Nonprofit Essentials E-Book

Julia I. Walker

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Serie: The AFP/Wiley Fund Development Series
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 332

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2006

Beschreibung

"Major gifts are at the heart of any coordinated, successful fundraising effort. Julie Walker shows you how to do it all-- find the prospects, staff the program, and ask for the money. The sidebar stories and real-world examples sprinkled throughout the book are entertaining, yet still make a point. I would buy it for the advice and keep it for the anecdotes." --Duris Holmes, Chairman of the Board Benjamin Franklin High School New Orleans, Louisiana Part of the AFP/Wiley Fund Development Series, Nonprofit Essentials: Major Gifts is a professional guide to major gift fundraising, concisely presented in a format that is accessible, lively, and easy-to-read. With in-depth advice from experienced fundraiser Julia Walker, this book takes the reader from the early stages of establishing a program through the core elements of all major gift programs: identifying and rating prospects; preparing the case; training volunteers; cultivating donors; making the ask; and providing recognition and stewardship for the gift. Its nuts-and-bolts presentation focuses on how to create a prospect-centered program that develops the capacity to engage and solicit donors, effectively based on their unique interests and needs.

Leseprobe

Contents

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Introduction

Chapter 1: Introduction to Major Gifts

What Is a Major Gift?

Prospect-Centered Major Gifts

Are You Ready for a Major Gifts Program?

Summary

Chapter 2: Building a Major Gifts Program

Key Components of a Major Gifts Program

Hiring, Supervising, and Training for Success in Major Gifts

Identifying Major Gift Prospects

Summary

Chapter 3: Board Leadership

Developing Board Leadership

Board Leadership in Fundraising

Board and Staff Roles in Major Gift Fundraising

Summary

Chapter 4: Making the Case for a Major Gift

Making the Case

Communicating the Case: Materials That Motivate Donors

Strategies that Help to Motivate Gifts

Summary

Chapter 5: Cultivation of Major Gift Prospects

Opening the Door to Cultivation

Building Relationships Toward Major Gifts

Talking About Money

Summary

Chapter 6: Soliciting Major Gifts

Preparing for the Ask

Steps to Making a Successful Solicitation

Common Issues in Negotiating and Closing Gifts

Summary

Chapter 7: Motivating Donors: Recognition and Stewardship

Motivating Donors through Recognition

Pricing Naming and Recognition Opportunities

Stewardship for the Next Gift

Summary

Chapter 8: Special Opportunities in Major Gifts

Planned Giving in a Major Gift Program

Major Gifts and Capital Campaigns

Megagifts: A Whole New World

Summary

Appendix

Index

Copyright © 2006 by Julia Ingraham Walker. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

ISBN-13 978-0-471-73837-4

ISBN-10 0-471-73837-9

This book is dedicated to those hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of caring individuals who opened their hearts to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. If there was ever a time when philanthropic actions toward others (often unknown and unnamed others) defined the American character, the hurricanes of 2005 and their aftermath proved to be that moment.

The AFP Fund Development Series

The AFP Fund Development Series is intended to provide fund development professionals and volunteers, including board members (and others interested in the nonprofit sector), with top-quality publications that help advance philanthropy as voluntary action for the public good. Our goal is to provide practical, timely guidance and information on fundraising, charitable giving, and related subjects. The Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) and Wiley each bring to this innovative collaboration unique and important resources that result in a whole greater than the sum of its parts. For information on other books in the series, please visit:

http://www.afpnet.org

The Association of Fundraising Professionals

The Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) represents 26,000 members in more than 170 chapters throughout the world, working to advance philanthropy through advocacy, research, education, and certification programs. The association fosters development and growth of fundraising professionals and promotes high ethical standards in the fundraising profession. For more information or to join the world’s largest association of fundraising professionals, visit: http://www.afpnet.org.

2005—2006 AFP Publishing Advisory Committee

Linda L. Chew, CFRE, Chair

Associate Director, Alta Bates Summit Foundation

Nina P. Berkheiser, CFRE

Director of Development, SPCA Tampa Bay

D. C. Dreger, ACFRE

Senior Campaign Director, Custom Development Solutions (CDS)

Samuel N. Gough, CFRE

Principal, The AFRAM Group

Audrey P. Kintzi, ACFRE

Chief Advancement Officer, Girl Scout Council, St. Croix Valley

Robert Mueller, CFRE

Vice President, Hospice Foundation of Louisville

Maria Elena Noriega

Director, Noriega Malo & Associates

Leslie E. Weir, MA, ACFRE

Director of Gift Planning, Health Sciences Centre Foundation

Sharon R. Will, CFRE

Director of Development, South Wind Hospice

John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Susan McDermott

Senior Editor (Professional/Trade Division), John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

AFP Staff

Jan Alfieri

Manager, New Product Development

Walter Sczudlo

Executive Vice President & General Counsel

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank my patient family, along with Jan Alfieri of AFP, Susan McDermott, Kerstin Nasdeo, and all the helpful people at John Wiley & Sons, Inc. for their support when things got tough. Between accidents, hurricanes, and living in exile, the past year has been a challenge. Thanks to all of you for being there.

About the Author

Julia Ingraham Walker holds a BA and MA in English from Tulane University in New Orleans and an MBA from Rollins College in Florida. Her initial marketing expertise was formed during 10 years as a professional in college admissions, first at Tulane and then as director of admissions at Rollins. In 1985 she returned to New Orleans and began a career in fundraising that has spanned 20 years and numerous positions ranging from annual fund to major gifts.

