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Research Report

6 strategies that address perennial major gift challenges in higher ed advancement

Increased revenue expectations from institutional leaders and donor fatigue means that to meet future fundraising goals, advancement must make up for lost time and accelerate new major gift prospects through the pipeline. During the pandemic, many institutions struggled to build relationships with new prospects, and qualifications are down across the industry—32% of institutions saw double digit declines in year-over-year qualifications in a recent EAB survey.

There are three historic challenges advancement must overcome to win new major gift prospects—and thanks to pandemic-era innovations, we now have the ability to tackle these perennial challenges.

  • Once qualified, prospects linger in cultivation
  • Prospects aren’t qualified while they are warm
  • Major gift prospects don’t respond to engagement content

Check out the solutions and our recommended next steps below.

Review the Key Takeaways

Perennial challenge: Once qualified, prospects linger in cultivation

Strategy: Build virtual communities of philanthropic VIPs

The ratio of “coffee and update” to substantive contacts is too high. Advancement should craft virtual events that bring donors and institutional leadership together on a topic of interest.

  • Convene prospects from a single industry for high-value virtual networking salons.
  • Increase access to campus leaders by inviting them to “digital drop-ins” during virtual cultivation visits.

Strategy: Increase expectations for prospect touchpoints

MGOs have more time thanks to reduced travel during the pandemic. Now, MGOs can fit far more prospect touchpoints into their schedule.

  • Recalibrate metrics for hybrid cultivation by giving MGOs credit for virtual cultivation strategies. Track relationship “moves” instead of visits and increase touchpoint expectations.
  • Manage increased touchpoint expectations through daily, weekly, and monthly goals.

Continue maximizing fundraiser efficiency

Perennial challenge: Prospects aren’t qualified while they are warm

Strategy: Alert MGOs when prospects engage

When rated prospects engage with the institution, engagement data sits untouched in a database causing prospect warmth to dissipate. Advancement must shorten the time between engagement and qualification.

  • Assign a staff member to review event attendee lists and elevate prospects to MGOs.
  • Institute an automatic CRM notification system that alerts MGOs when a prospect engages.

Strategy: Increase social pressure to qualify

Qualifying new prospects is last on a long priority list for MGOs. This creates an incentive gap that advancement must close to reduce unqualified prospects.

  • Introduce social incentives like an MGO leaderboard that gamifies qualification.
  • Enfranchise accountability partners by pairing MGO and prospect research metrics.

Perennial challenge: Major gift prospects don’t respond to engagement content

Strategy: Prioritize events that attract HNW prospects

Generic events like happy hours and reunions don’t attract high-net-worth alumni, and engagement’s “success” is measured in number of event attendees. Instead, minimize time spent on low-ROI events and focus on those that appeal to rated prospects.

  • Implement a prioritization process for event planning that takes low-ROI events off the table.

Strategy: Create and execute prospect journeys within engagement

Engagement’s priority is planning the next event rather than furthering prospect engagement, and individual attendee engagement patterns are not tracked. Engagement must become part of the cultivation process and build deeper connections with prospects.

  • Host multi-phase content that creates a journey from engagement to MGO portfolio—like top-of-funnel content followed by a VIP qualification event.

Learn how to win new major gift prospects after a record year of alumni engagement

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