Why do so many major gift officers struggle to act on names that prospect research delivers to them?
Usually it comes down to one of three things: fear of reaching out to someone new, a belief that new prospects take longer to cultivate than warm ones, or simply not knowing what to say.
Key Takeaways
- Fundraisers who don’t act on research-delivered prospects are making decisions on behalf of donors and that’s not their call to make
- Chasing high-capacity, low-affinity prospects wastes time that could go toward prospects who are actually ready to give
- Initiating a relationship is a different skill than building one, requiring multi-channel outreach and persistence, not a single email
- The best qualification meetings include direct questions about giving priorities so you can identify fit early and “bless and release” when it isn’t there
- Research and fundraising work best when researchers are embedded in development team meetings, not operating in a silo
- A clear relationship rhythm with consistent, purposeful touchpoints is what moves a prospect from discovery to commitment
Major gift coach Mary Petersen has seen gift officers struggle across organizations for 25 years and she has concrete, practical advice for breaking through each of those barriers. The good news for researchers is that when fundraisers and research work well together in the early discovery phase, gifts close faster and more often than either side tends to expect.
Why don’t fundraisers act on research-delivered prospects?
Mary started her career watching gifts come in the door at a children’s museum and feeling the pull toward fundraising because of the visible, tangible change it created. Twenty-five years later, she coaches major gift officers and executive directors daily, and she hears variations of the same struggle: the prospect researcher delivers a name, and nothing happens.
Mary is direct about the underlying problem: when a fundraiser decides not to pursue a researcher-delivered prospect, they’re making a decision on behalf of that donor without ever giving the donor a chance to weigh in.
What does it look like when research and fundraising work well together?
Mary’s clearest example comes from her time at the Humane Society of the United States, where two prospect researchers supported a development team of about twelve. What made that team different wasn’t just the quality of the research, it was that researchers were embedded in staff meetings and prospect strategy conversations. They weren’t handing off files and disappearing. They were in the room, listening to how different gift officers worked, their funding priorities, and where the gaps were.
The result was a roughly 95% success rate on closing gifts when a researcher delivered a curated prospect. They also were closing them faster because the research was giving gift officers the context they needed to move with purpose (likely capacity, known interests, geographic ties to specific programs).
The more integrated a researcher is in the fundraising team’s work, not just delivering names but understanding what individual gift officers need to take action, the more your work converts.
How do you qualify a prospect in the early discovery phase?
Qualification begins before the first meeting and continues through it. On the outreach side, Mary emphasizes that one email is not enough. The prospects who have the capacity for major gifts are often older and prefer phone calls. Reaching out across multiple channels and doing so more than once, is essential.
Once in the room, the questions matter. Mary’s go-to question is asking the prospect about their three favorite charities. The answer tells you where their philanthropic heart is, what giving level they’re comfortable with, and whether your organization is likely to be a real fit. If a prospect spends the whole lunch talking about how much they love their alma mater and the Humane Society, and you work for neither, that’s information. You can bless and release rather than invest months in a relationship that isn’t going anywhere.
On the other hand, when fit is clear, Mary moves fast. She closed a $100 million gift in seven months starting from a first meeting where she ended by saying to the couple: “Not today, and not tomorrow. But at some point, when I know the perfect program for you, I’d like to come back and ask you for a significant commitment. Would that be okay?” They said yes. Seven months later, she asked.
“I’ve learned to be much more upfront about what the relationship is,” she says. “It’s about a gift. That protects your time, it protects their time — and it lets them say early on if this organization just isn’t in their wheelhouse.”
What does Mary tell fundraisers who freeze at the ask?
Every day, Mary’s coaching clients ask her for the exact words to use in a major gift meeting. After hearing the same question hundreds of times, she sat down and mapped out the twelve distinct ways she’s asked for a gift across her career. The result is her book, What to Say: 12 Major Gift Asks to Get a YES.
The right ask depends on who’s sitting across from you. An emotionally connected donor might respond to a story woven into the request. A mergers and acquisition attorney might respond better to a direct, negotiation-style ask. The book hands you 12 proven ask scripts for the most important, most feared moments in major gift fundraising. Not theory. Not frameworks. The actual sentences.
There are thousands of books about cultivation and stewardship, however, there are almost none about the actual ask. She wrote the book she’d been wishing existed.
Listen to the full episode to hear Mary on how to maintain a relationship rhythm through the cultivation period, what “bless and release” looks like in practice, and the story behind closing a $100 million gift.
Resources Mentioned
- Connect with Mary Petersen: LinkedIn | Website
- Book: What to Say: 12 Major Gift Asks to Get a YES
- Course: How to Have a Donor Meeting
- Small Group Coaching Program: Momentum
- Hey Fundraiser! Podcast