1. Making Visits ENDOWMENT BUILDING
Welcome back. This section of our time together will focus on Making Visits—that is, on everything related to identifying and asking your donors to support the organization’s endowment campaign.
So, let’s get right down to it.
PREPARED FOR (ORGANIZATION’S NAME HERE)
Month Year

2. Objectives
 Discuss the work done to date  Revisit the constituent wheel  Understand the solicitation process  Role-play practice sessions  Create a calendar for visits
We’re going to start with a short recap of the work we’ve done to this point. We’ll briefly revisit what we learned about endowments, we’ll look at the campaign goal and story we developed, and confirm the timeline we established.
Next, we’ll look at the constituent wheel and the donor prospects, which were part of the initial “Getting Started” work done by the leadership team.
After the review, we’ll get a firm understanding of the process for soliciting donations, which will lead us into practice sessions, where we’ll have the opportunity to put some of our ideas to the test.
And finally, we’re going to create a calendar for visiting prospective donors.
By the end of today’s session, each of you should feel comfortable with making visits, and you’ll have a plan in place for making them.

3. In your workbook
Leadership team material Resources for donor engagement Sample “leave behind” material Tracking tools
Before we begin, let’s review the workbook that you have before you. In the Making Visits section, you should have:
Material from a previous meeting with the leadership team
Resources for donor engagement
Some sample “leave behind” materials for donors
Tracking tools
We’ll touch on each of these in more detail as we go through this session.

4. What we’ve done so far
Learned about endowments Established a campaign goal Developed our story Prepared a campaign timeline
Sources of gifts
Legal requirements
- Permanent
- Prudent investment
- Investment maintenance
Endow Iowa
Planned giving (and legacy societies)
First, we’ve learned about endowments, including:
Sources of gifts
Legal requirements
Permanent
Prudent investment
Investment maintenance
Endow Iowa
Planned giving (and legacy societies)

5. What we’ve done so far
Learned about endowments Established a campaign goal Developed our story Prepared a campaign timeline
We identified the need for your endowment…
And you set a goal of:
$XXX,000
Second, we established a campaign goal for your endowment:
We identified the need for your endowment
And you set a goal of $[INSERT NP GOAL]

6. What we’ve done so far
Learned about endowments Established a campaign goal Developed our story Prepared a campaign timeline
We identified:
What you do
Your impact
Your funding story
An invitation to join
Third, we developed your story, your case for support. We identified:
What you do
Your impact
Your funding story
An invitation to join
And finally, we prepared a campaign timeline.

7. Identifying your donors
Who are your constituents? What connects them to your organization? Who are the best prospects? Who makes contact?
Tools: Workbook pages 19–21 ___________________________________________________________________________________
The leadership team also talked about who will give to your endowment campaign. As you can see on pages of your workbook, they took a systematic approach to:
Identifying your donor base,
Understanding what connects them to your organization,
Identifying the best prospects for the campaign, and
Determining who will make contact and ask for a donation.
[Rhetorical question:] So, who are the stakeholders of your nonprofit agency?
Beneath the constituent wheel on page 19, you’ll find a list of the stakeholders they identified. They are:
[Name off stakeholders listed on the workbook sheet]
Are there any additional stakeholders that should be added to this list?

8. Connecting with your donors
Common values Linkage to mission Board connections
Tools: Workbook pages 19–21
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Next we needed to understand what links (connects) people to your organization. In that Getting Started session, I asked: “What are the common characteristics that constituents closest to the center of the constituent wheel have in common with your organization?” We were looking for linkages like common experiences, values and a history with the organization.
So we’ve identified your stakeholders and the things that tie them to your organization (common values, experiences, interests). They’re on page 20 of your workbook.
[Read common values, experiences, interests aloud to the group]
Are there any additional values, experiences or interests that you think should be added?
With this information in mind, our next step was to identify who the best donor prospects for the campaign would be.
On page 21, the group identified ____ [fill in the blank] donor prospects who have a close linkage to the organization, are people that you may know personally, and are likely to support this endowment campaign.

9. One important question
Have you given or pledged?
100 percent giving on the part of the board of directors is critical to the success of this campaign.
Okay, we’ve reviewed where we are to this point, so let’s focus on making contact. To do so, an important question needs to be asked.
Has each person in this room made his/her own gift or pledge to the endowment campaign? 100 percent giving on the part of the board of directors is critical to the success of this campaign. Before we can go out and ask others to give, we must have given ourselves.

