It’s not always possible to bring donors to your organization in order to get face time with them. So, does that mean you give up on your efforts to have in-person communication with donors too busy to commit to visiting? Not by a long shot. Take the initiative and make a site visit of your own—to a donor’s site. Schedule an appointment to pay a call on a donor you wish to cultivate, and have a reason for that call. Share information on new projects. Bring along a staff person you would like the donor to meet.
Maybe best of all, set up an appointment with the donor to ask the donor’s advice about something. Asking someone for help is the most flattering thing you can do. There are few things that will draw donors closer to an organization on a professional level than having the organization turn to them for their knowledge and expertise. Just think, there you are asking for something, and it isn’t money.
Another thing you can do is find out what philanthropic, professional, or other events your donor will be attending, and then attend them yourself. Does your donor ever speak locally? If so, and if it is at all possible, be in attendance. The donor will be flattered that you came and you’ll learn more about him or her.
A development officer who rarely leaves his or her organization’s headquarters is like a salesperson who sits by the phone waiting for orders to come in. When a campaign is on, you don’t wait for people to reach for their checkbooks and give you money. Well, you can’t cultivate donors that way either. You have to make contact with them, and no contact is better than face-to-face, one-on-one, and more times than not, the only way you can get it is to go looking for it.
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