Show Notes
In this episode of The First Day from The Fund Raising School, Bill Stanczykiewicz, Ed.D., tackles one of the most persistent questions in major gift fundraising: when is the right time to make the ask? Fundraisers may know the classic “six rights” of fundraising: the right person asking the right person for the right amount, for the right reason, in the right way, and at the right time. But that final “right” can be surprisingly difficult to recognize. Drawing on conversations with veteran major gift fundraisers, Bill identifies signals that suggest a donor is ready. He also shares advice from longtime fundraiser and attorney Andy Hibble: “Don’t ask for a major gift until you know for certain what the answer is going to be.” The goal is not clairvoyance, but enough relationship-building and attentive listening that the donor’s likely response is no longer a mystery.
One major indicator is growing involvement with the organization. Early fundraising relationships often focus on linkage, interest, and ability, but as relationships deepen, Bill encourages fundraisers to watch for linkage, involvement, and advocacy. Donors may attend more events, accept more meetings, introduce the organization to others, share its content, or bring spouses, children, grandchildren, or advisers into conversations. They may ask to meet senior leaders or program staff because they want a deeper understanding of the mission and its results. Another strong signal comes when a donor says they need to discuss an opportunity with a financial adviser or estate attorney. At that point, the gift may have moved from an interesting idea to something they are seriously considering.
Bill also highlights changes in the quality of a donor’s questions and comments. Someone who once needed basic information may begin arriving more prepared, speaking more confidently, and asking increasingly sophisticated questions about the organization’s mission, strategy, results, and future. Sometimes the cues are wonderfully obvious: “I think I could be donating more,” “I’m blown away by what you’re doing,” or every fundraiser’s favorite, “Do you have some specific ideas for me to consider?” Donors may also ask about planned giving, legacy opportunities, multi-year commitments, or future needs. These comments suggest they are thinking beyond a single transaction and toward a longer-term philanthropic relationship.
Finally, Bill encourages fundraisers to pay attention to body language, behavior, and the rhythm of the relationship. Donors may become more relaxed in meetings, lean forward during certain topics, or offer deeper answers when asked what they want their philanthropy to accomplish. Bill compares this to the research concept of “saturation”: eventually, meetings may begin covering the same ground with little new information emerging. When today’s conversation sounds a lot like the previous two, cultivation may have reached its natural endpoint. That can be the moment to ask, “At our next meeting, can I bring you some ideas?” Experienced fundraisers may simply describe it as “feeling the vibe,” but Bill’s takeaway is that good timing comes from recognizing a pattern of increasing involvement, knowledge, enthusiasm, and readiness that signals the relationship can move from cultivation to invitation.
More from First Day Podcast
In this episode of The First Day from The Fund Raising School, Bill Stanczykiewicz, Ed.D., is joined by Christy Coulter, MA, CFRM, CEO of Apex Legacy Consulting and a faculty member at The Fund Raising School, to discuss the growing importance of planned gift fundraising. Once viewed as a complicated area that many nonprofits were reluctant to pursue, planned giving is attracting renewed interest as organizations consider the opportunities associated with the great wealth transfer. Coulter explains that an estimated $120 trillion in wealth could change hands over the next 20 to 30 years, much of it held in non-cash assets. As nonprofit leaders recognize the potential of these gifts, fundraisers must demonstrate how planned giving can strengthen long-term sustainability without compromising immediate fundraising priorities.
In this episode of The First Day from The Fund Raising School, Bill Stanczykiewicz, Ed.D., is joined by Jasmin Johnson, executive director and founding staff member of the Baton Rouge Area Youth Network, to discuss fundraising for intermediary organizations. Unlike nonprofits that provide direct services, intermediaries strengthen the organizations doing that work through coordination, partnerships, and capacity building. Johnson explains how the Baton Rouge Area Youth Network, known as BRAYN, began as a volunteer-led network of out-of-school-time programs and expanded to connect educators, health care providers, mental health organizations, and other youth-serving partners. Its four pillars, connect, strengthen, align, and sustain, frame a distinctive fundraising challenge: helping donors understand the value of an organization whose impact happens through the work of others.
In this episode of The First Day from The Fund Raising School, Bill Stanczykiewicz, Ed.D., is joined by Carla Knorowski, Ph.D., a veteran fundraiser and advancement leader whose work has included institutions such as The Henry Ford, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, and the U.S.-based foundation supporting Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. Knorowski shares how she became involved with fundraising for Notre-Dame shortly before the devastating April 2019 fire and how the crisis transformed an effort originally focused on long-term support into an urgent global campaign to save, restore, and rebuild one of the world’s most recognizable landmarks. The experience offers fundraisers a vivid example of how powerful storytelling can connect donors to a mission, even when they may live thousands of miles away from the organization or cause.
In this episode of The First Day from The Fund Raising School, Bill Stanczykiewicz, Ed.D., is joined by Angela Seaworth, Ph.D., MBA, ACFRE, Instructional Associate Professor at the Bush School of Government & Public Service, Texas A&M University, to explore how fundraisers can move beyond annual and major gifts toward transformational giving. Seaworth explains that a transformational gift is not defined by a particular dollar amount. While headlines may focus on gifts of $20 million, $50 million, or more; a $250,000 gift, or even a much smaller investment, can be transformational if it changes an organization’s trajectory, expands its capacity, or makes exponential impact possible. The key is for each nonprofit to define transformational giving in the context of its own mission, scale, and ambitions.
In this episode of The First Day from The Fund Raising School, Bill Stanczykiewicz, Ed.D., is joined by Jeff Grandy, Vice President of Client Development at Catapult Fundraising, to discuss why every nonprofit should be thinking seriously about legacy giving, and why the best planned gift prospects may already be hiding in plain sight. Grandy explains that while surprise million-dollar bequests make headlines, they are not the typical story. More often, legacy donors are ordinary, deeply committed supporters whose long-term loyalty to an organization matters far more than the size of their annual gifts.