10. Making contact
Step one: write a letter Step two: follow up with a phone call Step three: make a visit date
Now we’re going to start getting into the steps you’ll take and the tools you use when talking to potential donors.
Here are the steps you’ll take for making contact.
Step 1: Write a letter—tell person you will be calling and purpose of the call
Step 2: Follow up with a phone call—set visit/meeting date
Step 3: Make a visit date—share story/need/ask for support (2 on 1 visit)
First, we’ll look at the letter.

11. Making contact: letter
Reconnect Introduce your organization Alert recipient that you will be calling to schedule a visit
Tool: Letter sample on page 22 of the workbook
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[OPTIONAL if board was assigned the Panas book for reading:] For those of you familiar with the book, Asking: A 59-minute Guide to Everything Board Members, Volunteers and Staff Must Know to Secure the Gift by Jerold Panas, you can refer to Chapter 7 for more information on letters.
In a nutshell, the purpose of the letter is:
To reconnect,
To briefly introduce your organization, and
To alert the recipient that you will be calling to schedule a visit
I’ve included a copy of a sample letter on page 22 of your workbook. Let’s take a minute to read through it together.
[Ask someone to read the letter out loud]

12. Making contact: phone call
Call the donor prospect a few days after sending the letter Preparation and practice are key
Tool: Phone script on page 23 of the workbook
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After the letter has been sent, your next step is to call the donor prospect after a few days. Making this phone call to set a meeting time can be the hardest step. Preparation and practice are the keys.
[OPTIONAL:] If you have it and are interested in a little more detail, Chapter 8 of Jerold Panas’ book has a number of great tips on making the call.
Your workbook also has a script to use while making a phone call. If you turn to page 23, we’ll run through it quickly.
[Ask someone to read the script out loud.]
Thank you. What are some of the responses that we might get from people we call? Let’s take a minute to brainstorm what responses we might get, both positive and negative, from the other end of the line.
The purpose of this question is to engage participants in thinking about the different replies they might get and then brainstorm responses to each reply.

13. Making contact: visits
What we will focus on:
Look at your organization from the donor’s point of view
Discuss the four-step solicitation process
Preview the materials that you will have for your meeting
Role play a visit/solicitation with each other
In order to prepare you for your actual visit, we’ll focus on the following things in the next few minutes:
First, we will look at your organization from the donor’s point of view.
Second, we will walk through the four-step solicitation process.
Third, we’ll preview the materials that you will have for your meeting, and
Fourth, you will have an opportunity to role play a visit/solicitation with each other.

14. Framing the visit Pre-visit questions
1. What do people need to know and believe in order to get involved with our nonprofit organization? 2. What are the barriers to people getting involved with our organization? 3. Once people decide to get involved, what action do we want them to take? 4. What will be different as a result of people getting involved?
Tools: Flip chart, Pre-visit framing questions on page 24 of the workbook
[Questions come from an out-of-print Minnesota Community Foundation Communications Toolkit ©2008]
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The Minnesota Community Foundation Communications Toolkit is a great resource, and in it they ask four questions to help you look at your organization from a donor’s point of view. These questions will help you frame the conversation during your visit. They are:
1: What do people need to know and believe in order to get involved with our nonprofit organization?
2: What are the barriers to people getting involved with our organization?
3: Once people decide to get involved, what action do we want them to take?
4: What will be different (in the future) as a result of people getting involved?
Let’s take a few minutes to answer each of these questions. There’s space for you to write your answers on page 24 of your workbook.
[Give participants time to think about and record some answers on their own.]
Okay, now that we’ve identified some of these answers, let’s share them with each other. We’ll start with number one: What do people need to know and believe?
[Walk participants through each of the four questions. Write down participants’ responses to each framing question on the flip chart.]

15. Donor solicitation sequence
Four steps
1. Opening remarks 2. Share your organization’s story 3. Introduce and discuss endowments 4. Ask for support
Tool: Workbook page 25 ___________________________________________________________________________________
Now let’s walk through the four steps of a solicitation visit.
[OPTIONAL:] Again, if you have read, or do read, Jerold Panas’ book, chapters 15 and 16 offer some helpful, additional detail. I definitely encourage everyone to read these chapters before meeting with a potential donor. Here is some introductory context:
A solicitation visit can be accomplished in about 30 minutes; it’s done by a team of two; and the purpose of the meeting is to 1) share your story and 2) request a donation or set up the next visit.
Step 1 is for opening remarks
Step 2 is to share your organization’s story
Step 3 is to introduce and discuss endowments
And Step 4 is to ask for support
Now we’ll look at each of the steps in a little more detail. You can follow along on page 25 of your workbook.

