Looking and behaving like one organisation

Major donor fundraising—more than any other type of fundraising—involves the whole organisation looking and behaving as one organisation. There needs to be a single story about the organisation’s direction, strategy and key priorities that everyone communicates consistently, including the local parts of a national organisation or the national parts of an international organisation.

Everyone has a part to play to in making major donors truly feel like insiders of the organisation including:

• Trustees.

• The CEO and leadership team.

• Programme and service delivery staff—and key here is that they support the organisational story not focus on just their area of interest and expertise.

• Support staff.

• Fundraisers, who, of course, are the linch-pin, orchestrating the whole organisation’s relationship with the donor.

Three actions are key:

1. Build strong internal relationships and colleagues’ understanding of major donor fundraising. Make sure everyone who will interact with major donors understands the importance of this group to your organisation and their role in managing major donor relationships.

2. Comprehensively brief colleagues who meet major donors to ensure they are ‘on message’. 

3. Make sure no one promises something to a donor they, or the organisation, cannot deliver.