Looming over everything you do, technology is making nonprofit fundraising more relevant and immediate than ever imagined.

By Margaret Battistelli Gardner

One E-mail, One (Big) Gift
A few months ago, when I was thinking about major-donor possibilities, there was one foundation I thought it best to contact with an e-mail rather than a regular letter, telephone call or visit because in the past year, that’s the way we had been communicating. I condensed a five-page proposal into three short paragraphs, requested $20,000 (double what we had been given in the past) and offered to send more detailed information if needed. I hit “send” and waited.