What does major gift excellence require? | 101fundraising

What does major gift excellence require? | 101fundraising: "I don’t mean what you need to get the job or even how to keep it. Too many nonprofits are willing to settle for less than the best. There are more available positions than there are good folks to fill them. You are employable without excellence.
What I’m talking about is what you need to be exceptional regardless of what the boss thinks or wants."



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Transformational Giving: A Different Approach to the Fundraising Case For Support - Resource Center - AFP

Transformational Giving: A Different Approach to the Fundraising Case For Support - Resource Center - AFP: "Transformational Giving: A Different Approach to the Fundraising Case For Support"



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Take Our Major Gift Fundraising Aptitude Quiz

Take Our Major Gift Fundraising Aptitude Quiz: Major gift fundraising, in particular, requires “extroverted people lovers.” It requires an outgoing personality, a love of building and nurturing relationships, having personal, one-on-one conversations regularly and no fear of the ask.

Yes No QuizThe Quiz

If It Were Easy To Do, We Wouldn’t Need You � 101fundraising

If It Were Easy To Do, We Wouldn’t Need You � 101fundraising: Major gift fundraising at its best can transform an organization. When an inspired potential donor says, “We have to make that happen,” “It’s critical that we solve this societal problem,” “How can I help?” incredible philanthropic investments follow. So why do some of us spend so little time getting this right?

One reason is because so many other things are easier to do.

R.I.P. Donor Pyramid? : Page 1 of 2 : FundRaising Success

R.I.P. Donor Pyramid? : Page 1 of 2 : FundRaising Success: That’s why you don’t see many pyramids being built these days.

Except in nonprofits, where building the donor pyramid is still the holy grail. Get ’em in. Move ’em up. Acquire through direct mail. Convert to monthly donor or sustainer. Acquire through events. Convert to mail. Up, up, up … to the pinnacle of major and planned gifts!

Except for one tiny thing.

Willis Turner - What If Mark Twain Was Your Major-Gifts Officer? : FundRaising Success

Willis Turner - What If Mark Twain Was Your Major-Gifts Officer? : FundRaising Success: For example, if Mark TwainOpens in a new window was your major-gifts officer (MGO), he might amble into your office, lean his surprisingly slight frame against the doorway (he was just 5 feet 8 inches), brush a fleck of cigar ash from the collar of his rumpled white suit and drawl:

"A round man cannot be expected to fit into a square hole right away. He must have time to modify his shape."

What he'd mean, of course, is that those who contribute to your regular appeals are far and away your best source for major donors

High Museum’s Photo Department Transformed By $4M in Gifts | In the Air: Art News & Gossip | ARTINFO.com

High Museum’s Photo Department Transformed By $4M in Gifts | In the Air: Art News & Gossip | ARTINFO.com: Not long after SFMOMA revealed that it would be launching a new photo center in 2016, another museum has also shown a serious commitment to its photography department. Atlanta’s High Museum of Art announced this morning that it has received four major gifts, totaling $4 million, that will each contribute significantly to the expansion of its photography department and collection.

Duke Haddad - March Madness Brackets for Fundraisers : FundRaising Success

Duke Haddad - March Madness Brackets for Fundraisers : FundRaising Success: Have you ever thought of how you could relate this concept to your fundraising program?

Think of walking into your development conference room with a large bracket on the wall facing you. You see 68 donor prospects on the board. The ultimate goal of this process is to move these prospects in such a way to maximize their time, talent and treasure for the benefit of the organization you serve. These prospects are chosen through research. Some are picked via their online or direct-mail activity. Others are picked through special events, grant potential, net worth ability, linkage plus ability and interest. Still others are chosen through major-gift history, planned-giving intentions and other possibilities.

Spring and Special Events – Magical or Deadly? | Karen Osborne |

Spring and Special Events – Magical or Deadly? | Karen Osborne |: Back-to-back events, exhausting staff and volunteers, not netting enough, no time for follow-up from one because another is on its heels. Poor donor retention from one year to the next, so you have to find NEW people to attend. The returnees are bored and want NEW, exciting venues, more sparkle and entertainment (or so the lead volunteers report). Major gift work? Who has time for that?

Fundraising, Part 3: Higher education cultivates major gifts � Philanthropy North Carolina

Fundraising, Part 3: Higher education cultivates major gifts � Philanthropy North Carolina: This article was written for Blackbaud.]

A rebounding economy and long-term investment in major gift donors paid off for colleges and universities in 2013, says John Lippincott, president of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, or CASE.

Schools that have shown fundraising success also are doing a good job in their stewardship of donors, including younger donors, by engaging them in their institutions in ongoing ways, he says.

