Major Gifts

What is happening out there? I’m seeing too many major gift officers (MGOs) who play small, do enough just to get by, and seem to want to drift through their careers just long enough so they can retire and head to Florida. How did this happen? I just want to take these good people (and,…

George Mason University’s president has responded to concerns raised by faculty, students and others that the public university has become overly dependent on private donations—questions prompted by one recent gift from a foundation with conservative ties and another that asked that the university’s law school be renamed to honor late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin…

Who are you? Have you been asked that question? My wife asked me that several weeks ago when I was having a meltdown on a particular subject that was especially frustrating to me. She did not recognize me in my reaction. I was not aligning to my stated beliefs and values. I was someone else...

The annual Sunday Times Rich List is a reminder that, for a select number of our fellow citizens, money seems to fall like confetti. The chance to compare the wealth of billionaires with plain old multimillionaires doesn’t come along that often. It is a strangely compelling reading. My eye, however, is quickly drawn to the…

Nike co-founder Phil Knight is worth an estimated $25 billion, and plans to give most of it away to charity, he told CBS in an interview that aired Sunday. "By the time, you know, the lives of my children and their kids run out, I will have given most of it to charity," Knight said…

The Centre for Sustainable Philanthropy at Plymouth University has changed its name after receiving a $1 million donation to expand its work. The center has become the Hartsook Centre for Sustainable Philanthropy after receiving the donation from the U.S.-based fundraising consultancy Hartsook. The center said in a statement that it planned to use the funds…

I’m angry. Recently, a major gift officer (MGO) reached out to us at Veritus desperate to understand her problem. "I feel like I’m doing everything wrong," she said. "I read your blog posts about major gifts and that feels right to me, but my boss is saying I have to ask people for money who I’ve never even met or know and, in many cases, have never given before....

In an effort to find and fund a cure for cancer, billionaire Sean Parker, founder of Napster and founding president of Facebook, announced a $250 million initiative, called the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, that will bring together 300 leading scientists from 40 labs and six cancer centers...

You might have just read this headline and said to yourself: “I can tell this is going to be really boring stuff—I really don’t need to read or do this!” If this is your story, let me tell you a story. I have had two situations in the last few months where the major-gifts officers have refused to do the kind of planning and prioritizing I am suggesting here...

A Michigan couple on Wednesday announced a $1 million donation to Livestrong, the Austin-based cancer nonprofit. It is the biggest single donation the group has received since 2010. Jeri and Jeff Mulder, longtime Livestrong supporters, will pay out a $1 million gift to the group over the course of five years from their nonprofit the…