Major Gifts

This week, purpose to keep all your communications donor-centered, avoiding your natural tendency to talk about what you (or others in your organization) want to talk about. And keep it short, simple and to the point...

It is not an uncommon dilemma. A major gift officer worries about being too aggressive in the relationship, so they turn down the contact volume and miss an opportunity. Or they turn it up too high and offend the donor. How do you strike a balance?...

Claire Axelrad, JD, CFRE, principal of Clairification, ties enduring moral tales to effective major gift fundraising strategies. There’s a lot of common sense here, and these stories provide important reminders...

By far, the number one complaint that major gift officers tell us is that they find it very hard getting the donor to engage with them. Not to sound flippant, but… welcome to the world of being a major gift officer. There are so many facets of major gift fundraising that are difficult...

You need to re-orient your thinking and your practice, as it relates to volunteers, so you create a happy place for them. And what makes for a happy volunteer? Some colleagues we have worked with are taking important steps in two areas to make that very thing happen...

Being small is not an excuse for not having a major gift program. In fact, in many ways, Richard and I find that it’s an advantage. Being small means you know your programs deeply and, because you are working with just a small number of donors, you can really get to know them...

You can get the right person in the wrong organization, and it will be a disaster for the person. Or the wrong person can get into the right organization, and that would be a problem for the organization. The hiring criteria series addresses this latter point—getting the right person for the organization...

“I can’t seem to get my donor to relate to what we are trying to do,” explained the frustrated major gift officer. “I tell them over and over again about all the people we are helping and all the people that need help, and it just doesn’t seem to click. It’s like the donor has a glaze over her eyes!”...

I will never forget the discussion I had when I was managing a sales team for a commercial company. I had been meeting with various sales people going over their performance, and now it was time to meet with Brandon...

As a major gift officer, you may be asked to manage the donor portfolio of your manager, CEO or executive director. In order to be effective, you have to have the ability to “manage up.” Managing up means that you are working with your CEO...