check.” You'll move forward only if the prospect seems inclined to support your organization.

The third step is to assign the right Relationship Manager. That might be you, but if something you learned during the Exploratory Conversation suggests they may be a better fit for another Major Gift Officer, reassign them in consultation with your Development Director or CEO. There is never a shortage of prospects, so reassigning one from time to time won’t lessen your chances of having a robust portfolio.

The final step is to advance the prospect from the Qualification stage to the Strategy stage of the Strategic Relationship Management Cycle. This is when you'll form the Cultivation Team and assemble them to develop the Cultivation Strategy. (More forthcoming on this soon).

For Your Consideration

As you consider the components of the Exploratory Conversation, the strategies for securing a meeting, and the possible next steps following the conversation, what is one step that would improve the process for you and your team and create an even better philanthropic experience for your prospects?

Now it’s time to go forth and prosper! And by prosper we mean you, your organization, and your prospects…for these conversations are not mere stepping stones to a financial transaction; they are the first step to a long-lasting partnership built on alignment, trust, and a collective commitment to expanding the beautiful and important work you are doing.

Wishing you great success,

Lisa, Jeremy and Pam