Really big gifts can have a transformational effect on a nonprofit organization. Here … some ideas on how to cultivate them.

By Terry Burton

1. how to get them; and
2. once you receive one, how to make it work for the long-term benefit of your organization.

Following are some issues you need to keep in mind if your organization is, as it should be, looking toward cultivating transformational gifts.

Proper stewardship
Without stewardship, there likely would not be transformational gifts. That 1 percent of the population that has the capacity to make a very large gift to a charitable organization — the kind of gift that will transform it — usually has an idea about what the money will do and appreciates the kind of impact the gift will have.