June 13, 2002 | Read Time: 1 minute
Planning and Implementing Your Major Gifts Campaign
by Suzanne Irwin-Wells
A special fund-raising campaign to seek big gifts can enable an organization to raise more money and to diversify its sources of financing, especially by decreasing its dependency on foundation grants and special events, writes Ms. Irwin-Wells, a consultant in Mill Valley, Calif. What’s more, she says, a major-gifts campaign can establish the basis for a future endowment or a capital campaign.
But some nonprofit organizations hesitate to seek big gifts, she says, because they believe they are too small, don’t have any prospects, or don’t have any volunteers who will ask for large gifts. Not true, she writes. “Most organizations with strong missions, appealing cases, and well-thought-out plans can raise major gifts.”
This book, designed specifically for small and medium-sized nonprofit groups planning their first major-gifts campaign, is filled with worksheets and samples designed to help them outline, carry out, and monitor such a campaign. For example, the book includes a sample letter requesting a meeting with a potential donor and a script for a telephone follow-up. Chapters cover basic elements, such as understanding how major-gifts campaigns work and how to set fund-raising goals, as well as more advanced steps like cultivating relationships with major donors and budgeting for a campaign.
Publisher: Jossey-Bass, 989 Market Street, San Francisco, Calif. 94103-1741; (415) 433-1740 or (800) 956-7739; fax (415) 433-0499 or (800) 605-2665; http://www.josseybass.com; 125 pages; $28; I.S.B.N. 0-7879-5708-9.
