It's the finale of Season 1 of Fundraising Projects and we are ending with a bang for now until I start a new fundraising challenge in 2022. Mark Duncan joins me today to share how he identifies, qualifies, discovers and cultivates relationships to generate thousands of donations for his clients. He will also help change your perspective on asking for money and teach you how to prepare for when you get a NO and a YES, what questions to ask, how to follow-up and close. Enjoy!

Mark Duncan is The FundCoach, who helps nonprofit leaders master the skill of raising money through relationship fundraising and guide them to move confidently beyond any fear of asking for money. In today's episode, we talk about the right approach for asking for money when fundraising the principle of relationship building from a fundraising perspective, plus Mark shares many frameworks that have worked for him over the last 20 years+ .

He is a seasoned fundraising professional with over 30 years of nonprofit experience and has managed multi-million dollars in capital through running campaigns that have a particular focus on cultivating and securing large contributions from major donors.

Process of finding and building relationships with donors:

Identify and Qualify - Identifying the right people and qualifying them based on their net worth and capability.
Discovery - The First Meeting - do more listening then talking, learn more about that person by determining:

Link - How strong is the link between them and your fundraising organisation (what is the link)
Interest - What is there interest, how strong is their interest, how interested are they?
Ability - Capacity to invest, ability to invest

3. Cultivation - Building that relationship over time, determining how fast or slow your prospect want to go.

We as fundraisers are the GPS, and our donors and prospects are the drivers. The destination is the gift. Do not lose sign of the destination by keeping your prospects on course.

How to cultivate relationships:

Experience: Bring them to your organisation and get them to see where their potential investment is going and the lives that they will be able to impact

Language: If they use "feel" in their vocabulary more, cater for them by building an emotional experience for them. Get them to understand what it will feel like for others and them. If they use "think" they want to know how strong the company is an how stable their investment. (Determine what is it important to them via the language they use)

If you get a YES from a prospect or donor:

Say, "Thank you!"
Say, "How would you like to take care of this?" (Cheque, Credit Card, Pledge)
Follow up - "When would be a good time to follow-up?" (honouring that donors time) "Would it be okay if I send you calendar reservation to secure a time on their calendar?" Donor feels obliged to attend and pay you.

It's about the people you serve, not about you or even the donor. You're presenting people with the opportunity to support a mission. The people that need your help are the mission. How the money is going to help the mission has to be top of mind when asking for a donation, not your nervousness or neediness!

You never know who you are going to need to support you - Relationships are Everything! Be Kind!

Learn more about Mark or hire him as your fundraising coach:
https://www.thefundcoach.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marklduncan
Twitter: https://twitter.com/thefundcoach
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/12902712/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6UOmEnzuGIme9H8nay8-ZQ

This is the last episode of Fundraising Projects for 2021. My next fundraising challenge is coming soon....
Thanks to Mark Duncan, Sean Houlihan (aka. Bear Intentions), Ben Chambers CFRE and Travis Johnson for supporting me and sharing your wisdom on Fundraising.

Watch the full episode on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdChjSlYAOc