The Language, Principles, and Variations of Good Donation Conversations
This 2-day in-person donation workshop organizes the best practices of face-to-face requests into 16 principles and provides specific instruction on how to operationalize those principles in conversations. For instance, Principle # 2 is Establish Rapport. That principle is broken into sub-principles (eliciting their story, exploring their concerns, empathizing, and normalizing). Sample wording is provided for each. All 16 principles are covered on the first day of the workshop and some are embedded with mini-role plays.
Some of the principles diverge from what has become common practice in some parts of the U.S. For instance, Principle # 4 is Make it about the FAMILY, not the donor. But the decision is now so commonly framed as the potential donor’s that many coordinators don’t even recognize they are doing this or understand how it sets up refusals. This shift in framing takes both instruction and processing time.
The second day is devoted to role-playing and to particulars of the conversation that can’t be taught didactically. Often, time is spent on un-learning common practices that lose donations, e.g. asking permission to give information, ignoring concerns that are expressed more than once, and leaving too soon when families are in disagreement. Always, there are practice opportunities for correctly framing ownership of the decision, giving information, and questioning.
The workshop is limited to 12 participants. The objectives are:
1. Apply the best-practice principles of the donation conversation in several problematic situations;
2. Gain familiarity with the research on donation conversations;
3. Know at which 4 points donations are most commonly lost and how to negotiate around them;
4. Demonstrate skill in specific communication techniques that optimize donations;
5. Complete at least two donation conversation role-plays – one as a coordinator and one as a family member – and participate in group debriefs.
The cost is $6,000 plus expenses for the two days. If you'd like to train more than 12 people, we can do an extra day of roleplaying. If you are a new client, we will ask for a 20% deposit when you book the workshop and will send you instructions for how to put it on. You can contact me at vwvmargaretverble@gmail.com.