Major Gifts

Are your donors in a giving rut? Are they giving the same amount year over year? The problem Richard and I encounter with organizations that have these types of donors is that they blame the donor for this giving rut. That’s easy to do. But, really, it starts with you. Here are four ways to get donors out of a giving rut...

Mention fundraising, and the most likely initial response will be something like, “Oh, I don’t like to ask for money.” The act of asking another for a charitable investment is often seen as the sum total of fundraising. Those of us who have done it successfully, those who have been there, know this isn’t true. We know it’s not magic. It’s a matter of attitude...

Major-gift year-end to-dos are not the same as your annual -giving big push and wrap up. For annual giving, your focus is on the final appeal for the year, working on getting the words just right and the letter out the door. You’ve reviewed all of your leadership donors ($1,000-plus) and have board members and…

Major benefactors are expecting more than they ever have before. They know, in our age of information and technology, just how capable nonprofits are of giving them what they really want. And, if we really break it down, there are three things that today’s mega-givers want—and are going to get—whether it’s from you or from another organization...

Here's the problem in most major-gift fundraising. We want the donor to give, and we spend a lot of time figuring out how to motivate his or her giving. But we don’t spend enough time describing the need. And when we do describe it, it is not compelling. When you look at the presentation you are currently working on for your donor, ask yourself these four questions...

If you get to know me for more than five minutes, you will learn that I relate fundraising and development to sports. There are so many parallels to each entity. So, whenever I hear Wayne Gretzky's famous quote, "You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take,” I immediately think of fundraising solicitations...

You may be asking, “Why do my donors keep giving the same amount year over year? Are they somehow stuck?" What’s happened is you've essentially trained these donors to give that amount year after year. If you have a caseload full of lower-end major gifts from donors like these, I want you to consider the following...

The subject of major gift prospecting always causes a bit of controversy anytime Jeff and I talk about it. I suppose that the reason so many pro-prospecting people get mad at us for taking a no-prospect stand is that they truly believe the illusion that “there is just someone out there that we don’t yet…

I talk a lot about ways to raise money and not have to ask for the gift. But, please, don’t get me wrong—there are times it’s important to make the ask. Asking for the gift is part or all of your work if you have the position of executive director; development director; major gifts, planned…

Richard and I believe that no matter what you do, there are people out there who will connect with your mission on an emotional level—even if you don’t think so. By accepting that, and by using emotion in how you talk about what you do, not only will you attract those new donors to your cause, but those you do have will become connected in a much deeper way and will give more.