The role of qualification plans at nonprofits

Dear Diary,

I was introduced to qualification plans when I worked at a higher education institution. It was also there that I was introduced to a prospect management team. And in that space, I realized that small and/or medium- sized nonprofits needed processes, and strategic prospect/donor management.

I could not help but think of how they could benefit from qualification plans. So, here I am bringing you an overview of the process on a silver platter.

To have a qualification plan is to acknowledge and implement a process of engagement – a qualification/confirmation of a prospect’s inclination, readiness to give, interests and connection to the organization, and capacity (a prospect can easily let you know they are not willing to give more than $5,000 to $10,000 at the moment). And these segments would be summarized within your plan after face-to-face meeting(s) that either conclude the reasons for qualification or disqualification.

Therefore, a qualification plan is a strategic fundraising device, and a proactive approach to systematizing prospect engagement.

From my experiences, many nonprofits qualify prospects in a less formal manner that shows no technicality or procedure. For example, when an Executive Director meets a potential donor, they are often engaged at a one-off event, a site visit, or lunch and take-home paperwork on the organization’s impact and stories; but there is no process, strategy or note in the CRM.

There is no management of the prospect’s movement and touch points with the organization. Whereas, if you have a plan, you can track who has engaged the prospect and whether or not they are a qualified candidate ready for cultivation, and eventually the Ask.

Imagine a perfect scenario - your organization has an upcoming anniversary campaign and you have identified top potential donors and created a list. Many on the list have been proactively researched and some have not, but they need to be qualified/initially engaged. This is when you set up a qualification plan (in the form of a document that is accessible within your CRM), and visit the prospect. During the visit, you find out their interests and connection to the organization, and most importantly they express their readiness to make a major gift to the campaign. So, with this information, you return to your organization ready to move your prospect to the next step – cultivation/solicitation.

It is important to note that you may need more than one visit to qualify a prospect. And it may be that you and someone else have to sit down with the prospect if they have several interest areas, or want to meet and talk to a programmatic staff member.

You can also disqualify a prospect. This can be the case when you learn that the prospect is not ready to make a gift in the next year or two and does not have any interest/connection with your organization. You could also disqualify a prospect that is not ready to make a gift but is very connected to the organization and wants to volunteer or be an advisor, then the key is cultivation – continue to engage the prospect.

As the saying goes, “time is money” – your attention to prospects that willingly want to be engaged and have a connection to your organization is a positive allocation of time and resources.

So, I appeal to you, my nonprofit and fundraising friends – consider qualification plans as a process that your organization needs to use to manage your prospecting and engagement activity.

Until next time, July 15th!