Major Gifts

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…

My guess is that you or some of your colleagues in the field are thinking, "What the heck is Jeff talking about now? Spirituality and major gift fundraising? What’s this all about? OK, I get it. Today, when you hear the word "spirituality," all kinds of stuff comes bubbling up. Some of what comes up is pretty negative. There is no doubt about that...

Another summer, another hefty charitable donation from Warren Buffett. He once again beat his previous record, donating more than $2.86 billion worth of Berkshire Hathaway stock to a handful of charities on Wednesday. The gifts top the $2.84 billion he gave last July, which had bested the $2.8 billion he gave in 2014. According to an…

Several times a year you need to revise your caseload. Two things happen when you do this. You remove donors who no longer meet your caseload criteria and you add new donors who do. This is important because, as a successful major gift officer (MGO), you need to be regularly renewing the donor mix on your caseload and bringing more and more valuable donors into relationship with you who want to relate in a more personal way...

Your organization is seeking major gift success, right? So let’s look for the actual major gift secrets that will bring you success. Most nonprofit leaders are confused and not sure where to focus in order to create major gift success. It’s a complex undertaking. But it’s clearly where the money is! Amy Eisenstein, ACFRE, shared…

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s philanthropy venture has made its first major investment, leading a funding round in a startup that trains and recruits software developers in Africa. The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, created by Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan, led a $24 million Series B funding in Andela, the startup said on Thursday. Alphabet’s GV,…