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Methods of Finding Major Gifts Using Technology

June 15, 2006 | Read Time: 1 minute

Major Donors: Finding Big Gifts in Your Database and Online
edited by Ted Hart, James M. Greenfield, Pamela M. Gignac, and Christopher Carnie

With the right training, fund raisers can use the Internet to identify potential donors and encourage record-setting big gifts, say the fund-raising experts whose essays appear in this book.

The publication contains essays written by 14 authors and edited by Ted Hart, president of the ePhilanthropy Foundation; James M. Greenfield, a retired fund raiser at five hospitals and three universities; Pamela M. Gignac, vice president at JMG Solutions, a fund-raising consulting group; and Christopher Carnie, chairman of the Factary Limited, a British company that specializes in fund-raising research.

Nonprofit groups should consider turning to databases to compete more effectively with other organizations that seek the same grants, the publication urges.

The book also shows the successes and missteps that organizations have faced as they use databases and online strategies to study giving patterns. It covers examples of charities both in the United States and abroad, and educates fund raisers about culturally sensitive conduct when asking for money from people who live outside the United States.


Fifteen appendices include checklists for “data mining” and other technological projects, samples of fund-raising reports, and suggestions on ways to evaluate staff members who solicit major gifts.

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, 111 River Street, Hoboken, N.J. 07030; (201) 748-6000; fax (201) 748-6088; http://www.wiley.com; 232 pages; $39.95; ISBN 0-471-76810-3.

About the Author

Senior Editor, Solutions

M.J. Prest is senior editor for solutions at the Chronicle of Philanthropy, where she highlights how nonprofit leaders navigate and overcome major challenges. She has covered stories on big gifts, grant making, and executive moves for the Chronicle since 2004. Her work has also appeared in the Washington Post, Slate.com, and the Huffington Post, and she wrote the young-adult novel Immersion. M.J. graduated from Williams College and after living in many different places, she settled in New England with her husband, two kids, and two rescue dogs.