Major Gifts

Two Is Better Than One

Often times we have seen our clients making enormous decisions about the future and the needs of their organization based upon the speculation of what "one" major prospect might do. Although we certainly realize that optimism and excitement are a very large part of any fundraising effort, we also have to be very realistic about the unpredictability of what a major donor may or may not do when it comes to making the gift.

The best policy for you to employ is to educate and cultivate multiple major donors to precede any fundraising campaign and then to make certain that before you make plans in stone for your project, that you have cultivated your major donors. This will ensure that you will be able to make good on the planning you have done and it will prevent you from having to deal with a major setback on a campaign, which can be devastating to the entire effort.

So, the next time you find yourself making plans around a major gift that your prospect might make, take a step back, identify several other major prospects and make sure you have spent the necessary time educating and cultivating these donors before moving forward.

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