When nonprofits operating mostly on user fees or government funding - some of our most important nonprofits - begin trying to diversify and increase their support through raising major gifts, it can be tough to find their way. They usually have a small fundraising program. They may have annual donors and support from local businesses but at a low "annual gala" level. They are also supported at a modest level by a small cloud of folks who view themselves or family members as beneficiaries of the group's mission, but their support is often sporadic. These nonprofits may attract foundation grants occasionally, but usually associated with a capital project.

So, what is it that inspires major gifts on an ongoing basis? Simply said, it's purpose. One could even call it "major purpose"!

We often assume that donors want to support organizations that have an important mission, clearly need the funds, and "do a good job". And they do.

But major donors, especially, want to know the group has clear plans for the future that will lead to increasing levels of success in fulfilling their mission. And they want to help by making transformative gifts.

Wow - sounds great. But where is your group when it comes to those "clear plans for the future" and what kinds of gifts would be transformative?

What will appeal to major donors is not your 10-year strategic plan, other planning documents, or even a summary of those plans (although you should always be willing to share them if requested). Instead, it's developing giving vehicles and initiatives that offer major donors ways to support and even super-charge your journey to success in fulfilling your mission.

What might this look like? Let's take an organization providing mental health services ("ABC Health Services"), which gets most of its revenue from Medicaid funding. ABC is a large 30-year old, well-known nonprofit but with only a few years of history in private fundraising. They still get 98% of their annual funding from public sources.

How can ABC develop gift opportunities to motivate larger gifts than they have received to date? What organizational assets can they use to do this?

Let's look at what they bring to the table for doing this: 1) ABC's CEO has been at the helm for more than 10 years and is known to be an effective leader and advocate for their work; 2) The leadership team reporting to the CEO is strong as well; 3) Their funding and programs, though never enough to meet the needs, have recently been in "building up" mode, giving ABC more accomplishments to highlight; and 4) Their field, mental health, has lots of need for improvements and innovation in clinical settings and practice.

Here are two examples of ideas for initiatives that might appeal to major donor prospects on behalf of ABC Health Services:

a) An innovation fund for the CEO to invest internally in promising new ideas and practices emerging from the organization's staff; and

b) A new education fund for current employees who are entry-level administrators, technicians, or paraprofessionals (for example) to get the education and training to enter the professional fields that are most needed by the organization now and over the next 10 years, providing not only the tuition but also childcare if needed and paid time off to study and go to class.

Even though my examples above may be on the modest side, you get the idea! But what do I mean by "gift vehicles"? Nothing complicated, but rather a dedicated fund or endowment to which donors can contribute, either establishing a new fund, adding to one others have started, or starting a purposeful pooled fund along with others who support ABC Health Services. If ABC doesn't have the accounting mechanisms or staff to administer these funds, they can go to their local community foundation, who will most likely be very helpful in administering them for ABC, paying out to ABC as pre-arranged.

Once your and your leadership form a few ideas for attracting major gifts (and for improving the organization!), and at least one of those ideas is successfully attracting those gifts, other ideas will appear. ABC is becoming an innovative, forward-looking organization with Major Purpose!

And major gifts to match.

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