NonProfit PRO

MARCH 4, 2024

Here's how this can help with major gift offers. As "The Godfather" showed, you're most persuasive when you give people what they want most.

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Gift Giving People Help 196

NonProfit PRO

APRIL 5, 2023

Tax letters should aim to engage recurring donors and encourage them to either make an extra gift, upgrade to a higher level, switch to a higher retaining way of giving, or give the ultimate gift. Here's how you can do that.

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Gift Practice Donor Giving 240

NonProfit PRO

FEBRUARY 20, 2024

Here is some insight on when and how to make your ask for a second gift. The value of your donors goes up when they donate a second time.

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Gift Donation Donor Time 202

NonProfit PRO

JANUARY 30, 2023

If you’re planning a capital campaign, or perhaps in the midst of the long quiet phase slog, challenge gifts are the perfect way to reenergize your community of stakeholders and donors.

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Challenge Gift Campaign Phase 275

NonProfit PRO

JULY 28, 2023

Legacy gifting offers nearly guaranteed revenue that an organization can count on for long-term planning. But accepting and managing legacy gifts can sometimes pose challenges or even bring up the question, “Is that possible?” regarding less-common donations like annuities or real estate.

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Gift Challenge Nonprofit Donation 232

NonProfit PRO

NOVEMBER 15, 2023

If you are patient — and thank them, steward them and engage them — you’ll be able to ask them for extra gifts, special projects and upgrade them to higher levels. Some donors may only be able to give a nickel per day. Then goes to a dime, to a quarter, to a dollar.

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Gift Donor Project Giving 284

NonProfit PRO

MAY 2, 2023

Let's discuss ways that fundraisers can utilize this strategy to acquire and properly manage major gifts. In fundraising, there is one singular approach to success, and that is relational fundraising.

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Gift Fundraising Donor Discussion 249

NonProfit PRO

SEPTEMBER 12, 2022

I believe that, over the next 10 years, major gifts fundraising will grow rapidly and become more sophisticated and donor-centered. So, here are some things to think about if you are new to major gifts fundraising.

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Gift Fundraising Donor Resource 273

NonProfit PRO

APRIL 18, 2024

Nonprofits need to understand that major donor fundraising has a seasonality. Here's some guidance on how to work with this ebb and flow.

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Gift Fundraising Donor Work 220

NonProfit PRO

FEBRUARY 7, 2022

That’s why we’re starting a major gifts program.” This is how many leaders think the economy of a major gifts program works. These leaders need a dose of economic reality as it relates to major gifts. “We need more money. They decide to do it and — bam! — the money starts to flow in immediately.

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Gift Money Program Work 288

NonProfit PRO

OCTOBER 31, 2022

Major gifts fundraising is generally misunderstood. There is more to it than the art of asking. So, if you are facing ignorance in your nonprofit, here are some ways you can educate your fellow team members on the role.

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Gift Arts Roles Education 268

NonProfit PRO

AUGUST 17, 2022

BNY Mellon Wealth Management released its 2022 Annual Charitable Gift Report, which found that charitable giving started to rebound in 2021 after declining in 2020, with the number and total dollar amount of gifts increasing 10%, and the average gift size also increasing (27%).

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Gift Activities Active Activism 219

EveryAction

JULY 31, 2023

One way to bring any organization’s end-of-year fundraising strategy to the next level is a matching gift strategy. Understanding matching gifts Matching gifts are a type of corporate philanthropy where companies pledge to match employees’ donations to eligible nonprofits. Maximize corporate philanthropy funding.

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Gift Guide Calendar Philanthropy 201

NonProfit PRO

SEPTEMBER 14, 2022

Have you ever blundered into disaster asking for a major gift? A blunder is a careless mistake. It happens when you don’t 100% have a handle on what you’re doing, so taking good care becomes challenging. Let's review the top eight blunders I have encountered.

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Gift Disaster Review Challenge 237

NonProfit PRO

AUGUST 16, 2021

What he said is that the investment in a major gifts officer (MGO) was not worth the result in revenue in the first two years of the MGOs tenure — and that those donors were better off just being communicated with by direct mail. Now, to be fair, he didn’t exactly say it that way.

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Relationship Gift Retention Mail 273

Wild Apricot

FEBRUARY 12, 2024

Learn why it's crucial, set up a sustainable program, and master the art of soliciting and building successful legacy gifting programs. Unlock a lasting impact with legacy giving!

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Gift Guide Arts Program 135

NonProfit PRO

JULY 25, 2022

I am often asked for a formula for adding major gift officers (MGOs) to an organization. And while there are many variables to consider, they boil down to these four points.

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Gift Organization Resource 303

NonProfit PRO

JUNE 1, 2023

Many agencies feel client pressure to reach a certain goal, and it’s safer to focus on one-time gifts. So how do you convince your agency to add monthly giving to your appeals?

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Gift Goal Giving Time 262

NonProfit PRO

FEBRUARY 21, 2022

A major gift caseload is not just a bunch of donors who meet a certain giving or capacity criteria. Current giving and capacity play into the selection of a caseload pool. From this pool, you should qualify the donors who want to connect.

