Early in my fundraising career, I was tasked with calling through a list of major donor prospects. These were cold prospects – people who had given to other organizations in our mission field but never to our organization.
The goal for the calls was to set up meetings for our Vice President of Development. We had mailed out information packets to each prospect, and now my job was to call through about 100 donors to see if they would be willing to meet.
I was a little nervous. This was my first time doing cold outreach. I had seen it done and knew it could be successful, but I also knew you needed thick skin and a willingness to get hung up on. Still, I was eager to give it a shot. Over the course of a week, I called each person on the list.
What an Effort!
I was proud of myself. What an effort! I called 100 people, despite my unease, to talk about our organization and try to set up meetings. I was excited to report the results during my weekly meeting with the VP of Development: I had succeeded in setting up one meeting! In addition, I had spoken to 8 donors and left messages for the rest. I was ready for my next task! I expected a “well done!” but the Vice President’s actual response shocked me:
“Have you called each donor seven times?” he asked.
Seven times, I thought… Of course not! Who wants to be called seven times? I called each donor once and left a message where I could. “No,” I said. “Should I?”
That’s when I learned the most important thing about cold donor outreach: persistence wins. The VP of Development told me how fundraising, like sales, requires perseverance. You need to call a new donor prospect over and over again. Leave messages. Send emails. See if you can get through.
“Of course, if the donor answers and says they are not interested, you can take them off the list,” he said. “But until they say no or your finger gets sore, keep dialing!”
Persistence Really Does Matter
I took that lesson to heart, and I have seen it play out repeatedly, both in my career and in the work I do with clients. The fundraisers who are the most successful with cold outreach are those who are willing to keep trying until they get through to the donor.
Remember, donors are busy. They have jobs, families, hobbies, events… and your non-profit is not yet at the top of their list. In order to break through, you need to keep trying. The worst the donor can say is, “No!”
I often advise clients that after sending an introductory letter (preferably by snail mail), they should follow up with their prospects by phone and email at least 5-7 times. Then, if the person does not respond, it is okay to put them on the back burner for six months, beginning the whole outreach process again.
If you are working on a list of donors for cold outreach and not having any success, chances are you aren’t being persistent enough in your outreach efforts. Ask yourself the same question I was asked all those years ago: “Have you called each donor seven times?” If the answer is “no!” then try that first, before you decide that cold outreach isn’t right for your non-profit.
