Donor cultivation is a critical aspect of fundraising for nonprofit organizations. It involves building and nurturing relationships with potential donors, supporters, and major gifts contributors to secure sustainable financial support. Once prospective donors are identified, nonprofits employ moves management techniques to establish meaningful connections with them.

Find below our articles about Donor Cultivation best practices.

How Will We Cultivate Donors This Fall?

How Will We Cultivate Donors This Fall?

“Cultivate donors.” I bet you’ve heard that before.  But how do we accomplish this in the virtual environment?  We like to think of cultivation as nurturing your donor’s philanthropic interest in your organization’s work. And…

Listening – The #1 Skill for Virtual Phone or Zoom Meetings

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Everyone needs to sharpen their listening skills for fundraising in the new virtual environment. Dealing with donors is more difficult these days. Many of us can't get in front of our donors - so we are on zoom or on the phone. Everyone is…

The #1 Secret of Raising Lots of Money? Face Time With Major Gift Donors

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Don't we love our major gift donors?  And we all know smart fundraisers should be spending their time with these lovely folks. But it can be really tough to get out of your office. And that’s a problem when you’re trying to raise…

It’s OK to Bless and Release a Donor

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What do I mean by Bless and Release? It’s what you do with an incommunicative, unresponsive donor: You just let go and release them from your attention. Take this situation for example: Here you are, trying so hard to reach out…

6 Ways to Nail Your Next Major Donor Visit

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Here you are, prepping for your big major donor visit. Yay!  As you walk into her office or home, should you be saying: "Yikes! What do I do now?" Don't fail in your next major donor visit. I’ve seen lots of people strike out when they finally…

Screening Sessions: A Terrific Tool for Major Gift Prospect Research

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Screening sessions are one of our favorite major gift prospect research tools. Why do we like screening sessions so much? Because the information you obtain is often more up to date, on point and accurate than much of the data you can find…

Could Donor Identity Revolutionize Your Fundraising?

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Drumroll please! My favorite new buzzword to help you ramp up your fundraising is “Donor Identity.” What’s donor identity? It’s a profile of your donor in some way. It’s an indicator of your donor’s preferences - perhaps it’s…

12 Ways to Send Your Donors Love With a Valentine

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Have you considered Valentines for donors this year? It's time to show your donors some love! A charming, thoughtful Valentine can express your appreciation to your donors in a delightful way. After all, they are the generous, wonderful…

Power Questions Your Major Gift Donor Will Love

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Here’s a natural, friendly and much more successful approach to major gift fundraising. I’m showing you how to develop a warm, easy relationships with your major gift prospects.  Relationships where they feel heard and understood. A…
Roger Craver

Metrics for Fundraising: Donor Retention Made Easy!

Today we have a special guest post from fundraising guru Roger Craver of  The Agitator Blog.  He joined us for a private webinar with our INSIDERS this week:  Donor Retention Made Easy. During his webinar, he outlined the…

7 Ways to Build Donor Retention and Create Highly Committed Donors Who Love You

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Don't we all want "highly committed donors" to our organizations? If you have highly committed donors, what would your donors do for you? Well - they will give and give and give again. What happens when your donors are not highly committed? My…

Traits of Highly Successful Major Gift Fundraisers

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Do you know the secrets of master major gift fundraisers? You know, those special individuals who raise six, seven and even eight figure gifts? What special qualities DO these talented major gift fundraisers have? What habits do they follow?…

Two Ridiculously Simple Major Donor Cultivation Strategies

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What kind of major donor cultivation strategies do you think work the best? Do you ever find it challenging to have conversations with prospective donors and develop their interest in your cause? I am a fan of an easy going, no pressure…

Seven Golden Prospecting Strategies for Major Gifts

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We are all searching, searching for the right prospecting strategies for major gifts. So what strategies are you using? Do you sometimes feel like you are kissing frogs to find a potential prince? Well, don't worry! We have all kissed our…

Love Song to My Major Gift Prospect List!

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I’m admitting it. I'm warped. Maybe it’s weird or something but I just love my major gift prospect list. And I love the hunt to find lovely, generous, wonderful major gift doors. I love deep reconnaissance, finding out what’s…

5 Steps to Build Donor Loyalty & Retention in 2023

We’re having some fun with donor retention today. We do know that donor retention = donor loyalty, right? So donor retention is the name of the game for the coming year, and beyond. And your ultimate goal as a fundraiser is to build up…