Six months ago, I had a conversation with a director of development at a local rescue mission. During our informal conversation, we talked about what the mission was doing, their challenges and opportunities. During our chat, we talked about the lower back problems each of us were having at the time. We commiserated about the inconvenience and pain of back problems but tried to encourage each other to keep pushing forward.

A well-executed major gift strategy?

Six months later, I got a text from the development director asking how I was doing. She said she was praying for me and hoped that my back problems were getting better. Was this just a friendly gesture? Well, maybe. Was it a well-executed major gift fundraising strategy? Maybe. No matter which it was, it made me feel great; it made me feel like the organization cared and that the organization actually listened.

So did the strategy work? Absolutely! It was a great example of an organization working hard to build a relationship with me. Thank yous are nice, but it’s all about building relationships with your donors. And yes, I was so touched by this person that I made a fairly sizable gift.

Who was it?  Terri Micetich, the development director at the Morningstar Mission. I encourage you to check them out, donate and watch how it should be done.

Tags: donor relationships, major gifts, morningstar mission