Major Gifts

It’s a funny thing about obstacles in life. When they come up, our first impulse is to give up or to question the destination or even the path or strategy. That’s why I found this Zig Ziglar quote interesting and applicable to all of us dealing with major gift obstacles...

There is a school of thought in the circles of some major gift fundraisers that if you do a really good job of telling your donors you love them by sending them thank-you cards, updates about your programs and small gifts every once in a while, the donor will just give out of the kindness of their heart...

It was a pretty sad conversation. I had just hung up from a phone call with a really good major gift officer. And I had to admit I did not know what else I could have done. Here’s what happened...

OK, let’s be honest. It’s just you and me talking. No one else can hear our conversation. This is about planning for donors on your nonprofit caseload. Tell me the truth. Are you really planning what you will be doing with each donor on your caseload this next week, this next month, over the next few months?...

Our team at Veritus gets this question all the time because, not only do we help build and manage major gift programs, we also do the same with mid-level programs. Before I get into how do make this transition, let me talk about why a good mid-level donor program is so helpful to major gifts...

Jeff and I have been in many meetings where managers are haggling over how much to pay a major gift officer. Sometimes, there is an enlightened manager at the table who realizes that this one major gift officer could generate a substantial amount of revenue and, therefore, he or she says: “We’d better pay them well...

People often ask me, “Richard, what three main things do I need to make my major gift program successful?” I’m sure many people want to know because they feel real frustration about how their major gift program is currently performing. My answer: the major gift value triad...

If you want to be a great major gift officer, you need to be curious. Curiosity will lead you and your donors on an incredible journey where you really get to be that bridge by taking the donor in one hand and in your other, taking the need your organization addresses and bringing them together. How will you practice major gift curiosity today?...

It was budget time, and the manager was asked by finance to provide a forecast for major gifts for the coming year. The manager and the chief financial officer discussed how they should arrive at the right number and the CFO said: “Look, just take what major gift officers did last year and add 10 percent. It’s what we do every year.” And that, in a nutshell, is what major gift success looked like for that CFO...

History books and our current culture like to tell stories of success of the “self-made man.” We all grow up thinking that if we become the lone wolf and just do something on our own it is more noble than having someone help you. I think that is a pile of garbage...