What You Need To Start Planned Giving | #fundchat

What You Need To Start Planned Giving | #fundchat: Your charity or nonprofit doesn’t need much to get started with planned giving, but you do need two critical ingredients. Here’s what I look for to decide whether Planned Giving is feasible at a charity:

7 years under your belt. I used to say a nonprofit should have a steady 10 years working in its mission, but I’ve relaxed that to seven. You need that because you’ll be asking potential donors to include you in their estate plans, which will mean cash to you at their deaths (for the majority of planned gifts).

Nailing major gifts in 365 days - Information, research and resources for fundraisers and their leaders

Nailing major gifts in 365 days - Information, research and resources for fundraisers and their leaders: Major giving may be the pinnacle of professional fundraising. Cultivating and closing a major gift is both an art and a science, and those fundraisers who are good at it become valuable in the charitable sector. But it’s not easy; especially when your time cycle is a mere 365 days long, when we fail or succeed at achieving our targets based on an arbitrary line in time, called “the year-end.”

4 Traits Of Highly-Successful Orgs | The NonProfit Times

4 Traits Of Highly-Successful Orgs | The NonProfit Times: An emphasis on major gifts activity, staff compensation, staff size and total fundraising expenses are four success factors of the highest performing nonprofit healthcare organizations.

William C. McGinly presented a session titled “Principles & Priorities of Highly Effective Nonprofits” during the 26th annual symposium at Indiana University’s Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, “Taking Fundraising Seriously Timeless Values in a World of Change.”

First Person Nonprofit: A Day in the Life of a Major Gifts Officer | Blue Avocado

From Blue Avocado
First Person Nonprofit: A Day in the Life of a Major Gifts Officer | Blue Avocado: So exactly how do you lead someone up to a $1 million ask? The director of major gifts at a large regional environmental organization agreed to tell us everything . . . as long as we didn't reveal

How Events Hurt Major Gifts… And What To Do About It

How Events Hurt Major Gifts… And What To Do About It: I was in a meeting with the fundraising staff of a very prominent and successful non-profit, and the leader of the major gifts program told the familiar story of how he and his staff had been pulled away from their major gift work to organize an event that “meant a lot to the board.”

I was stunned by what I was hearing. I knew that the major gift staff already had its hands full with substantial increases in goals for the fiscal year.

Red Cross Agrees to Changes in Disaster Solicitations - Philanthropy Today - The Chronicle of Philanthropy- Connecting the nonprofit world with news, jobs, and ideas

Red Cross Agrees to Changes in Disaster Solicitations - Philanthropy Today - The Chronicle of Philanthropy- Connecting the nonprofit world with news, jobs, and ideas: Following criticism of its spending of Hurricane Sandy relief funds, the American Red Cross will make changes aimed at avoiding donor confusion over how it uses money raised in the wake of major disasters, the Associated Press reports.

Under an agreement with New York’s attorney general, the charity will modify the language of online appeals to give contributors more information about whether their gifts will go directly to victims of particular disaster or finance general Red Cross operations.

Making Asking Easier for Your Board

Making Asking Easier for Your Board: Making Asking Easier for Your Board

October 2013

Excerpted from the second edition of Fundraising Realities Every Board Member Must Face: A 1-Hour Crash Course on Raising Major Gifts for Nonprofit Organizations

Anyone who's been in fundraising for at least a week knows that board members are reluctant to visit would-be donors in person.

And yet personal visits are the sine qua non of securing big gifts.

10 Questions You Must Ask Before Asking for a Major Gift - Fundraising

10 Questions You Must Ask Before Asking for a Major Gift - Fundraising: Just as you can’t build a house until you’ve found the right location, created a blueprint, laid a foundation and brought in just the right workers, you can’t ask for a major gift until you’ve (1) found the right prospect; (2) developed a clear case for support and fundraising goal; (3) done some foundation groundwork to get your prospect ready for the ask, and (4) prepared yourself and your solicitors to knock the ask out of the park. So, get ready!

Duke Haddad-The Integrated Special Event : FundRaising Success

Duke Haddad-The Integrated Special Event : FundRaising Success: The point is that a special event is not just a simple activity that comes and then goes until next year. This event was treated as a complex endeavor that encompassed elements of annual gifts, major gifts, planned gifts and development services. The event itself had time, talent and treasure values assigned to it.

Veteran Fundraiser Jerold Panas on the Subject of Asking

Veteran Fundraiser Jerold Panas on the Subject of Asking: Jerold Panas has helped a diverse range of organizations raise an estimated $11 billion. He recently spoke with his publisher about asking for major gifts. GuideStar has published excerpts from Mr. Panas's books (see the links on the right), and we're pleased to be able to share his additional thoughts with you.