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Qualifying Potential New Major Donors with Andrew Brown
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In this call, we talk with Andrew Brown, Vice President of Advancement at Macalester College in St. Paul, MN.
The qualifying (or discovery) visit is where a nonprofit representative - usually a gift officer - determines a potential major donor's capacity and inclination to give to their organization. Many gift officers say this is their least favorite task.
Andrew walks us step-by-step through a qualifying visit including what it is, why it's important, what we're hoping to discover.
Some highlights from the call:
- Andrew shares how he prepares for a qualifying visit (listen at 4:00)
- I ask him how much he shares about his organization in a first conversation (at the 6:00 mark)
- We talk about how to determine if someone is philanthropic (7:30)
- Understanding your donor's timing and why it's important (listen at 13:25)
- How do you lead a conversation to determine what project might be of interest to them? (18:45)
- Andrew shares some rookie mistakes: talking too much, wasting time, being too cautious about making a "call", making assumptions and forcing the donor to your time frame (at 22:50)