Episode 291: Taking Over A GO’s Portfolio: Easier Than You Might Think
Thank you so much for taking some of your time to join me on this edition of Around with Randall. I want to try to address a common problem that we see throughout the philanthropic world. Doesn't make a difference which sector within the nonprofit world we're talking about, and that is when we have transition with gift officers and we have established portfolios.
We've worked hard to build up institutional donor prospect, community relations, and yet we have to create or go through a scenario where we build some of those relationships or maybe transfer them in a meaningful way. So today we're going to talk about this from an established portfolio perspective. If you're looking for information about qualification from maybe the thought process or the perspective side of no portfolio, meaning a gift officer has been hired and they've got to build out something I would refer you, refer you to a couple of the different podcasts of Around with Randall to take a look at, because I think they could be effective.
Episode 245 deals with how many calls you really have to make. If you're building out a portfolio from scratch or from not a lot of established relationships. Episode 247 deals with gamification, meaning how do you take an office full of people and have them be more efficient and effective at qualifying? 267 talks about the challenges and I think I entitled it shooters Keep Shooting.
The idea that when we have a little bit of a down spell, maybe we don't get all the appointments or calls answered we wanted. We've got to keep shooting. Meaning like a basketball player, three point shooter, you got to keep calling, got to keep going. And if you're looking for basic information about qualification calls, episode 21 179, which deals with major questions and even episode 283, all of these will get into the qualification and or building a portfolio from scratch.
Today I want to really talk about the inside work that needs to occur when making that transition from gift officer to gift officer with an established, known group of people who are part of portfolios. There's an anxiety that occurs when these moments happen, and I mean anxiety with the gift officers. Really, what they tend to say is things like, I'm replacing someone the donor loved, beloved, had a friendship with trusted, and do they really want to get to know me?
And out of this comes a challenge about getting new gift officers to the organization. Maybe new overall, but certainly without the relationships that maybe someone else had to make those entry level introductory phone calls have those introductory meetings to talk about an important fact. Why the donor? Why the family? Why the institution? Why the organization? Whatever believes and is given to the nonprofit for which now they work.
This matters in a multitude of ways. Gift officer turnover is the norm. It's unfortunate. We know that the major gift officer ten year timeline somewhere between 18 and 19 months, according to AFP, maybe a little bit longer in the annual giving space, particularly the leadership annual giving space. But turnover is a natural part of the organization. And even if you have long standing employees, gift officers, they love what they do.
They've got a great pipeline, they have great relationships. They're well paid or paid appropriately. Eventually there's going to be turnover just because of time. If donor relations ends or disappears as a part of this process, when we have a turnover with established people that we want to keep close, we really don't have a fundraising problem. We have a stewardship problem that we have to figure out healthy philanthropy.
And this is the premise of everything we're going to talk about today. Healthy philanthropy. Healthy donor relations isn't based on personality dependency. It's based on institutional trust. There is no question that a gift officer who's really good at what they do, it's going to be more effective with their donors. I'm not arguing that, but a great fundraiser can't make someone make a large gift if they don't believe in the organization.
It just doesn't happen. Now. Are there stories of gift officers going from one organization to another and bringing donors with them? Yes, but it happened over time and there was an organizational connection to this organizational mission. Outcomes, values, impact should be the primary driver anchor of a donor's commitment of a donor's connection, a donor's desire to want to make a difference, and in doing so, great, great gift officers strengthen that donor relationship with the institution or the organization or the nonprofit, and they do so through their own personal relationships.
We need to be concerned about not the fact that if we build great relationships, we'll have better donors, but that the 80% of the reason why or the connection to the organization from the donor's perspective exists is not because of an individual. It's about the mission, the leadership, the community impact. It's about supporting something they believe in that aligns with who they are.
