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Are the people working as major gift officers at your organization in the right role? Do they have the best skill set and mindset for… Read More
Verba docent, exempla trahunt. “Words teach people, examples compel them.” – Latin proverb[1] It’s simple. We want the donor to say, “Yes.” But how? How… Read More
Giving vs. sharing Are we asking people to give? Or are we asking them to share? This might feel like a trivial choice of synonyms…. Read More
Have you heard this objection before? “I’ve been giving for 20 years. There’s nothing you can tell me I don’t already know.” This is an… Read More
Here are Nine Things I Wish I Knew My First Year in Major Gifts 1. Stop talking so much. Ask Good questions and listen. 2…. Read More
Making the ask can be the scariest part of fundraising. Setting up social events is great fun. Being friendly with others is enjoyable. Talking about… Read More
Getting started in Major Gifts… better learn to golf! ❌FALSE❌ Of course, if you like to play golf and it works for you, party on…. Read More
The “one big thing” in fundraising is always the same: Advance the donor’s hero story. That’s the right story. But for major gifts, we need… Read More
One of the great insights Robert Kiyosaki shares in the book Rich Dad Poor Dad is this: Poor people say “we could never afford that”… Read More
“Is now a good time to talk?” This is one of the worst ways to start a call to schedule a visit (unless you know… Read More
Monomyth steps The “one big thing” in fundraising is always the same: Advance the donor’s hero story. The universal hero story, called the monomyth, includes… Read More
A basic marketing precept is to “know your audience.” As a major gifts officer or fundraiser, your audience is wealthy donors. How well do you… Read More
It took me 16 contacts over a 12-month period to get a visit scheduled with one couple. They then went on to give over $100,000…. Read More
The universal hero story is attractive. This “monomyth” is “hard-wired into our psyches.”[1] In the donor’s hero story, the donor’s role as hero is compelling…. Read More
This challenge had me angry for more than a week… “Pharmaceutical sales reps have 15 meetings per day. Why can’t you?” Many years ago, I… Read More
No matter how well your major gifts conversation goes, sometimes the prospect still turns down the opportunity to make a transformational gift. The question for… Read More
Why Do Major Gifts Prospects Decide Not To Give? In the vast majority of situations where this happens, the reason is because the fundraiser failed… Read More
If you’re in the business of raising money for a cause, some on your staff (or your board) may have probably wondered, “What really leads… Read More
Hiring major gifts officers is hard. First, it’s just not an easy position to fill because there is a lot of turnover. But more than… Read More
If you looked up suggestions for which major gifts metrics and KPIs your organization should be measuring, most of what you’d find would seem fairly… Read More
In fundraising, a gift results when motivation overcomes cost. Increasing motivation helps. So does lowering cost. These make the gift easier. But sometimes, these two processes conflict. Number problems… Read More
What’s the only thing better in fundraising than a major gift? A bigger major gift. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you… Read More
As a Major Gifts Fundraiser don’t you want to fire your employer at times? Here are my top 10 reasons why many do just that…. Read More
Quick review In my previous post I outlined the reasons why nonprofit fundraising operations need marketing automation so they raise money more cost-efficiently. In this… Read More
Feeling like your job is getting harder because donor expectations have changed and competition for the charitable dollar is growing?
Finding that the old orthodoxies and conventions espoused by so-called experts in online echo-chambers and at conferences don’t work anymore?
Want to help more people make impact by facilitating their acts of philanthropy but feel like too many obstacles keep getting in your way?
Then this book is for you.
Engagement Fundraising was developed from the perspective of a donor who discovered firsthand that the impersonal, spray-and-pray approaches of his beloved charity were not only offensive but also wasteful and ineffective. So he took action. And now, you can too.
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