JGA Blog

Over the years, JGA has often been asked to help nonprofit organizations move from a transactional fundraising model – focused heavily on direct mail and special events – to a long-term sustainability model. The latter approach is based on building donor relationships that encourage and create meaningful opportunities for philanthropic investment in an organization. A key to success in this relationship-building, major gifts-focused model is a formal prospect management approach.

How do you put in place such a system?  What actions need to be taken to formalize an ongoing program of major gifts fundraising?  The following are four fundamental steps in implementing a systematic approach to major gift development:

I’ve spent a good deal of my career thinking about events and how to best use them in successful development programs. I’ve worked for organizations where key special events serve as the base of their philanthropic outreach.

We have all heard it: fundraising is an art. However, those of us who have been in the field for any length of time know that fundraising is the perfect blend of art – and science. In terms of the science, there is a proven process that works in developing relationships with major donor prospects: identification, qualification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship.

The focus of this blog post is the art of donor qualification.

Storytelling plays a powerful role in communicating your mission to donors. Through stories, you share your institutional history, values, and priorities -- creating a connection between you, your institution, and your donors.

A recent Wall Street Journal article profiled Ethicist Peter Singer’s comments about a $100 million contribution by David Geffen for Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center in New York. He questioned whether that was really the best thing that could have been done with Mr. Geffen’s money.

Special events can play a very important role in your integrated, multi-channel development program. For instance, I typically think of them in terms of how they impact the organization:

At JGA, we believe that research informs practice, and thus we work to put recent research into practice with our clients. Recently, we have been a part of the release of the latest Giving USA report.

by Dan Schipp

Recently, a young development officer, a few years into her work in fundraising, shared with me her frustration at not being as successful in soliciting gifts as she had expected to be. She asked, “What am I doing wrong? What do I need to focus on to be more successful?”
 

by Kris Kindelsperger