In 1990, Ms. Walker was appointed vice president for institutional advancement at her alma mater, Tulane, where she served until 1998. In this position she supervised over 100 employees in the advancement area and directed the university’s $250 million capital campaign. Tulane’s campaign raised over $75 million for endowment as well as providing the resources for construction or major renovation of eight campus buildings. In 1994, Ms. Walker was named Outstanding Fundraising Executive by her peers in the New Orleans chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP).

Ms. Walker has been active as an independent fundraising consultant since 1998 and has conducted and advised campaigns that total over $600 million. Her clients include a wide range of nonprofits, from museums and schools to grassroots community organizations. She has helped to manage capital campaigns for clients in religion, healthcare, the arts, historic preservation, low-income housing, K–12 education, universities, and research. Her areas of expertise include campaign feasibility studies, campaign planning and implementation, and nonprofit management, including management and training of nonprofit staff, volunteers, and boards.

Recently Ms. Walker has faced some new challenges in the advancement enterprise through helping nonprofits in the Gulf South recover from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.

Ms. Walker is a member of AFP and has participated in numerous conferences and workshops on fundraising topics. The mother of two sons, Jacob and Benjamin, Ms. Walker is married to Cedric Walker, a professor of biomedical engineering at Tulane University.

Introduction

Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably themselves will not be realized.

—Daniel Hudson Burnham

Last year The Wall Street Journal began a weekly column in its Friday Weekend Journal section called “Giving Back.” Each week the columnist, Elizabeth Bernstein, profiles one donor, the person’s major gift, and tells briefly how it came about. Many of the gifts profiled are huge—ranging from $1 million to over $100 million—and they are made in support of organizations that do work in a wide range of fields, from science research to housing for the homeless. A novice in the field of major gifts could do a lot worse than reading Ms. Bernstein’s column every week to gain a better understanding of why donors make major gifts.

But why does the Journal, the newspaper of record in the world of business, devote space and time to major gifts? There is, of course, always that nosy interest we all secretly have in the lifestyles of the rich and the famous, and some of the donors profiled are definitely household names. More commonly, however, the donors selected are successful businesspeople, people who have made lots of money, and the Journal is definitely about making money.

Now, however, it has become big news when people give away big money. We all want to know: Why are they making this gift? Who will get the money? How will it be used? Why this nonprofit, and not that one? The tale of wealth in America has segued into a story of philanthropic intent; it has moved from how people made their money to how they are giving it away.

After working with thousands of major donors, I believe that people give because they want to see something good happen, something they believe in, something that requires their investment to become a reality.

From David Rockefeller (who recently made known $100 million bequests to both Rockefeller University and the Museum of Modern Art in New York) to two navy veterans who gave $1 million to make the USSSaratoga into a memorial, the story of major gifts is the story of donors’ belief that they can make a meaningful difference in their world, an impact on the lives of others.

This book tells the story behind the giving of the major gift, the story of the volunteers, board leaders, and staff members who build a program compelling enough to attract donors who make large gifts. From strategic planning to prospect research, this book aims to help organizations implement a major gift program that will draw big resources to help fund big ideas.

The best kind of major gift is the one that falls out of a conversation that takes place between the right people, about the right cause, at the right time. Donors of big gifts are not forced or manipulated; they are people who choose to use their resources to make something happen. They are optimists by nature, who think that the individual can effect change in society. Linking your organization’s vision of that change to each donor’s personal concept of making a difference is the real key to major gifts.

If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at the people he gave it to.

—Dorothy Parker

CHAPTER 1

Introduction to Major Gifts

After reading this chapter you will be able to:

Define a major gift for your organization

Build a prospect-centered program

Determine your readiness for a major gifts program

What Is a Major Gift?

Major gifts are an essential component of successful nonprofit fundraising programs today. Effective major gift programs raise more money at less cost for an organization’s identified needs than any other fundraising programs. Without major gifts, organizations are forced to depend on the lower and less efficient returns of annual fund, direct mail, telemarketing, special events, and online fundraising efforts. It is easy to understand why organizations desire major gifts. But what exactly is a major gift, why do donors make large gifts, and how can an organization prepare to launch a major gifts program?

Some major gifts are instantly recognizable. When a nonprofit announces that a long-term supporter has contributed $1 million to build a new facility, even a casual observer would call that a major gift. A gift of $500,000 to establish an endowment to support a pressing need, such as a community health program, would also be easy to define as a major gift. But what about the donor who raises her annual contribution from $500 to $1,000? Or the company that makes a one-time grant of $10,000 to underwrite an event? In order for your organization to create an effective, ongoing program to attract major gifts, you must first define what gifts you will be seeking.

Defining Major Gifts by Size

Probably the simplest way to define a major gift is by size of the gift. It is useful to look at the historical dollar levels of annual gifts made to your organization when setting the entry dollar level for your major gift program. Most organizations count on a large number of small annual gifts, paid within a fiscal year by cash, check, or credit card, to keep their programs running. Study the pattern of these small, regular annual gifts in order to determine the highest level typically given within a normal year by your top group of annual donors. Ignore any unique, large, one-time gifts or grants that skew the regular gift pattern. Then set the entry level for your major gifts program at a dollar level from 5 to 10 times above this “normal” giving cap.