Building Major Gifts Caseloads – Why Traditional Methods Fail to Accurately Qualify Donors

3 months ago

It’s a problem as old as fundraising. How do you find, attract, and qualify people who can give major gifts…

What’s Your Reason for Requesting The First Meeting With a Prospective Donor?

3 months ago

What's your reason for requesting the first meeting with a prospective donor? The ones I hear most often, including the…

4 Primal Motives for Major Gifts – the REAL Reasons People Make Transformational Gifts

3 months ago

Understanding the motives for why donors make major gifts is a big part of successful fundraising. This is how we…

Planting Seeds: The Step Before Cultivation

3 months ago

Funny how we use the word "cultivation" so often but rarely address the preceding step, "planting." Philanthropic potential is like…

Secrets for Turning Small Donors into Major Donors

3 months ago

You know they’re in there, somewhere in your donor database. You just need to find them – those small donors…

The Days of Easy Fundraising are Over

3 months ago

The days of easy fundraising are over. Now we need to face up to the hard parts of securing and…

Major Donor Stewardship – Million Dollar Experiences for Million Dollar Donors

3 months ago

Your biggest major donors simply cannot be treated like all your other donors. If you’re like most mid-size and larger…

Comfort Zones: The Places That Foster the Fullest Expressions of Philanthropy

3 months ago

My concern with so much of traditional fundraising is that it puts one or more parties in an uncomfortable position.…

Dazzle Your Donor Prospects with an Upgraded LinkedIn Headline

4 months ago

Many major gift officers don’t realize that one of the things some wealthy donor prospects do after receiving a first…

The Essence of Philanthropy: A Vision That Endures

4 months ago

I believe: Fundraising and philanthropy are not interchangeable terms, that the former is dependent on the latter; if fundraising assumes…

Why AI and Machine Learning Fail to Help Fundraisers Build ‘QUALIFIED’ Major Donor Portfolios (or Caseloads)

4 months ago

AI and machine learning are the new buzzwords in the prospect identification field proposing yet another solution to the challenge…

Why You Need to Revolutionize Your Fundraising

4 months ago

A giving revolution has already occurred. So, the longer you wait to adapt to it, the farther behind you will…

How to Help Your Wealthiest Supporters Solicit Themselves

4 months ago

What results in a bigger gift? A) Being convinced to give B)Deciding to give on your own? Your job as…

What Unrestricted Funds and Phone Booths Have In Common

5 months ago

People aren't interested in them anymore. If you fancy yourself clever, persuasive, charismatic, or irresistible, I challenge you to see…

Why what you do is called ADVANCEMENT

5 months ago

Ever wonder why what you do is called ‘advancement’? Here’s the answer: Your primary role is to help donors move…

Fundraising Metrics Vs. The Natural Rhythms of Philanthropy

5 months ago

"If you can't measure it, you can't improve it." It's been cited as one of the two most important quotes…

How to Quickly Learn What Used to Take Experienced Fundraisers Decades to Understand and Apply

5 months ago

Major gifts fundraising is a job that requires an advanced set of skills. In other words, you must know some…

Two Powerful Types of Questions You Should NOT Ask Major Gift Donors Until Trust Is Established

7 months ago

At some point in your engagement with donors and supporters there comes a magical moment when you realize a person…

How to Retain Your Best Fundraisers and Donors – Listen

7 months ago

When we poll fundraisers in advance of team practices (I don't like the word "training" because people aren't pets), we…

5 Essential Tips and Strategies for Improving How You Make Outreach to Major Donor Prospects

7 months ago

Making outreach to major donor prospects requires a set of skills that too often get shoved to the back burner.…

The Power of Building Relationships: Why Donors Need Good Fundraisers

7 months ago

Why, of all people, would a donor want to build a relationship with a fundraiser? If you are a donor,…

Why I Don’t Like Recommended Ask Amounts

8 months ago

For the record, I don’t like the idea of using SUGGESTED ASK AMOUNTS. Do you? I don’t believe in presupposing…

2023 Visual Planned Giving Ebook

8 months ago

Are you looking for the ultimate planned giving resource? You’ve found it – a free textbook, “Visual Planned Giving: An…

What Happens When We Don’t Understand the Why of Giving

8 months ago

Not as many people give according to our "strategic pillars" as we would like to believe or as our fundraising…