During a meeting of a cherished Development Committee I work with, the topic of the ‘Spring Ask Letter’ came up. The meeting leader shared that they were thinking of writing an update of what has happened over the past few months and what was planned for the future. It became clear to me that my colleagues had forgotten that when they were cultivating donors, they should cultivate. When they’re briefing donors, they should share information. And when they are asking , they should ask . Let’s review. Here’s the cycle: Cultivation is the period of time following donor qualification (ensuring that they are interested in what your organization does and determining that they might be interested in providing support) where you find out your donors’ passions, motivation and goals for philanthropy. To cultivate, you might offer the donor a variety of engagement opportunities: Inviting donors to connect/ follow the Social Media channels related to the campaig...
Musings on organizational change and personal growth by Organizations by Design consultants, coaches, and guests.