Want More Gifts of Assets? Get the Wealthy to Talk about Their Wealth Assets
One of the most overlooked secrets to getting wealthy people to commit to a major gift is to simply get…
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The Best Caseload Size for Gift Officers – A New Formula
What is the ideal caseload size for gift officers? A quick internet search serves up a classic example of the…
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Why Fundraiser Turnover Is So High
Fundraiser turnover is an epidemic. And that’s not just our opinion or an attempt to be dramatic. Actual researchers used…
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The problem with participation rates among fundraising shops in higher education
I think colleges and universities should STOP worrying so much about DONOR PARTICIPATION RATES and become much more concerned about…
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6 Causes of Poor Caseload List Quality for Major Gift Prospects
If you’re a major gift officer, brace yourself, because this article might rile you up a bit. We’re going to…
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3 Donor Related Fundraising Challenges Keeping Your Revenue Down
Major gifts fundraising faces many challenges. That’s not news, and those challenges come in many forms, from many directions. But…
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4 Strategies to Get More Meetings with Major Donors
Major gifts fundraising is about relationships. You know this, and it’s an easy truth to recite in a job interview.…
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Donor Identity Questions – Teasing Out Values, Beliefs, and Motivations
Donors give because giving enhances some aspect of their identity. They give for many other reasons too, but their final…
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Private Foundations – What to Do About the REAL Competition That’s Beating Your Nonprofit
Your competition is not other nonprofits. Yes, perhaps there are a few others similar enough to your mission to cause…
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How to Get Your Team Excited about Cold Calling Supporters
Cold calling, for many fundraisers who dislike it, sits right up there with public speaking, which some surveys have found…
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5 Reasons Why Nonprofits Should Pursue Gifts of Assets over Cash
You can have it easy, or you can have it bigger. But rarely can you have both. That’s the nature…
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9 Powerful Insights into Your Major Donors from Donor Survey Data
When gift officers try to reach out to supporters recently added to their caseloads, it’s usually tougher to get them…
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Fundraising Impact Questions that Define Victory for Donors
As a gift officer meeting with donors and supporters, you face a great number of scenarios within different stages of…
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This Research-Backed Legacy Giving Strategy Avoids the Topic of Death
What’s the hardest thing about bringing up legacy giving with an aging and loyal donor or supporter? Death. Focusing on…
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5 Questions to Help Identify Your Best (and Potentially Most Transformative) Major Donors in a Sea of Prospects
Some gift officers have dozens of prospects in their caseloads. Others have over a hundred. Dunbar’s number aside, we all…
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Restricted Giving: Why Your Organization Should Offer More Options
Restricted giving doesn’t sound like a good thing, just from the sound of it. The idea of restricting anything, especially…
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Unlock Bigger Gifts – 3 Types of Questions that Position Major Donors for Maximum Generosity
Why do too many major donor prospects not give, or give far less than their giving capacity? One of the…
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The Top Fundraising Enemy Standing Between Gift Officer and Donor
Major gift fundraising is hard work. It’s about growing a relationship between donor and gift officer, as they work together…
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6 Ways to Reframe or Lower the Costs of Giving a Major Gift
Like any other donors, wealthy donors want to give. But when wealthy donors give, it’s usually a major gift, meaning…
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Why Tax Deductions for Major Gifts Matter to Wealthy Donors
A basic marketing precept is to “know your audience.” As a major gifts officer or fundraiser, your audience is wealthy…
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The Greatest Worry of Newly Wealthy Families – and How Major Gift Officers Can Help
Newly Wealthy Donors Aren’t Anything Like Donors Who Come from Families with Generational Wealth They have different world views, different…
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Top 10 Ways You Can Benefit from Conducting a Donor Survey
First, it’s important to recognize that there are two reasons to conduct a donor survey: To conduct research To raise money…
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How I leave voicemail messages that get returned
Generally here’s how I leave messages that get returned: APPRECIATION: I say ‘thank you’ (and I get sort of ’emotional…
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Too much major and legacy gift fundraising is focused on HOW, when it should be focused on WHY
What the heck am I talking about? Major gift fundraising communications (especially legacy gift marketing) tend to focus too much…
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