16. Solicitation: step one
Opening remarks (5 minutes)
Thank person for meeting Staff introductions Find commonalities
PURPOSE
find commonalities that you or your organization share with the prospective donor
Tool: Workbook page 25 ___________________________________________________________________________________
Step 1 is opening remarks. This should take about 5 minutes.
Begin by thanking the person for meeting you
And follow up with staff introductions if necessary
The ultimate purpose of this time is to find commonalities that you (or your organization) share with the prospective donor

17. Solicitation: step two
Share your organization’s story (10 minutes)
What you do Your impact Funding story Specifics about your endowment
Tool: Workbook page 25 ___________________________________________________________________________________
Step 2 is to share your organization’s story. In this step, you should take about 10 minutes to:
Outline what you do
Explain your impact
And tell him or her your funding story
This whole step will build toward a discussion about Endow Iowa and about your specific endowment

18. Solicitation: step three
Introduce and discuss endowments (15 minutes)
Bring subject of endowment into conversation Ask questions; learn about the prospect’s interest in endowments
Tool: Workbook page 25 ___________________________________________________________________________________
The next step is to introduce and discuss endowments. Here, you’ll want to take about 15 minutes to:
Bring the subject of endowment into the conversation quickly, but also as naturally as you can
Ask questions as a way to learn about prospect’s interest in endowments or his/her general knowledge of endowments. If the prospect doesn’t have much knowledge of the subject, use this time to introduce the benefits of endowments

19. Solicitation: step four
Ask for support (10 minutes)
Ask: “What questions do you have?” Ask for support of the endowment campaign Response will be yes, no or maybe Thank the person for his or her time
TIP
If the answer is maybe, don’t leave without scheduling a date to follow up.
Tool: Workbook page 25 ____________________________________________________________________________________
The final step is to ask for support. This should take about 10 minutes.
Begin by asking if the person has any questions. Listening is an essential part of this, so make sure you listen well and answer any questions as best you can
Next is the critical part: directly ask the individual to support your endowment campaign. Say something like: “Your consideration of a gift of X-amount of dollars would be greatly appreciated”
The response will be either yes, no or maybe
If the prospect says maybe because he/she needs time to consider, don’t leave without setting a date to follow up
And don’t forget to thank the person for his or her time

20. Supporting materials
Donor Flyer Pledge Form Donor Tracking Tool Donor FAQs
Tool: Workbook pages 26–30 ____________________________________________________________________________________
Now we’re going to take a look at the supporting materials that you will have for your visit. You’ll find them beginning on page 26.
These resources are:
Donor Flyer
Pledge Form
Donor FAQs
Donor Tracking Tool
We’ll look at each tool individually.

21. Donor flyer, pledge form and FAQs
Donor flyer: a one-page overview of your campaign Pledge form: help donors put their commitment in writing Donor FAQs: brush up on the answers to commonly asked questions
Tool: Workbook pages 26–29 ____________________________________________________________________________________
Two quick tools are the donor flyer and pledge form.
The flyer serves as a visual reminder of your campaign. It’s something that contains a lot of at-a-glance information, and can be left with the donor. It can also work as a piece for mailings, but we definitely recommend using it in person when possible. We have a sample Donor Flyer on page 26 of your workbook.
Most everyone in the room is likely to be familiar with the concept behind a pledge form. A sample form can be found on page 27. Your endowment donors will use this card to put in writing their commitment to the campaign. If you have your own pledge form, feel free to use that instead. You can also further modify this form to meet your needs.
Next are the Donor FAQs on pages 28 and 29. These FAQs are pretty basic. They cover common questions about endowments, the community foundation, and the fund. They can be used to freshen up on answers to the most commonly asked questions before you make your visit, and they can also be customized and left behind for the donor to keep for future reference.

22. Assigning calls Workbook: Donor Tracking Tool Tool: Workbook page 30
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And finally, we have a Donor Tracking Tool to help you establish who will be making visits with whom. Let’s take a few minutes to fill it out.
On page 30 in your workbook, you will see that there are spaces for several names. I’d like each of you to write down the names of five donors that you will meet with.
[Refer people back to the campaign timeline on page 16 for deadlines (first, second and third months)]
You’ll notice that the sheet is much more than an assignment sheet—it’s also what you’ll use to plan your next steps and record any outcomes for tracking purposes.

