How to Raise Bigger Money for Your Nonprofit (Without a Major Gift Program)

There’s one form of fundraising that will transform your organization unlike any other: major gift fundraising.

You can check out the latest giving data in the current Giving USA report or read about it here.

The Fastest Path to Major Gifts: A Capital Campaign

The easiest way to start major gift fundraising in a meaningful, powerful way is through a capital campaign.

Ideally, you’d launch a campaign with a major gift program already up and running. But here’s the reality: most nonprofits we work at Capital Campaign Pro with don’t have one yet.

That doesn’t mean they have no major donors. They usually have donors who:

• Sponsor tables at events
• Give through family foundations via a grant process
• Respond to direct mail appeals with gifts from DAFs

Those are major gifts. What’s missing is the program.

Use a Campaign To Build a Major Gift Program

A formal major gift program means your development director and executive director are regularly meeting with donors one-on-one and asking for specific gifts. It’s a discipline, not haphazard or occasional.

And if you’re not there yet? You can still run a successful capital campaign.

A campaign is one of the best ways to build that program. It gives you the strategy, training, structure, timeline, and yes, the pressure, to build major gift fundraising into how your organization operates. I like to think of capital campaigns as major gift fundraising on steroids. (In a good way.)

Is Now the Right Time for a Campaign?

If your organization hasn’t run a campaign in the last few years, now might be the perfect time to start thinking about one.

One caveat: capital campaigns are not a debt-relief strategy. If your organization is struggling financially, focus on strengthening your annual fundraising first.

But if you’re financially sound and stable, a campaign is jet fuel! It will propel your organization, and your fundraising, forward.

Is Your Nonprofit is Ready? And Your Board?

Not sure your organization can pull off a campaign? Not sure how to even start that conversation with your board?

That’s exactly why Sarah Plimpton and I wrote A Board Member’s Guide to Capital Campaign Fundraising. We wrote it with you in mind. It’s a clear roadmap for you and your entire leadership team to prepare for your next campaign.

You can buy one copy on Amazon, or discounted copies for everyone on your team — click here for all purchasing options. Even if you’re a year or more out, now is the perfect time to give it a read.