Major gifts: What You Can Do

While the Foundation knows the business of encouraging gifts, your participation in identifying, attracting and working with donors is an important key to engaging their interest.

There are many ways administrators and faculty can contribute to successful development.

Identifying potential donors

• Brainstorm with faculty and staff about former students, fellows and residents with whom they’ve stayed in touch who might be interested in giving.
• Invite faculty emeriti to your events and let development directors know who has stayed involved.
• Identify friends of the department who might not be alumni but who care about a particular program and might welcome the opportunity to make a gift.
• Identify staff and faculty members in your department who want to participate in development.

Attracting donors

• Build relationships with your alumni through electronic and print media, including newsletters and updates on your website.
• Plan professional conferences, lectures and other events to bring alumni back to campus.
• Encourage donors to visit your website. Include a “Make a Gift” link on your website home page.
• Work with the Foundation to establish a current email donor list.
• Include donors and potential donors on the mailing list for department receptions and lectures.
• Engage emeriti faculty in your department’s activities.
• Create a one-page description of your department that is easy to update. Include research areas, number of faculty and students, recent honors, research discoveries and other points of pride.
• Write a one-page summary of the department’s funding priorities, including the impact of gifts, department rankings, traditional strengths and recent activities and accomplishments.
• Keep your development director up-to-date on what’s happening in the department.

Tips for meeting with potential donors

• If you’re unfamiliar with development, your unit’s director of development, who has spent years working with donors, is happy to help you understand the process and how it can work best.
• If you need more information about potential donors, development directors also can provide a comprehensive snapshot of individuals and what is important to them. You can learn which topics to avoid and potentially sticky situations. The director of development may also outline what would be best to cover early in the meeting and what should wait until later.
• Remember you have backup. If you build a relationship of trust with your development director so you can easily work together to provide information to donors.

Stewardship – or saying thank you and staying in touch – also are keys to working well with donors and potential donors.