23. Making visits: role play
Donors
Askers
Observers
Review the four framing questions or objections you might raise during the visit
Review the solicitation sequence
Watch and listen to the solicitation call. Observe:
What worked well
What did not work well
How the Askers handled questions (if any)
Use of the story
Decide whether you will say yes/no/maybe
Write down your talking points
Brainstorm what questions and objections the donor might have
Write down what materials you would bring to a visit
Activity: Solicitation practice (role playing)
ATTENTION: WHEN PRINTING, MAKE SURE THAT ALL OF THE NOTES ON THIS PAGE ARE CAPTURED AS THEY DO EXCEED THE LIMITS OF THE TEXT BOX. IF NOTES GET CUT OFF, TRY EXTENDING THE TEXT BOX (DASHED LINE) SURROUNDING THIS MESSAGE.
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Now that we have an idea of who you’ll be calling on and when, it’s time to do some role playing and practice a solicitation call.
Here is an overview of how we will go through this activity.
Step 1: Have everyone number off by 4 and then have all ones get together; repeat with other numbers.
Step 2: For this exercise you will have one of three roles. The roles are: donor, askers (team of 2) and observer. The entire exercise will take 30 minutes, which is abbreviated from what you will do in a regular donor call. The first 15 minutes will be spent in preparation and the second 15 minutes will be spent role playing or observing.
I have specific instructions for each group. Please decide among yourselves who will take on what role and then I would like all donors here [identify a location in the room], all askers here [identify a different location in the room], and all observers here [identify another location in the room].
Step 3: Meet with each group.
Donors instructions: In preparing to be the donor in this exercise, I ask that you:
Review the Framing the Visit worksheet on page 24 for questions or objections that you might raise during the visit)
Decide whether you will say yes/no/maybe
Asker instructions: In your preparations, I ask that you:
Review the solicitation sequence
Write down your talking points
Brainstorm what questions and objections the donor might have
Write down what materials you would bring to a visit
Observer instructions: As an observer, please watch and listen to the solicitation call. In preparation for your role—
During the role play, observe:
What worked well
What did not work well
How the Askers handled objections (if any)
Use of the story
And after the role play:
Provide feedback to the rest of your group.
Is everything clear? Let’s get to work.
[Meet with all three groups promptly to allow ample time for askers/donors to prepare.]
[Wander around to different groups during the preparation and solicitation phases of the exercise to listen in on discussion, offer suggestions and observe. During the solicitation exercise, identify a group to role play for the fishbowl exercise.]
After role play, provide feedback to the rest of your group.

24. Fishbowl exercise What worked well What did not work well
How the askers handled objections
Use of the story
Let’s give everyone a chance to observe a “donor” visit by doing an exercise called the fishbowl. I have identified a trio of your colleagues to share their solicitation call for the group.
As observers, pay attention to the following things:
What worked well
What did not work well
How the askers handled objections (if any)
Use of the story
After the trio is done, we’ll have a dialogue around the donor visit you observed as a way to debrief on the exercise, identify best practices and brainstorm challenges.
[Commence with fishbowl exercise]

25. Practice, practice, practice
Make sure you are well prepared to make donor visits.
It may go without saying, but the importance of practicing what you will say and preparing for questions cannot be understated. Make sure that you are well prepared to make donor visits.

26. Session recap
What we’ve done so far Steps of making contact Solicitation sequence Supporting materials Role play, exercises, practice Assign calls
Let’s cover the highlights of today’s session:
We began by going over what we’ve done so far, and took some time to:
Identify your constituency, and how you connect to them through common values and links to your mission
We also looked at the timeline for the process
We covered the steps of making contact, including:
Writing a letter
Following up with a phone call
And paying a visit
We spent some time understanding the solicitation sequence, which includes:
Opening remarks
Sharing your organization’s story
Introducing and discussing endowments
And asking for support
We went over some supporting materials, including:
A donor flyer
A pledge form
And frequently asked questions
During our exercises, we:
Practiced the solicitation process
Participated in the fishbowl exercise to observe a donor visit
And stressed the importance of practice, practice, practice
And finally, we assigned donors for each of you to call, and reviewed how they fit into the timeline.

27. ENDOWMENT BUILDING
Making Visits
Thank you.
Thank you.