A Step-by-Step Guide to Finding Major Donors

Amid increasing competition for dollars, it is more critical than ever that nonprofits explore new opportunities for money. To help in this effort, I am delighted today to announce our newest step-by-step guide “Creating a Major Donor Campaign,” which joins our growing list of tools to help nonprofits grow and become more financially sustainable.

This guide helps small and mid-sized nonprofits create a strategy for securing major donors–those wealthy individuals, corporate leaders or foundation officers who you get to know on an individual basis in order to convince them to invest in your organization.

What constitutes a major gift varies by nonprofit organization and depends on the size of the organization and the depth of their donor base. It could be as little as $100 for a small, grassroots organization and as large as $1,000,000 or more for a large, established organization. But this guide will help you determine that and much more.

Typically major donor campaigns are undertaken by larger, older nonprofit organizations. But I believe that any nonprofit organization can turn their board and staff into an army that can secure larger gifts.

Which is why I created this guide. The guide gives you concrete strategies for how to:

• Get your board involved
• Organize your staff
• Find prospects
• Establish a major donor fundraising goal
• Ask prospects for gifts
• Thank donors
• And much more

At the end of each section of the guide, the “Your Major Donor Plan” part walks you through a series of questions or tasks. Your answers there become the basis for your final Major Donor Plan. Your plan will organize your staff and board to raise major dollars for your nonprofit.

This 15-page guide is broken into the following 6 sections:

Section 1: Major Donor Goal
Section 2: Finding Prospects
Section 3: Moving Prospects to Donors
Section 4: Staff and Board Roles
Section 5: Building Fundraising Infrastructure
Section 6: Operational Plan

My hope is that this guide shows small and medium sized nonprofits that major gifts are not out of the realm of possibility for them. To the contrary, major gifts could be the missing link to a bigger, better, more effective organization.

Download the “Creating a Major Donor Campaign” Guide

About the Author: Nell Edgington is President of Social Velocity (www.socialvelocity.net), a management consulting firm leading nonprofits to greater social impact and financial sustainability. Social Velocity helps nonprofits grow their programs, bring more money in the door, and use resources more effectively. For more information, check out Social Velocity consulting services and clients.

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Related posts:

1. Reader Question: How to Find Major Donors
2. Creating a Major Donor Campaign Step-by-Step Guide
3. Finding Individual Donors Webinar

Tags:  economy, education, emerging-social, finding prospects, individual donors, investing, major donors, nonprofit fundraising, social velocity, social-impact

About Nell Edgington

Nell Edgington is President of Social Velocity (www.socialvelocity.net), a management consulting firm leading nonprofits to greater social impact and financial sustainability. Social Velocity helps nonprofits grow their programs, bring more money in the door, and use resources more effectively. For more information, check out Social Velocity services and clients.