Sign-up for The Technopath Way Weekly Newsletter here: technopath.ac-page.com/the-technopath-way-sign-upSarah sat down with Helene Erenberg, Director of Major Gifts and Individual Giving at the CDC Foundation, this week to talk about how Helene and her team have created a donor engagement plan. Here are some of our key takeaways:CDC Foundation’s Tech Stack for Qualifying DonorsRelationship building/getting to know donors personally is the absolute best wayUsing third party companies to verify income level, previous organizations donors have given to and likelihood of alignmentIf your organization doesn’t have this in the budget you can find much of this information through things like political donation lists, Googling salaries and asking board members if they know anyone who might have the means and interest to donate regularly Organization:Segment donors into portfolios based on giving levels, even if you don’t have the staff at this moment to man each oneRemember before qualifying that not everyone will want to convert, especially if they’ve given to you during a disasterPortfolios are broken down into campaignsStarted with 3 major gifts and a planned giving campaignsEach campaign was assigned a staff member to fully qualify the donorsCampaigns were then further broken down into tiers based on donor quality as the staff members worked their way throughEngagement ProcessIn Salesforce engagement plans are a series of tasks in sequential order that remind you when to do what in order to keep building a relationship with the donorFor a smaller organization whether a major gift for you is $1000 or $50,000 you still need to take the steps of cultivation and relationship building with the donorAlways meet the donor where they are for engagement, even if it’s unconventionalBe creative in your touchpointsWebinar invitation on topics of interestShort videosArticles about relevant topicsAdvice on Making the AskIt’s completely normal to be nervousBy the time you are making the ask, you should have a good enough relationship with the donor that it is not a surpriseThe ask is the very last step, it is not a fast process