You've had the donor meeting. It went fine. The conversation flowed, the donor was warm, you covered a lot of ground. And now you're sitting in the parking lot wondering if any of it actually moved the relationship forward.
That quiet uncertainty after a visit almost always traces back to the same problem: walking in with a direction instead of a strategy. In this episode, I share the one preparation habit that changed how I lead every donor conversation, and why I wish someone had made it this explicit much earlier in my career.
I also come back to a story I've told before on this show, about a donor who gave a six-figure gift to their alma mater instead of us, because I didn't ask in time. The first time I told it, the lesson was about timing. This time, it's about something different: how not having a clear meeting strategy kept me from seeing what was right in front of me.
What you'll take away from this episode: three specific things to define before your next donor visit, why writing them down (rather than thinking them through) is the whole point, and how this one discipline changes your post-visit clarity, your portfolio movement, and your confidence in the work over time.
Enroll in The AI Advantage for Major Gift Fundraising at letstalkfundraising.com/majorgifts. The first cohort starts May 4th.
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