Major Gifts Challenge #3: Need a True Major Gifts Program and Strategy?

Are you happy with your team’s results with major donors and their gifts?

Or are you leaving money on the table, so to speak, because your major gift program is not as organized or productive as it could be?

Are you one of the nonprofit leaders who feel your team can do better?

When we ask the applicant teams for the 2025 Major Gifts Intensive what they want out of the program if selected, many say this:

“We really need to expand into a full-scale, structured major and principal gift program.”

That’s why we developed the Major Gifts Intensive educational and coaching program – to help organizations build the skills, tools, and structure to expand their major gifts. We teach the nuances of a relationship-based approach to HNW donors. Registrations are open for our 2025 cohort, and we are already filling up. You can find out more here.

So, what could YOUR institution achieve if you had a fully productive program to raise major and principal gifts?
Let’s look at the results you’d achieve for your organization:

You’d uncover new high-capacity donors following this process:

The first step your advancement team would focus on is how to really identify major gift prospects.

Then you would move into the Discovery Process – systematically connecting with prospects to find out their level of interest and commitment to your work.

As your team refines their prospect portfolios by making discovery and qualification calls, they will uncover even more high-capacity donors who love your mission.

Following this process, you’ll be able to develop close-knit, trusting relationships with major funders.

These donors will be people who believe deeply in you and your work. They will like and respect you because they know your team and leadership personally.

They’d be available to help when you turn to them. Ready with great advice. Always willing to take your call. Always there when a big opportunity comes up.

They’ll be ready to give when you need them. You’d know their capacity – that they’d actually be able to make generous investments to support new initiatives, special projects, expansions, and even general operating costs.

Who would not want a cluster of high-net-worth donors on hand, ready to support your cause?

Stronger donor relationships that are not about “money.”

Yes, raising money is the ultimate objective of major gift programs. But everything starts with building a strong and fruitful major donor relationship.

You nail the personal relationship first. Then the money comes. First one, then the other.

One of the greatest mistakes is to focus on major and principal gifts for the money only. In this case, you may be somewhat successful, but you won’t build long-term relationships with these funders.

What’s more, you won’t achieve repeat gifts from these donors, if they are turned off by your transactional approach.

When you build true relationships centered on trust, respect, and concern for the goodwill of your mission, anything is possible.

What other results could you achieve with a full-scale major gift program?

You could expand your mission! Wouldn’t it be wonderful if your team had the funding to bring more benefits to the world?

To stop suffering, create art, educate people, save land – whatever your mission is.

You’d have the money to pay your staff adequately and invest in infrastructure. You’d be able to keep valuable staffers from leaving, offer them appropriate benefits, and build internal expertise.

You’d have a path to protect your organization against cuts in government funding. With government funding at risk, now is the time to diversify your revenue streams and protect against the ups and downs of political winds.

Your organization would enjoy expanded PR, more community visibility, and stronger connections with important stakeholders. When you announce a major gift to your nonprofit, your other stakeholders take note. It builds confidence in your mission, your team, and your impact.

Why is Major Gift Fundraising More Efficient Than Events?

By far, major gift fundraising is the most efficient and effective way to raise funds to support your mission.

By focusing on major gifts as a business strategy, you can let go of other types of fundraising strategies that are far more labor-intensive (a gala, anyone?).

Major gifts fundraising is a targeted approach, focusing on a fewer number of people and funders. One smart, well-trained fundraiser can bring in gifts far exceeding what you’d raise from an event.

Your team will be able to raise the funding for your mission without exhausting the board and all your volunteers. Without exhausting themselves.

One major gift can be a million dollars. It’s the most efficient and effective way to raise money, hands down.

Bottom Line on a Full-Scale Major Gifts Program:

Your nonprofit can achieve all of these benefits.

But you’ll need to invest the time, energy, and resources to make it happen.

What to do? Well, we have the answer – our 2025 Major Gifts Intensive. And it’s not super expensive. Best of all, it will focus your team, add accountability, and can bring six- and seven-figure gifts into your institution within a matter of months.

“I just received a $100,000 gift out of the blue without asking! I followed all of your rules in working with Major Donors, patiently listening to a demanding donor. She told me, ‘You have made me feel heard when I didn’t feel that way before. Now, I want to make a $100k gift in support of your new leadership.’”

Odessa Dwarika M.A.Executive Director, Jhamtse International, Major Gifts Participant

Major Gifts Intensive 2025

Don’t forget that we can help you expand and build a profitable, sustainable major gift program. We’ve just opened registration for our Major Gifts Intensive 2025, and we are surprised that it is already filling up so quickly this year.

Join us if you want to develop the systems, mindset, vision, structure, and processes for a long-term, productive major gift program that will deliver measurable results for years. Find out more here.