Many small nonprofits focus their efforts on three fund raising programs: 1) one or more fund raising events, such as an evening gala with auction and paddle raise; 2) grant writing to foundations or corporate sponsors; and 3) gifts from individuals through mass appeal letters and/or e-mails.

Utilized in the right manner and combined with earned income strategies, each of these programs can provide critical support to a non-profit organization. But many of my clients tell me they are not generating enough support – especially not enough investment funding – to support the needs and vision of the organization. And in many cases, these efforts are also not producing enough income for operating needs.

These organization leaders realize they need to build a major gifts program. Specifically, they need donors to give occasional special gifts to invest in the organization in ways that no one else can or will invest. They also need donors who believe in the organization’s mission fundamentally, and will give significant gifts to sustain annual operations.

However, lacking the resources of a big institution, they struggle to find the budget to invest in a major gifts program. The executive director tries to devote some of her/his time to cultivating major gifts, but without a plan and a systematic approach supported by a high-quality database (and administrator), this work is easily pushed aside for more immediate tasks. Major gifts development work is complex, time-intensive, and long-term in nature. Even development directors have trouble finding the time to put a major gifts program in place, especially if they lack hands-on experience in major gifts fund raising themselves.

My work with clients over the last few years has focused on bringing major gifts principles to smaller organizations – selecting a few of the most critical aspects of a successful major gifts campaign, and applying them to the ongoing work of Board and Staff in non-profits with annual budgets generally under $1.5M.

Preparing to build a major gifts effort requires a high degree of purposefulness on the part of organizational leadership. It’s not to be undertaken casually or without sufficient investment resources.

Part 2 of this post follows.