In âWho Gets to Be in Your Nonprofitâs Major Donor Portfolioâ we looked at how to qualify a major donor prospect to be in your portfolio. Today weâll look at how youâll allocate your limited time among all these qualified prospects. First, a reminder: One full-time person can only handle [...]
When youâre determining who to cultivate for your major donor portfolio, do you simply look at everyone who gave more than $1,000 (or whatever your major gift amount is) and dump them all into your portfolio for the year? I confess: I used to do that. I didnât know any [...]
Our Ask An Expert series features real questions answered by Claire Axelrad, J.D., CFRE, our very own Fundraising Coach, also known as Charity Clairity. Today's question comes from a fundraiser who needs advice on best practices around acknowledging and recognizing major gifts. Dear Charity Clairity, Good news! We've received the [...]
I spent 4 years at United Way of Greater Los Angeles and 3 of those years as a major gifts officer raising $800k+ my first year and $1-2.5M+ each year after that. The end of the year was such a busy time. Holiday parties (remember those! What I wouldn't give [...]
A recent report unearthed key areas where small changes by major gift officers to tweak major donor approaches could reap large benefits for their nonprofits. âTransforming Partnerships with Major Donors,â by the Leadership Story Lab, which works with companies and organizations on messaging, delved into what motivates the wealthy to [...]
At some point in your nonprofit career, you may have heard about a multimillion-dollar gift being given to a charity and thought, â5 million dollars? What a generous gift!â Maybe from where you sat it looked effortless like a big gift fell out of the sky into the fundraiserâs lap [...]
Our Ask An Expert series features real questions answered by Claire Axelrad, J.D., CFRE, our very own Fundraising Coach, also known as Charity Clairity. Today's question comes from a major gift fundraiser who isn't sure how to persuade their boss to excuse them from tasks (like events) that aren't priorities [...]
Are you trapped on the small-dollar spin-cycle, spending all your time on fundraising activities that canât fully-fund your organization and help you grow? If youâre going to get out of it, you need to prioritize the fundraising activities that give you the highest ROI. Thatâs right, Iâm talking about major [...]
High-dollar donors are likely to give as much or more now than before the pandemic, according to a new donor confidence study sponsored by CampaignCounsel.org. We believe this means you should continue your fundraising efforts even though the landscape seems to have changed and even though you may be scared. In the July [...]
Itâs easy to feel excluded from grantmaking opportunities during a time of crisis. Perhaps you feel that your mission doesnât align with the prevailing narrative. Or perhaps youâre worried that you will alienate donors with an ask. Either way, hesitation is causing many nonprofits to miss out. Donât let hesitation [...]
Our Ask An Expert series features real questions answered by Claire Axelrad, J.D., CFRE, our very own Fundraising Coach, also known as Charity Clairity. Today's question comes from a fundraiser who wants to raise major gifts to support operations. Dear Charity Clairity, I would love to do major gifts. I [...]
Individual giving is the backbone of a diversified fundraising program, with over 70% of all charitable gifts made by individuals. And, major gifts are the ultimate in transformational engagement. What many may not realize is that major gifts can be done in any sized fundraising shop. The misnomer that you [...]