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Here’s a wonderful strategy I got from a very clever and strategic client.
They were nearing their $3,500,000 goal and a few high level donors hadn’t quite made up their minds. Ben S., in particular, just couldn’t figure it out. He’d made a commitment of $150,000 and told the director that he was thinking about upping it.
But he was having trouble deciding on the amount. His wife was looking at new cars and he thought he really should put more money into their kids college fund. And the trip to Costa Rica was going to cost more than he had expected. Should he up his gift? And if so, by how much?
Encouraging a Donors to Decide by TUPPING
Steve, the executive director, was waiting impatiently for Ben to make up his mind. But the day the development director, Karen, told Steve that they were closing in on the goal, Steve seized the opportunity.
He asked Karen to send him an e-mail summarizing where they were in the campaign. Then he simply forwarded Karen’s e-mail on to the donor with a cover note saying, “Thought you’d be interested in seeing Karen’s report. Your additional gift would get us over the top.”
In fact, to reveal all, Steve forwarded Karen’s e-mail on to several donors he thought might make larger gifts with individualized personal e-mail cover notes.
And that’s just what happened. Not one, but three gifts were secured because of Karen’s e-mail. And, happily, they sailed well over their goal to everyone’s delight. Who doesn’t like to be part of a wildly successful venture?
So, What’s TUPPING?
In the lingo of my client, Karen TUPPED the director. It’s from Tee-Up. She Teed Up an email for Steve to forward to key donors. The information was correct and accurate, but it was written specifically and strategically so that Steve could forward it along with his own email and show what it would take to get over the campaign goal.
If Steve had written a direct e-mail with the same content, it would have seemed like a “nudge” to the donors. With a TUP, it was just passing on information and offering the donors an opportunity to be heros.
It’s remarkable how often strategic third-party information communicates more powerfully than a direct message would.