And that's really the big premise that there's a reality starting at the top. Why is it important moving to the middle part? What does the data tell us then into the tactical five things that you can do to make this a lot easier on yourself. We're kind of in this midpoint of of Randall saying that if you've got people to call, you should feel comfortable calling them, even though you may not know them if they've been stewarded, they had a relationship with someone before you, because 80% of the reason that they will engage is not because of the person, but because of what you represent in going out and supporting and articulating and advocating for
the mission. The reason this all came up was I had a client with two new gift officers, one new to philanthropy, one not. And this was the concern, really well established portfolios. And this was the exact why how do I do this? And that led me to think about this more holistically from an educational platform perspective, the podcast and around with Randall today, what we see is that donors stay engaged when it's done well with multiple gift officers.
In fact, some places I've got one client, they use a team approach that they have two people that are assigned to almost every major gift or major gift prospect or family or organization. So there's always connection, which goes back to my argument that 80, 20, 80% is to the organization, not to a person. Many donors can even recall every fundraiser who may have worked with them.
If it's a long period of time. I've experienced this personally, where I've gone in as a chief development officer in three major places when I was still kind of in practice, the last real jobs that I had before I started teaching and consulting, what, 12 years ago, where I would say, it looks like you had so-and-so, and they go, oh, I'd forgotten his name or what's his name?
He would come out and see me. It happens all the time. What we know is, is that major gifts continue well beyond staff transition, and that if we handle it professionally and really think about donors, the idea of them not thinking about or waking up in the morning and thinking about, well, who's my gift officer? What they wake up to is what the organization does that they believe in from a very personal perspective and kind of an open book.
If you've listened to my podcast or listen to me when I teach and or a client, I've talked about some of the philanthropy that my wife and I do, and one of the things that I believe in is the law school where I went, and in part because I just thoroughly enjoyed law school, I'd go back and do it again, but also because I don't think I'd be where I'm at.
Too many of you think, well, he's really smart. He went to law school. Just for the record, this is my common line, and it's 1,000% true. Anybody who can sit through three years worth of classes can get through law school. I'm not that special, but it gave a perception that maybe I was really smart and really talented when I was young, all of which probably was not true and still probably not true today.
But I feel like I owe the law school that I elevated my career, sped it up by probably a decade, and as a result have made it a priority in our own institutional giving. It didn't make a difference because the dean was it didn't make a difference if the gift officer was. I love the law school. I love my classmates.
I love what I learned and how I use it. If you think about your own priorities that we tend to tie ourselves to things we believe in, and it's not that people can't articulate or advocate or be representative of those things, but it's the organizations who move the culture, move the community. We tie ourselves to the institution. With all of this said, please don't misunderstand me.
Relationships still matter. Trust still matters. You can't go close $1 million gift if you don't have a relationship and trust. I mean, there's always the exceptions, but for the most part that's just not going to happen. And that responsiveness matters. That's an individual gift officer trait. Do they respond and engage? Gift officers are incredibly important to this process.
But what I'm saying is, is if over time donors are stewarded correctly and there's a change in personnel, those relationships don't die. If the relationship already exists, then the question really becomes, how do I step into it in a meaningful way? And thus we come to our tactical. Five things that you should know about stepping into a portfolio, into a relationship.
And this could be because you took over somebody else's portfolio. Maybe there was a downsizing. And portfolios are being spread in one person's portfolio, spread amongst many gift officers. It could be maybe the CDO is passing off people because there's higher level people they have to deal with. Whatever the reason is, is there are five things that I recommend when you think about how you transition into and build the relationship based upon where it was to where it might go.
So let's start number one. Number one is you need to lead with a sense of can relationship building, not a replacement. This is what you want to avoid. And by the way, this is what sometimes we hear all too often. I know I have big shoes to fill, or I'm trying to step in for Randall. Or I know you had a terrific relationship with Randall, and I'm just hoping I can be, you know, one half of what you were to.
He was to you. Why are you insulting yourself? And that's ironic, coming from the master of self-deprecation. Why are you insulting them? You could very easily change what you say and change the entire context of this transition. But changing the verbiage, changing the words. I'm not saying you shouldn't figure out what someone else did. Well, the former gift officer, but how you start is something like, I'm really excited to be working with you and helping you continue your involvement with our organization.
