| by Terry Axelrod, Founder and CEO, Benevon
You Never Know Who Will Be Generous
Part Two
Instead of assuming you can predict which people are likely
to become major donors, treat everyone who comes in contact
with your organization as a potential major donor. The demographics
have shifted so significantly, you just can’t assume
anything anymore. Today’s major donors come in all shapes
and sizes.
Ruth Tupper, 84, of Bossier City, LA, for example, seems
an unlikely donor. She never earned more than $20,000 a year
in her long career as a bookkeeper. To supplement her small
income from Social Security and an annuity, she resells errant
golf balls that fall into her yard. She also collects aluminum
cans for sale to the local recycling plant.
But Tupper knows how to save. She bought her home for $5,000
forty years ago. With no dependents, she put half of every
paycheck and all of a small inheritance into CDs and government
bonds.
One of her biggest joys is nature--tending her organic garden
and enjoying the birds of the season. While reading National
Geographic, she came across a story on the Nature Conservancy.
She was so inspired she has donated nearly $300,000.
Tupper’s story was in the Spring 2005 issue of Imagine,
a beautiful four-color magazine on philanthropy in Louisiana.
Connie Phillips, the executive director of Sojourner
Center, a domestic violence shelter in Phoenix, AZ, said
if anyone told her a few years ago that they would be getting
million-dollar donations from seemingly “regular”
people, she would never have believed it.
"We're not the symphony or the ballet," she said.
A million-dollar donor came to Sojourner originally looking
to give away $10,000 for tax purposes. He said the other nonprofits
he called hadn't been very responsive. But Sojourner Center
welcomed his involvement and cultivated him as if he could
be a long-term supporter of their mission. They had no idea
he could afford to give away a million dollars.
As Phillips tells it, she and the donor were at a low-budget
salad bar for lunch when the donor made the offer. She said
after she nearly fell off her chair, they both teared up.
"It was a holy moment," she said.
Phillips said the donor thanked her for allowing him to do
something so worthwhile with his money.
Some of the hospitals we work with say it’s usually
not the wealthy doctors who give the most or who make longer-term
commitments. Often major donors are simply the people who
were once helped by the nonprofit or who have loved ones the
organization helped.
There are many people out there who simply need to feel a
connection to an organization in order to become million-dollar
donors.
One expert who makes this point is someone who works with
high-end donors. H. Peter Karoff, founder of the Philanthropic
Initiative, a group in Boston that provides advice to donors,
told the Chronicle of Philanthropy in February, “There
remains a tremendous amount of money in the woodwork that
could be philanthropic.”
He said one reason this money hasn’t been donated is
that donors aren’t convinced they can make a difference.
When nonprofits learn how to show the impact of their work
and connect donors with their mission, they will be surprised
by the people who want to make major gifts.
For more information, go to http://www.benevon.com/. |
