Major Gifts

"All you care about are the numbers! Relationships really don’t matter to you!" or "All you care about are relationships. We do need to secure our budgeted revenue, you know? The numbers do matter!" These two statements—these two positions—came into sharp focus for me when a good friend and colleague told me he had been part of a discussion about how some folks just care about the numbers and others just care about relationships. Hmm. Interesting, I thought. At least there’s a discussion about this important subject...

Red flags often are used as a sign of warning or danger. Unfortunately, most red flags are not literal, but figurative, and often are missed by the people who need them most. Once you know the red flags of major gift fundraising, they might be easier to identify and tackle. Here are the top red…

In “How to Present the Perfect Pitch: From the Shark Tank to the Boardroom,” O’Leary offers 10 tips on how to ace a fundraising pitch. Whether you’re seeking venture capital or a philanthropic gift, many of the principles are the same. I’ve selected six of O’Leary’s tips I find perfectly aligned with what it takes to make a successful nonprofit ask...

As major campaigns near their ends, often there is a tendency to lessen the focus on best practices and the campaign discipline that has been key to your success. I believe that campaign goals should be met with major gifts. This strategy always should include plans to maintain and increase your ongoing annual support...

Michael Jordan broke his silence Sunday about ongoing racial tensions and violence in America that have been heightened with more casualties from police-involved shootings involving black men, as well retaliations against police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge, La...

The world stood still when news of pop icon Prince’s death began to flood the headlines on April 21, 2016. Months later, Prince is still making news, but now for something entirely different. Rumor has it that Prince may have donated $34 million to the San Francisco Foundation, a major local force in racial and…

Capital campaigns—those big, scary fundraising events that happen every once in awhile—embody some of the essential lessons of great fundraising. Capital campaigns raise money to springboard your organization to the next level. They are not your day-in, day-out slog. They’re inspiring, energizing and occasionally terrifying...

University of Michigan board chairman Mark Bernstein and his wife will withdraw a $3 million gift slated to help finance a new multicultural center on campus after concerns were raised about naming the building for them. The current multicultural center is named for William Monroe Trotter. It is the only building named for an African…

A California couple has claimed a $528.8 million share of a record Powerball jackpot from January and pledged to give much of it to charity. Flanked by security, Marvin and Mae Acosta went to a state lottery office in Van Nuys, Calif., on Friday to claim their winnings from the record $1.6 billion Powerball drawing,…

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates wants Africa's next generation of tech entrepreneurs to build a brighter future for their nations, so his philanthropic foundation will donate another $5 billion during the next five years to help sustain economic progress, including against diseases like AIDS, Zika and malaria. Gates made the announcement on Sunday during the annual…