A Blast From the Past: The Most Major of Major Gifts (November 2008)

FundRaising Success published its first issue in November 2003, making this our 10-year anniversary year. To celebrate, we've been looking back at some past articles.

Donors always have wanted to make a difference with their gifts to nonprofit organizations. But one of the most remarkable trends in giving over the last 10 years is how large those gifts have become — so large in dollars and so significant for their lasting impact, they’ve taken on the label of “transformational gifts.”

By definition, transformational gifts are large enough to have major, lasting effects on the organizations that receive them.

When it comes to determining how much money qualifies as a transformational gift, there is no one magic number. The phrase “one size fits all” does not apply.

A $5 million gift to one charity could mean the difference between continuing its operations or closing the doors. Yet, that same amount given to one of America’s top 50 universities could be just another generous contribution in an annual-giving program that tallies $50 million to $100 million a year or more.

Magnanimous gestures of philanthropy ranging from $10 million to $500 million in lifetime giving are becoming commonplace. This escalating level of generosity on the part of philanthropists has caused nonprofits in the U.S., Canada and around the globe to shift their efforts in pursuit of truly major gifts.

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