Major Gifts

If the MGO starts taking care of new donors coming into the organization, he or she will ignore the caseload. And there is nothing worse than that. In fact, this is one of the biggest problems in major gifts—keeping the MGO focused on the good group of donors he or she has committed to...

Take two hours today to increase your fundraising success dramatically. If you are a CEO or chief development officer, take time today to review the list of your top 20 to 50 (depending on the scale of your organization) prospective donors. If you don’t have one, create a draft...

Every nonprofit should have a major gifts program. Because that’s where the lion’s share of the money is. It’s rare an organization has a mailing list large enough to raise $1 million from a million different $1 donors, but most nonprofits do have major-donor prospects hiding in plain sight...

I have a story I want tell you. Recently, I’ve been working with major gifts officer (MGO) Janice (not her real name) in the San Francisco Bay Area to help her get to know her donors on her caseload...

What motivates the ultra wealthy to give? Wealth-X conducted an Attitudes Survey in conjunction with Knight Frank to gain insights into the perspectives and behaviors of the ultra wealthy around wealth management, philanthropy, wealth transfer and more. The survey was based on the views of around 400 of the world’s leading private bankers and wealth…

It simply makes sense to follow the money. Where is it? Let’s begin with that elephant-shaped piñata in the middle of the room. It’s filled with the majority of all philanthropy. Yup! It’s right inside. You’ve got to figure out how to get the goodies out of it or you’ll just be scrambling for spare change. Major gifts is where the real money is. How do you break open that piñata?...

Two years ago, we published a list of the 15 most powerful women in U.S. philanthropy. The idea for that article emerged because we were struck by how many women are involved in philanthropy at a high level—and equally struck by how little attention they tend to receive. In particular, while the spouses of male…

Just about everything. The emotional commitment of the investors to your cause will determine what sort of gift they will make, and the resources they will use to make it. Many large gifts are made that don’t qualify as “major” in my book. These gifts can be $1 million or even more, but they’re still not “major.” They’re still not transformative for the giver. The key for the fundraiser is whether the donor is making the gift from income or assets...

I had known the principle all along, but my sympathy for the major gifts officer had persuaded me that it was OK to do. So I supported the practice of just showing up at a non-responsive donor’s door unannounced bearing gifts and glad tidings. This changed when I heard three high-capacity donors talk about their reactions to the practice....

I have to tell you I’m tired of it. I’m tired of hearing from major gifts officers (MGO) who claim they don’t have donors on their caseloads that can give high five-, six- and seven-figure gifts. If you are an MGO with at least 75 to 100 donors on your caseload (remember, 150 is a full caseload), you have at least five to 10 donors who can give you gifts in the high five- to seven-figure range. ...