Major Gifts

Why do organizations mount major gift or capital campaigns? Hopefully the answer is to reach strategic objectives that expand their mission, that add new and improved programs or services, or that uniquely address significant needs of those they serve. In other words, campaigns are about change...

Once you get over your misconceptions that rich people are so different and that they won’t want to talk with you, you’ll find that if you share common interests, you can bridge the wealth gap and build a relationship that may well lead to a gift...

You’ve heard of the term, “solo player.” It refers most often in a sales environment to someone who does everything alone and won’t include others in the work. In most cases they are not very successful. In fact, we see a tremendous amount of burnout from this type of MGO...

The Virginia Commonwealth School of Engineering announced Thursday it has received a $25 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to build on its efforts to reduce the costs of lifesaving medications. The grant will build on VCU’s Medicines for All Initiative, which has found ways to drive down the cost of three…

I want to talk about how callousness reduces us to mere cogs in a fundraising machine vs. the caring individuals we want and need to be. And then I want to share with you how to deal with this very common dynamic in the life of a MGO...

Any major gift officer who has been working for a few years has heard this phrase uttered by one of their donors, “Well, who else is going to fund this project? I don’t want to be the only one to invest in it...

There was a disconnect. The client was well connected to area foundations, communicated with them regularly and made annual visits. Moving beyond foundations to major individual donors—and even the organization’s own board members—were not as connected or committed...

If you have ever experienced a TED Talk, you know that every single speaker consistently presents a topic in a fascinating and engaging way. A friend of mine recently told me that he had wondered why each presentation was so good. So he researched the subject and discovered that TED Talk organizers actually have specific guidelines for each of their speakers...

Who are your highest value donors? A major gift officer would likely answer the question with a list of the top 10 donors from the past year or current top prospects. A direct marketer might quote the top RFM segments or pluck a group with the largest previous contribution...

We’ve been working with major gift officers for quite a long time. I think Richard and I, along with our associates, have seen just about every type of personality, work ethic and passion, or lack of, in the MGOs we have managed...