Major Gifts for Small Nonprofits
How to find major gifts for the small but mighty
I'm working with a fabulous new client. They are just starting on their fundraising journey - with no dedicated development person on staff, but an Executive Director and a Board of Directors who are ready to invest in growing this part of the organization.
On our very first phone call to kick off an 8-month fractional fundraiser contract, they hit me with a question I was not prepared for.
"We know someone who won the lottery. He is not currently a donor, but he has invited us to send a proposal (he also pointed to a giant stack of money requests already received). How should we approach this?"
… 😯 lottery winner? This was a new one for me! I was a little thrown, and wasn’t quite sure of the right answer, so I turned to my network of fundraising experts to seek advice.
Here are some snippets of what they had to say:
💡Most people (no matter how much money they have or how they got it) don't just want to be seen as money bags.
💡Frame it as: we're excited about this opportunity, but we want to make it meaningful for you and your strategy, and find out where that aligns with our organization and our needs.
💡You can put forward a plan that's enticing and feasible, where you can spend the money and make an impact. But if the donor isn't into it, then the donor's not into it.
Solid advice. Also, major gifts 101:
1. Focus on building an authentic relationship that isn't just about the money. "Don't treat your donor like an ATM" is cliché, but TRUE!
2. Seek opportunities where what your donor wants overlaps with what you need.
3. Approach the "ask" like you are cementing a mutually beneficial partnership. If it's not working for one side, it's just not going to work.
How not to approach major gifts
My second story comes from a phone call I had with someone seeking advice about raising a significant amount of money ($10M+) for a very worthy project. They had been relying on a relatively small network of friends and colleagues to fund their activities and wanted to scale-up quickly to address an urgent and serious problem.
The person said to me:
“I know [person in his network] could fund the whole thing! But he won’t cut a cheque.”
“[Mr. Well-Known Billionaire] is in town — maybe I could get a meeting?”
Most fundraisers have their own “we should just ask Oprah” stories when it comes to discussions around major gifts, and here is why this strategy (unfortunately) rarely works:
👉 A gift, no matter the size, is a personal decision. It’s voluntary. If someone doesn’t want to do it, they aren’t going to do it (regardless of how much money someone has, and how much you want/need it).
👉 Charitable gifts are rooted in emotion (not logic), so there usually has to be connection between the giver and the recipient.
👉 This connection is often nurtured through a mutually beneficial relationship over time.
To be clear, what this person was proposing wasn’t “bad”, and there’s nothing stopping him from trying, but it’s not likely going to work. I use words like “usually” and “often”, because of course you NEVER KNOW. Huge donations do drop out of the blue sometimes (but it’s a lot like winning the lottery — not a great strategy to depend upon).
A major gifts strategy for small nonprofits
Smaller organizations often don’t know where to start when it comes to major gifts. It’s more than simply flipping the “major gifts” switch on the fundraising plan. It’s also about intention, and organizational strategy, which needs to prioritize building external relationships and individual giving (at all levels). Board members and senior leaders also play an important part, so they must understand both how fundraising works and their role within the system.
A major gift donor journey generally looks like this:
Prospective donor learns about the organization; the most effective way to bring them into the inner circle quickly is through a personal introduction by a board member or senior leader.
The fundraiser finds opportunities to learn more about the prospective donor (phone calls, visits, tours, research).
The fundraiser provides the prospective donor with opportunities to learn more or “get involved” with the organization (advisory roles, event invitations, interactions with other people in the organization).
When the time is right, the fundraiser asks for a gift.
Once a gift has been made, the fundraiser continues to build the relationship with the donor.
(It’s important to be aware that this process can take MONTHS. A major gifts program or strategy is not a great short-term funding solution)
Knowing the steps of the journey and the importance of building relationships. we can assign some strategies to create a fertile environment for major gifts — even at a small nonprofit.
Major Gifts Strategy Checklist
✔️ The donor database is segmented, with a policy to “tag” constituents who meet certain criteria for potential major gifts (ie. gift amount, gift frequency)
✔️ Board members and key staff understand and can confidently speak to the organization’s case for support
✔️ Board members and key staff understand the process for connecting an interested person with senior leadership (and they are encouraged to make introductions)
✔️ Senior leaders have a process and plan for cultivating relationships with new connections or “tagged” constituents
✔️ The cultivation plan culminates in an actual “ask”
✔️ Once a gift has been made, there is a communication and relationship-building plan in place
One thing you can do this week
If you are starting at square one, look at the first item on the checklist and see if you can identify 5 donors who could potentially make a larger gift. Call them or email them and see where this takes you.
Then give yourself some grace because this ish isn’t built in a day.
❤️ to the small shops
Thanks for reading…
My name is Kim Peterson and I am a fundraising consultant. I help non-profits establish and scale-up individual giving programs, by building fundraising strategies and systems for growth and long-term stability.
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