It's a continuation play. You're aware, showing awareness that there was already a relationship, that it has meaning to the donor and that you're not replacing a commitment. You're continuing their support. You're just a little bit of a different Sherpa to get them there. Make it about their desire to want to engage, not about your need to reach out.
Number one, lead with a sense of continuous connection, not a replacement. Number two, acknowledge that the relationship did exist. I know you used to work closely with Sarah, and she spoken so highly of you in her comments, and when we did a transition, once you do that, you have to acknowledge that it existed, as I mentioned a second ago, but we're not going to highlight it.
Once you say it, move forward, move on, get going. Avoid spending endless comments, sentences, minutes, hours, whatever, discussing the former gift officer. The future and their engagement should dominate the conversation. Think about buying a house. You're always told that when you buy a house, you should see yourself in it. But I want to go one step further. When you sell a house, what they say is they want you to take all the personal pictures down so other people can see themselves in it.
You don't live in some, you don't live in someone else's house. You're living in your house moving forward, how do you make it your own? Some people have more talent that that than others. I have very little of it. My wife is a genius at it. The point is, you live looking forward. You might learn from the past, particularly of the notes of the conversation, action steps, things of that nature, how sequencing gifts were done.
I'm all for the inquiry that might come from the research that can be done. But what you don't want to do is live in the past, the future, and their connection should be most important. After a very brief, very brief opportunity to realize there was a previous relationship. Number three, get to the mission and their rationale or reason for giving as quickly as possible.
I would love to learn more about what continues to inspire you, about what we do, or our organization, and where you hope to see us go in the future. Where should we be moving forward? Looking forward? If you spend any time with me, you've probably heard me say something to the effect of that. If you ask somebody for money, you get advice, but if you ask them for advice, you'll get money.
I believe in that. I've used it my entire career, and in some ways, that's exactly what you're doing here. You're asking for their advice. I'd love to learn more about what inspires you and where you think we should go. Where have we done well? Where could we do better? People like to have their opinions listen to. They like to think and know that their opinions count, that they affect things.
You're opening the door for people to do that, and it's not, well, I just want to get to know you better. Why? What I really want to know is why you're engaged with this organization. What inspires you and what do you think about it, and how could we be better? That's centering on mission because it's about outcome. It's about engagement.
It's about what it does in the community, how they view it. And maybe they tell you how other people view the nonprofit as well. So number three, center on the mission, get to it quickly. Get to their connection. Number four is you need to make a meeting if you can, at all possible. And then it's a listening conversation.
Meaning they talk, you listen. We shouldn't be leading with what the organization needs. And this is consistent with anything I've ever talked about in the relationship building process that we shouldn't lead with projects, proposals and funding opportunities. What we need to lean on, what we need to focus on is why they give, why the impact matters, what's their history with the organization, what's their history with philanthropy and other places?
What is it that they're trying to accomplish? What do they hope happens next? Maybe something you can use as a quote or a phrase however you want to put it. My goal is to understand your experience and what matters most to you. You'd be surprised because often I get people who don't listen to this advice, and when they actually take advantage of it, the responses they get from donors, prospects, people that are connected.
Nobody's ever asked me that question. Nobody has ever been interested in what I think. And I want to tell people, if you just would ask people what they want, they'll tell you. And boy, is it easy to get there, because a lot of times they'll tell you how the gift should come to fruition and what they want to give to.
Number four, make the first meeting about listening. Don't forget proportionality. You have two years in one mouth. Good place to use them in that proportion. The last is about projecting a sense of confidence and permanence.
Don't apologize consistently or on a regular basis for making a call, for doing outreach, for the fact that there's a change in the relationship. Avoid apologies. I'm excited to be your contact here, and I'd love to know more about why this is important to you. Avoid sounding temporary. We're figuring out exactly how we might make sure you have someone to talk with.
No, I'm your person. Here's my cell phone. Here's you can text me. Here's my email. I'm your. You need something, you call me, I want to be here, and we'll be here for you going forward. And this is the last one that in terms of the projecting confidence. But it's really hard. Avoid sounding like an outsider. Well, I don't know anything, so I can't wait to hear from you.
