Active Listening

An Essential Skill for Effective Donor Cultivation

Most of us are born able to hear, but listening is a gift few possess. Fortunately, it’s a skill that can be taught, and with the right information, patience, practice, and dedication, one can master the art of active listening. It’s a skill that is critical in fundraising to unlock the connection between a donor’s desires and your charity’s opportunities that allow gifts to flow. We’ll delve into the keys to active listening, engage in the practices that allow you to really listen and understand, explore the human factors that impede our listening and get in the way of understanding, and dig into some questions that will help unlock rich conversations with your prospects and donors. 

Learning Objectives: 

• Understand the tools that allow you to solidify your understanding of what the prospect has said

• Learn the all-too-human factors that get in the way of your hearing what prospects are saying

• Explore questions that allow you to dig deeper into donor motivation and get at the information that will lead you to a successful gift