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Gift Donor Difference Giving 287

NonProfit PRO

FEBRUARY 9, 2022

Here is how to use gift histories to help forecast future fundraising goals. Determining where the funds will come from to deliver on the mission can feel a bit like a numerical game of Tetris, trying to make all the pieces fit together no matter how strange the final configuration.

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History Gift Game Fund 246

NonProfit PRO

JULY 18, 2022

One of the most critical tools in an annual giving director’s toolkit is a gift chart. Follow this four-step process to create your own gift chart. This chart should be based on accurate target ask amounts for each potential donor in your database.

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Chart Gift Goal Giving 274

NonProfit PRO

DECEMBER 11, 2023

It’s that time of year again. The holidays are near and the year-end giving crunch is on. That’s why I am sharing a few bloopers in direct mail and emails that could have been prevented in the past few months.

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Gift Mail email Share 293

NonProfit PRO

OCTOBER 6, 2022

To improve retention, you simply must get that second gift from your donor as soon as possible. Can we finally bury that myth that you can’t ask too soon? Research proves it’s just a myth. Those organizations that do that are ahead of the curve.

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Gift email Retention Research 253

NonProfit PRO

AUGUST 1, 2022

Many fundraisers have inquired about asking donors for gifts, and more specifically, how to get over the fear of it. Very simply, there is only one way to get over that fear.

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Gift Donor Fundraising 288

NonProfit PRO

AUGUST 11, 2022

Recent donorCentrics Sustainer Benchmarking studies show that some 6% of monthly donors will make at least one extra gift a year when asked, so not asking is definitely leaving money on the table. Here's how to go about it.

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Gift Donor Benchmark Studies 277

NonProfit PRO

JULY 23, 2021

Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan, inspired the largest gift ever made to public higher education: $550 million. It’s a gift with very few restrictions, made outright over the span of 10 years to the university, its medical school and athletics.

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University Gift Public Michigan 279

NonProfit PRO

JULY 11, 2023

Here are some tips to compel first-time donors to give a second gift. We celebrate acquiring new donors, track efforts to turn one-time donors into recurring donors, and create winback strategies for lapsed donors.

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Gift Donor Celebrate Track 187

NonProfit PRO

SEPTEMBER 27, 2021

As a major gifts officer, the primary question asked is, essentially, “How’s the money coming in?” The finance office needs to know because it can't pay the bills with air. The goal you made also set an expectation that a certain amount of money would come in. So, it is a fair question.

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Gift Money Work Question 287

NonProfit PRO

JUNE 14, 2021

In major gifts, there is nothing better than a good finance person to be your partner. If you have a good one, pour on the love. They need affirmation just like you do, and they do not get enough of it. If you have a bad one, try to win them over through education, information and appreciation.

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Gift Personal Education 280

Nonprofit Tech for Good

JANUARY 29, 2022

And while stock gifting has been limited either by lack of awareness among potential donors or a painstaking process, the prize for nonprofits is enormous. “If As a result, pre-tax stock gifts are generally much larger than after-tax cash gifts. Non-profits don’t have to be experts in stock gifting,” Latham said. “We

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Gift Profit Nonprofit Donation 330

NonProfit PRO

NOVEMBER 11, 2021

Now is the time to motivate those donors who want to optimize their tax deductions this year to consider a gift from their donor advised fund. But did you know that you can ask donors to consider recurring gifts from their donor advised fund? Donor advised funds are all the craze lately.

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Gift Fund Donor Time 288

Media Cause

NOVEMBER 22, 2023

As we approach the season of giving, our team has compiled a list of gifts that give back. This year, if you’re looking for gifts, why not pick a gift that has a little extra meaning and supports a great organization? Starlight Childrens Foundation Starlight Gowns are a perfect gift for a child going into the hospital.

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Gift Guide Florida Texas 105

NonProfit PRO

AUGUST 18, 2022

New Mastercard guidelines will change the rules for subscription payments, which include nonprofit recurring gifts, processed by the payment provider. These requirements need to be implemented by Sept.

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NonProfit PRO

AUGUST 25, 2022

While Scott’s efforts — and those of like-minded donors — are a welcome development, recipient organizations are left wondering what to do with these transformational gifts. In just three years, MacKenzie Scott has given more than $12 billion in unrestricted funding to hundreds of nonprofit organizations.

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Gift Organization Time Fund 239

NonProfit PRO

MAY 3, 2021

Below is a perfect example from our colleague Diana Frazier on how she advised a major gift officer to use a news story to support a major gift ask. I am going to explain exactly how it happened so you can copy the idea for your situation.

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Gift News Story Support 260

Double the Donation

FEBRUARY 7, 2024

The most major of the major gifts a nonprofit might receive are called principal gifts. Principal gifts bring transformational benefits and drive incredible impact, growing organizations’ capacities to run programs, serve constituents, and make a difference. Nonprofits thrive on the support of major donors.

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Gift Fundraising Benefit Impact 52

NonProfit PRO

APRIL 22, 2021

“The Surprising Gift of Doubt,” written by Marc Pitman of Concord Leadership Group, is a book that’s not just about nonprofit leadership. It can be applied to leaders in any situation, especially if you, as a leader, needs some re-grounding or refocus.

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