ARTICLE
Turning Dreams Of Transformative Gifts Into Reality
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More than anything else, nonprofits are fueled by passion. This is a wondrous motivation behind inspiring gifts of time, talent, and treasure generously given to touch, improve, and save more lives, especially to help those who are struggling.
Dreams go hand in hand with this passion to champion good works that are visible in a multitude of essential ways — advancing education, healthcare, human services, arts and culture, economic development, animal welfare — and a host of other ingredients of a better quality of life enjoyed by people from different socioeconomic backgrounds.
This is where fundraising and resource development rightly enter the picture. As Marv LeRoy, President & Founder, Institute for Philanthropic Excellence, has aptly made his mantra: More Money = More Mission.
With more resources, nonprofits can aim and reach higher, and in doing so, hire more staff, build infrastructure, expand programs or services, tackle capital improvements, and create or add to endowments. Money is never the end, but much more profoundly, the means to a noble end.
No nonprofit will achieve its gift income potential without a robust major gifts initiative. Those of us in the profession describe impactful amounts with shop talk terms — major, leadership, and principal gifts. They all have different meanings from one organization to another, and even the meaning within the same organization can evolve over time. But $1 million provides absolute clarity. Even though wealth has exponentially exploded over time, and now mega-gifts are becoming common, million-dollar gifts continue to have a magical sound to them.
The first major hurdle for nonprofits who haven’t achieved seven-figure gifts yet is debunking the “scarcity” syndrome. Alarmingly, they just don’t think they’re worthy. They believe they don’t have a compelling enough case for support, first class marketing and promotional materials, or sufficient access to high-wealth individuals or other major funders. They don’t think transformative gifts are within their grasp.
Our new book, How to Score Your First or Next Million-Dollar Gift, is written expressly to empower nonprofits to achieve transformative gifts. It features principles, strategies, best practices, and even “homework assignments” that can help lift your organization to the next level of visibility, prestige, and especially robust impact in fulfilling its mission. It’s an easy-to-read 104-page guide for nonprofit leaders, particularly those from small shops that want to dramatically boost their gift income.
The truth is that million-dollar gifts are made every day — and you and your board, management, staff, volunteers, friends, and especially the beneficiaries of your noble missions deserve those gifts and the exciting opportunities they unlock.
Here’s encouraging news: The foundational processes of discovery, cultivation, solicitation and, stewardship are essentially the same in securing $1,000 and seven-figure gifts.
There’s never been so much leadership gift capacity. Thanks to booming stock and real estate markets, America boasts about 25 million millionaires and about 1,000 billionaires.
Many of these millionaires live next door, and you would never guess from their lifestyles that they have so much gift capacity. They might even be in your databases and have demonstrated commitment to your mission.
Plus, there have never been so many attractive funding vehicles available to stretch gift amounts, from blended gifts mixing current and planned components, to ubiquitous Donor-Advised Funds.
Maybe, the best time to commit to a major push for million-dollar gifts was five or ten years ago, but clearly the second-best time is today.
If you were paid $1 million for your home despite its condition, that’s exactly what it would be worth. The same is true when your nonprofit earns its first million-dollar gift. Everything changes in the way you are viewed both internally and externally. No matter how long it took to receive that first million-dollar gift, you can be assured that the next one will come much faster.
Let’s consider the passion and dreams of professional and volunteer nonprofit leaders a genuine super power. There is plenty of research, data, case studies, and best practices to guide the way. Attitude is everything. Believing that your dreams are possible, and that your mission matters, will put your nonprofit on the path to first and next million-dollar gifts.
What strategies do you employ to receive transformative gifts? Let us know in the comments.
Ready to focus more on major gift fundraising?
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