October 11, 2011

Closing Smarter: Strategies for Successful Major Gift Solicitations

Speaker: Cara Quackenbush, Senior Analyst and Research Manager, Eduventures, Inc.

Topic Description: Derived from an exclusive Eduventures study of 242 major gifts, Closing Smarter explores success factors in major gift solicitations. This informative session unveils the findings, tools, and applications from this first-of-its-kind study, examining the characteristics common to the most successful solicitations. Among the key questions addressed, include:

How can gift officers increase their success rate in closing major gifts?
What percentage of the ask amount is given in successful solicitations?
Does involving more than one solicitor increase your chance of success?
How often do successful solicitations involve faculty or deans and how can you best leverage them as cultivation and solicitation partners?
How many contacts typically occur between a verbal agreement and a signed gift agreement?
Does an institutional deadline, challenge fund, or tax deadline influence the closing of a gift?

About the Presenter: Cara plays a leadership role in designing and executing the Development Learning Collaborative's annual research agenda. She applies her quantitative and qualitative analysis skills to develop actionable insights and support for Eduventures' clients, assisting them with key strategic and operational decisions to support their fundraising success. Cara is an advancement professional with a decade of fundraising, accounting, management, and marketing experience at institutions of higher education. Cara's experience spans annual giving, leadership giving, volunteer management, alumni engagement, parent fundraising, and planned giving. She has also conducted research on management practices and strategies in higher education, including higher education accounting practices, presidential leadership techniques, and legal policies affecting planned giving. Prior to joining Eduventures, Cara was the Associate Director of Gift Planning at Boston College, where she helped launch the university's $1.5 billion capital campaign as well as its first-ever legacy gift campaign. Cara also worked in both the annual fund and the office of planned giving at her alma matter, Santa Clara University, where she earned her B.A. in journalism. Cara holds an M.B.A. and an M.S. in accounting from the Carroll School of Management at Boston College, where Cara won the MBA Business Plan Competition.

Program Info