Want to raise more money? Visit more people, many more.

Did you know that the typical major gifts officer for a large institution has a portfolio of somewhere between 75-150 donors?

Did you know that the typical major gifts officer meets with 7-10 donors a month?

I’m just wondering how many donors or prospective donors your organization – whether that was your Executive Director, your fund development staff, or your leadership volunteers –  visited last month?

For many small organizations I know, they’d be lucky to visit that many donors in a year!!

No wonder most of us aren’t raising the money we’d like to raise.

Want to see the metrics that universities use? Take a look at this slide deck presented by Eduventures at a 2011 CASE Conference in Vancouver.

We can create giving pyramids all day. We know that we need 4 or 5 qualified prospects to realize one gift. What those gift pyramids keep telling us is that we have to find, qualify, cultivate, solicit, and steward a heck of a lot of people to reach our fundraising goals.

It’s really hard to do that from your office chair. Or during a committee meeting.

So, let’s finish up the plans, polish up the case, and then get down to the really important work — those one-on-one conversations that are essential to our fundraising success.

Wondering where to start? Start with the people who already love you… your donors, your volunteers and your board members. I’ll bet that list will keep you busy for a while.