Money Magnet Idea No. 3: Get Donors Behind the Scenes

When charities hold house parties, dinners, and other intimate gatherings for small groups of potential donors, they usually just ask board and staff members to invite people they know, says Armando Zumaya, chief development officer at the Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit investigative journalism organization in Washington. “A lot of these small dinners are wasted,” he says.

So Mr. Zumaya is taking a different route: To prepare for the center’s dinners, he trained a colleague to help him do research to identify wealthy potential donors who are likely to take an avid interest in the center’s work.

The fund raisers seek out wealthy people who have shown interest in civic causes by, for example, contributing to public television and radio stations. Then they figure out other people those potential donors might like to meet and ask them to serve as co-hosts or to reach out with a personal invitation.

At the dinners, guests mingle with the center’s reporters who talk about journalism projects.

“One of the best things I can do is have reporters tell the stories of their work,” says Mr. Zumaya.

For donors, he adds, “this feels very exclusive and behind the scenes.”

Among the guests at one dinner were Jeremy Grantham, an investor, and his wife, Hannelore. The couple has since pledged $2.5-million for investigative reports on environmental issues.

To receive the full amount, the Granthams said that the center must raise another $1.2-million for environmental reporting from other donors, bringing the total given to $3.7-million.

These dinners have proved to be extremely cost-effective, says Mr. Zumaya. With board members opening their homes for the events or donating much of the cost, the most the center has spent on a dinner is $7,000.