What good are you to them? Particularly if there's already established donor relationship? They want information. What are you doing with the money? What are you doing to impact. They may have a question about the CEO or something they read in the paper or saw on line. And why would they ever ask you if you say, well, I'm just, you know, trying to figure this whole thing out.
If you don't lead with these things and think about it from, I want to introduce myself, schedule some time to connect. I look forward to working with you. If you think about it in those terms, you're almost pre ordaining almost Nostradamus prediction. Here's how we're going to work. And you'd be surprised how many donors are looking for that.
In some ways I think of donors a lot like children. They may not say they want a lot of guidance, but at the end of the day, they do a lot better with it and they actually kind of want it. I'm not saying direct. I'm not saying they're that you're in charge, but telling them I'm here, we're going to meet, we're going to talk, and I can't wait to find out more about what you believe and what this organization and why you've been involved.
You'd be surprised how reactive positively that will come off. Five things in reaching out to that first time with the established portfolio. Number one lead with a sense of a continuous building relationships, not with replacement. Number two, acknowledge that there was a previous relationship, but do it short, sweet and move on. Number three, make sure that you center on the mission quickly.
Act their value. What they're number four. Make the first meeting about listing. Make it about proportionately what it is that they give to, why it's important. What's that impact, what their history is, what they think about it and turn it. People will say, what are your future thoughts on what we should be doing? Get them to tell you what they think.
Number five, project confidence in a sense of permanence that this is and not apologize. You're not an outsider. You represent the organization. You are their connection to things they believe in that your mission does. Staff transitions are normal. Donors are for more, far more connected to the mission than we realize 8020 than they are the actual fundraiser. Who or gift officer or relationship builder that they might know.
Relation is important, but not the entirety. Most donor relations belong to an organization, not to an individual. And the first call isn't about replacing someone, it's about their connection to the organization that they believe in and they've been involved with. It's about helping them continue that relationship. The strongest gift officers who go through this process do not really inherit donor relationships.
They inherit the commitments that the donors have for the organization. But what they also are able to do is take those commitments that are already there and strengthen them, build a sense of stewardship, communication, engagement, inquiry about why they engage and help it to grow so that it can, and foster much more directional into the future as to what might be possible.
If you own that relationship, you'll be surprised what happens. And if you follow these five steps, you'll be able to make those transitions really easy for you, but most importantly, really meaningfully for the donor. Don't forget to check out the blogs and how it plans be two per week. Talk about a lot of different things. Don't really raise.
Get up to the level of a podcast or I read something or something worthwhile, or even something personal. You can get an RSS feed, something to give you think to think about 90s in your reading. I don't nobody reads anymore. About 450 500 words pretty quick. Maybe give you something to gosh, that's something interesting. Blogs@HallettPhilanthropy.com.
And that's how it blogs. And if you'd like to reach out to me, it's podcast@HallettPhilanthropy.com. We need nonprofits more than ever, more than ever. The world of philanthropy fills the gap, as I always talk about, between free and enterprise, which does things for profit and government, which isn't all that efficient. And in the middle between the two is where this chasm, this hole is.
And there's lots of people, places and things that fall into that hole that need assistance. Which brings us right to my all time favorite saying, some people make things happen. Some people watch things happen. Then there are those who wondered what happened when we do this right? When we build the relationships with people that may have already had a relationship with the organization, we're going to enhance it, maybe helping build on that like we talked about today.
We're filling that hole. You're someone, then who is making things happen, and you're doing so with people who also want to make things happen for the people, places and things in our community that are wondering what happened 30 years into this. I've never really worked a day in my life because this is gratifying work. Glorious work doesn't mean it's perfect work, and it doesn't mean there's not a hiccup or two.
But at the end of the day, it is worth it. And if you're spending your time, what a great way to look on a career, both longitudinally and maybe even daily, to know you're making a difference for people, places, and things that you believe in in your community. I'll look forward to seeing you the next time, right back here on the next edition of Around with Randall.
Don't forget. Make it a great day.