Major Gifts

The University of Southern California has announced a $25 million gift from alumnus and trustee Rick J. Caruso and his wife, Tina, to endow its department of otolaryngology's division of head and neck surgery. The newly renamed USC Tina and Rick Caruso Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery serves patients facing a range…

In case you missed it, a Wall Street billionaire donated $400 million to Harvard on Wednesday. That donation, by hedge fund manager John Paulson, was Harvard's largest gift of all time and added to Harvard's already mammoth $36.4 billion endowment. Never one to mince words, famed author Malcolm Gladwell pounced on the news on Twitter,…

Billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson donated $400 million to Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, the New York Times reports. Harvard’s engineering school, which is expanding across the river from Cambridge, Mass., will be renamed the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

How much effort and time do you really put into making a major gift ask to a donor? Here are some things to think about in preparation for the ask that you might find helpful as you review your strategic plan and get ready to talk to your donors.

You finally have the appointment with your major donor. Don't strike out when you finally get in the door. Here are my top six ways to get the most out of a major donor visit.

Some donors make gift decisions themselves and some make them involving their family. Some involve advisors and friends. So know who those advisors are—attorneys, accountants and others who are in a position to influence the gift.

Often, the reason a MGO fails is not because of the organization or because he or she does not have the talent or ability. It is simply that he or she is not doing the job properly. It basically is summed up in one or more of the following six reasons.

The most common reason MGOs fail at their jobs is that they do not listen to their donor, who is not only telling them all types of ways they prefer to be "managed" but also giving regular clues on what they do not like. Here are some practical ways to listen better.

The work of a major gifts officer (MGO) is filled with "no's." That's the nature of the job. And I find that hundreds of good MGOs are debilitated by the word, and it renders them ineffective and deflated.

While it is rare, Richard and I have found some of the best MGOs and managers are ones who collaborate, who go out of their way to seek counsel and have real confidants at work.