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Your Tool Belt

Don’t meet with major donors without it

By Dan Mirgon, CFRE, CLU, ChFC

It’s funny how some guys collect tools as they get older.  I have a collection that started when I was a teenager, and I always seem to need a new tool for projects I start – and hopefully finish, even today. 

As I’ve collected these tools, I’ve noticed that no one tool solves every problem.  Each tool has a special use of its own.  It is a lot easier to use the correct tool for the job, than it is to, say, force a hammer to paint a piece of wood.

That same application holds true in our work with major donors.  We spend lots of time with them learning what their interests are, but eventually we get to the point where we need to ask them to make a gift. 

At that moment, we need to be prepared to offer them various ways to make the gift – in a comfortable, “meet their need” kind of way.  If you’ve ever had a donor tell you, “I’d like to help, but all my assets are tied up in (whatever they say),” you need a different tool than having them simply write a check. 

Is your tool belt fully stocked?

The other tools are gifts of appreciated property.  These come in many different packages, but all allow you to help this donor do what they want to do – in a way that is comfortable for them.

There are two categories for these gifts.  Sort of like two sides to the tool belt.  On one side are gifts that you can use now.  The donor transfers the stocks, real estate or other asset to your ministry with the intention that this asset be liquidated and used in ministry now.

The other side of the belt holds gift types where the gift is useful to the ministry when the donor passes away.  Sometimes called deferred gifts, these include trusts, bequests, and annuities, these tools help the donor accomplish something in their personal financial lives and leave a legacy to you of their care for your work.

May I suggest that if you are meeting with annual donors for the purpose of “lifting’ their financial support, you need a basic understanding of each of the types of tools, and a method to know which one to use at the proper time? 

You certainly wouldn’t want to limit their giving to the types of gifts you currently know and understand.  That’s like painting with a hammer.