She gave me four minutes. It changed my career.

Almost thirty years ago, I had a donor meeting with a man who genuinely intimidated me. My development director stopped by my desk and asked what I planned to ask him.

I recited my agenda. She listened, then said, "That's fine. But what do you really want to know about him?"

I said I wanted to know why he kept giving to us when he clearly didn't need us.

She said, "Ask him that."

He talked for twenty minutes about his mother, a scholarship, and a debt he'd been paying back for forty years. He made our largest gift that year.

Four minutes at my desk. No budget. No program. No conference.

That's the whole thing I want us to understand about developing the next generation of major gift fundraisers. We keep trying to hire our way out of what is really a coaching problem.

If someone on your team told a story like that about you ten years from now, what would they say you did?

This week on The Intentional Fundraiser Podcast, I walk through what's different about the fundraisers coming up now, the four competencies they need, five coaching moves that cost nothing, and what it quietly costs your donors when you skip all of it.

Give it a listen, then share it with a manager who's carrying a team and wondering why hiring hasn't fixed it.

More from Tammy Zonker

Author of Calling All Heroes: Combining the Best of Donor-Centered and Community-Centered Fundraising for Greater Impact

Founder of Fundraising Transformed

President of Modern Institute for Charitable Giving

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