THE PERFECT PITCH
The question was about how to write the perfect pitch to a corporation to get them to give your organization money.
The answer is easy—you don’t.
A pitch is something you throw at someone; getting a charitable gift or grant is something you do by building a strong relationship, understanding what the donor or funder wants to get from their generosity, and then showing them how a gift to your organization can help them realize that desire.
With a corporation, your job is to find out what they want in exchange for their generosity. Let’s fact it, they are not in the business of philanthropy. They are in the business of making their shareholders happy, What would do that?
Increased sales, for one
Great PR for another
Employees who are efficient and effective
An enhanced reputation
Foundations, on the other hand, are in the business of philanthropy. But even so, just because you think your mission is amazing, your needs critical, your proposed project…wow, that doesn’t mean it will resonate with all foundations. Make sure you match your mission with theirs. If you are an animal shelter and they only care about human seniors, unless you are proposing a project that involves seniors, don’t waste everyone’s time.
On the other hand, building relationships with program directors is a smart thing to do—the foundation world can be very small and you don’t know where someone may end up. And finding out if any of your board members know any of theirs can also be useful.
In today’s foundation world, where so many are only by invitation only, the more people you have a relationship with, the better your odds of being invited to the party.
This is really true for individual donors. They give mostly because someone they trust asks them to give to a cause/organization they care about. A pitch is not the way to get them to trust you or to care about your organization.
If you are meeting your donors in person, the most important thing you can do is ASK them what they care about; what they want their philanthropy to do. Conversations, where you talk with them not at the are what matters. The more you know your donors and can show them how you can meet their needs, the more likely they will be to share their generosity.
But most of the time, we are only reaching out to donors at a distance. And we are reaching out to lots of them at the same time and in the same way.
It’s harder, obviously, to get to know someone at arm’s distance, but by grouping your donors into cohorts, it is possible to make things more personal and to reach them in ways that will matter to them.
For starters, don’t send exactly the same message to everyone on your list. Do even the most basic segmenting:
New donors
Loyal donors
Lapsed donors
The more granular your segmenting, the more you can appeal directly to a donor’s needs.
For example, if you are working on your end of the year appeal, and you have a group (large or small) who only gives in the spring, how can you convince them that while their spring gift is critical, it is also important for them to help your organization at the end of the year? Perhaps simply start your appeal by thanking them for being such a great springtime donor—“The generosity you show in May is vital and we thank for helping us to…..And now we are asking that you increase your giving by also making an end of the year gift. With your support we will be able to…..
Or if someone only gives or gives a larger gift when you talk about something specific, then their letter should include something about that specific thing.
Pitching something to someone works when the deal is strictly transactional. But fund development is all about relationships and that deserves a more nuanced and thoughtful approach.