Major Gifts

The Waiting Game

Anyone who has conducted a major campaign has run into the situation where you have identified a lead gift donor, conducted the solicitation and then found yourself two months later still waiting for a decision. Theses situations can paralyze a campaign and you must be prepared to not only anticipate this possibility but have a plan of action.

The first critical step is determining whether or not this lead gift prospect is legitimate or wishful thinking. Part of any successful campaign involves the ability to create great excitement and optimism. The other part is to establish a realistic and practical expectation. As such, when building a campaign plan, be very careful about putting too much weight on any one donor before a gift is actually made.

Create a campaign plan that truly reflects, not only the potential of your donors, but their realistic willingness as well. If you can design this comprehensive plan, then major gifts will fit into the picture regardless of when they are received. The other option is to wait to launch a campaign until the lead gift has been made. This will allow you to create and design the campaign around the gift and ensure that you are not losing sleep throughout the silent phase.

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