Major Gifts

Several months ago, I was sitting around a conference table with a prospective client talking about the process we needed to take to create our donor impact portfolio. When complete, the donor impact portfolio is a list of all the nonprofit organization’s programs and projects...

Let me talk to you about technical communication. Have you ever been in the presence of someone who is blathering away, and you can barely understand what they are saying? It happens quite frequently in major gift communication. It’s called “talking over the person’s head.”...

When we talk to leaders, managers and major gift officers on why they believe they are not seeing growth, it’s apparent by their answers, which leads us to one major conclusion: There is no real relationship with the donor...

The three elements of a successful major gift program are a good program to present to donors, good donors and a good major gift staff. Jeff and I have seen many major gift situations where one of these elements was missing, and it was impossible for a major gift program to really get traction...

First, don’t put an unqualified donor into your portfolio. Put them in another category called a “To Be Qualified” list. This way, you and your manager will not put revenue goals or expectations on you or the donor...

You can tell what a person really thinks by the language they use or the behavior they engage in when the customer or donor is not looking. I was reminded of this truth at a Veritus Group retreat when one of our associates looked me in the eye and said: “Richard, the words you just used prove that you do not respect one of my important values.”...

How are you acquiring major donors? If you are concerned about your major gift pipeline, start reviewing how you are currently bringing in new donors and spend the time and energy it takes to start filling that pipeline. Years from now, you will reap that investment...

Welcome back to #NPPTrendingNow, a weekly video series where NonProfit PRO Editor-in-Chief Nhu Te breaks down the top three coveted stories of the week. Here's what we've got going on for you this week: artificial intelligence tools for nonprofits, the peer-to-peer problem and major gift manipulation...

If you have attended a training program with a major-gift guru, you have likely learned many techniques and strategies on how to approach major donors. Much of this material is very good. But some of those trainings, a great deal of effort is made to manipulate the donor into giving. Major gift manipulation never works...

Welcome back to #NPPTrendingNow, a weekly video series where NonProfit PRO Editor-in-Chief Nhu Te breaks down the top three coveted stories of the week. Here's what we've got going on for you this week: asking for major gifts, questions to attract major gifts and creating a strategic plan...