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"Get the Biggest Bang for Your Buck: Building Leadership Annual Giving Programs"

January 11, 2011 – Program Summary

On January 11, 2011, Women in Development of Greater Boston hosted Hilary Marshall, Senior Director of the MGH Fund, Nursing and Patient Care Services, Massachusetts General Hospital and Jennifer Moriarty Hagen, Assistant Director of the MGH Fund, Massachusetts General Hospital, for their presentation on "Get the Biggest Bang for Your Buck: Building Leadership Annual Giving Programs."

Hilary and Jen delivered a lively presentation packed with great ideas from MGH and from their past workplaces, to cover both the large and small shop perspectives. Their presentation discussed in detail strategies for creating, building and implementing a leadership gift program – starting with the "5 Ds:" Dig into your database, Define your prospect pool, Develop systems to feed your program, Do it, and Do more! They explained these principles in more detail by sharing ways in which the MGH Fund is creatively innovating, such as the MGH Fund Bicentennial Challenge, the 1811 Society, and the newly revamped direct mail program.

The program also explored how Annual Fund leadership giving functions within an organization as it interacts with major gifts and capital campaigns. Hilary and Jen shared inspiring stories of donors who started giving through the Annual Fund and could have easily been passed over had they not been paying attention to small changes in the donors' giving patterns. Instead, when the development staff took the time to get out of the office and meet these donors face to face (a critical step!), each visit ultimately resulted in a major gift for the institution.

Hilary and Jen's advice? Know your organization, and know your donors! For example, the average age of an MGH donor is 78, which is an important thing to keep in mind when thinking about doing any development e-communications, which they have chosen not to do. And know your data! Pay attention to the small changes in donor giving patterns (more frequent gifts, consecutive gifts, increased gifts, etc.) that may indicate a donor's desire to do more for your institution. Lastly, never forget the importance of good stewardship!