Growing your successful individual giving program, including major gifts, is a process, often involving years of cultivation. It’s not about looking outside of your organization, but rather finding the diamonds within your own database. So, how will your organization move from here to there?...
The Roy Lichtenstein Foundation of New York, named for the world-famous pop artist and Ohio State University alumnus, announced it has established two $3 million endowments at OSU to support endowed chairs in art history and studio art. Dorothy Lichtenstein, the artist's widow, said in a statement released by OSU that, "For a number of…
I know that some major donors have given extremely large gifts over the phone, or even in a direct-mail appeal. I’m sure you have heard those stories. But, it’s rare. Donors want you to sit down with them and ask for a significant investment. If you are at a point where it’s time to challenge your donors, the only way to get over that hump is to look a donor in the eye and ask for that gift...
If you spend any time in nonprofit resource development, you will or should develop a desire to step up to major gift solicitation. Major gift fundraising is the highest level and is not easy. Many professionals are engaged in major gift fundraising, but like a pyramid, very few excel at the highest level for a long period spanning multiple organizations...
Last year, I gave you five priorities for success in 2016. I called them “Dive the Five.” This year, I’ve expanded my thinking a bit. I give you “Seven is Heaven.” I promise if you focus on these fundamental areas, you will hear the angels begin to sing and your mission will take wing. Some of these areas will seem familiar, but the way you employ them may need to be tweaked in order for you to survive and thrive...
Oxfam today released an analysis of global wealth that suggests eight men have a combined wealth comparable to that of the poorest 3.6 billion people on the planet. The Telegraph provides interesting analysis of potential flaws in the research methodology, but what is most interesting is that these eight men, these supposed symbols of the…
I was recently talking to Susan, a development director for a regional nonprofit, and she was lamenting that she had another gala to put together. Even though this gala takes an enormous amount of time and effort from the staff, the executive director and the board want to keep it going because it brings in almost half of their revenue each year. Susan wasn’t upset about all the time and effort it took to pull it off each year, but the fact that the revenue generated by the event was really in transactional gifts, not mission-oriented gifts...
Looking back on the philanthropic efforts of well-heeled donors over the past 12 months, it turns out that 2016 was a big year for charity. The number of big gifts last year far outshone those of 2015. By “big gifts” I mean megagifts, or charitable donations of more than $100 million. According to a recent…
Most fundraisers spend an inordinate amount of time and energy worrying about making the case for their organization. But a far more productive undertaking is to get to know your major donors—particularly why and how they want to give. Find that out and you’ll have a sense of what you should ask them for and…
What is it about nonprofit boards, leaders and staff who so easily catch events fever and lose their way on thinking objectively about this topic? If that sounds familiar—if hardly any argument or reasoning will dissuade your leaders from organizing an event—then make the best of it by doing the following...
