Over the past couple of months, I’ve focused my discussions on building the base of donor support, which I believe to be the most important issue many of us face across the philanthropic sector. A declining donor base is an issue across all types of non-profit organizations, especially higher ed institutions, and one with multiple root causes that need to be addressed.  
 
Understanding and fixing these root causes would better support the pipeline for major gift officers. We must also support these officers with the tools they need to succeed and, ultimately, improve their performance. The DXA/DXO program is one way we are doing that at Emory, yet I believe we must consider deploying multiple strategies to address this.
 
A startling statistic in the blog post I did with EverTrue recently is the fact that only 2% of Emory’s 160,000 alumni were assigned to MGO portfolios, and only about half of those alumni receive an in-person (or virtual) meeting each year. So, why do we constantly have conflict among our MGOs in wanting to visit the same prospect?! It doesn’t make any sense. 

Well, it goes back to training, comfort with making cold call outreach, and the ability to build strong relationships. Additionally, there is no question that technology and AI will continue to dramatically change the way we work and our level of success. While not all 160,000 alumni have the same engagement, interest in maintaining an ongoing relationship with Emory, or the capacity to give at the same level, we know for certain that population is much greater than the 2% penetration we currently have.  
 
Having a strong base portfolio is important for major gift officers. However, having a strong background in doing outreach to a broader pool of prospects through consistent, thoughtful, and strategic outreach is what will ultimately strengthen our organizations’ prospect pools, and the individual success of gift officers.  
 
We must commit ourselves and retool our major gift programs to focus with greater intention on doing strong prospect identification work, along with managing their portfolios. In doing so, we need to provide the training, reporting, and accountability to this work on a consistent basis. None of our programs should have anyone on our teams managing or visiting the same person repeatedly. It is harder work to identify and engage new prospects, but I can guarantee it is also more rewarding.