This article is about empowering you to raise big money while still having a life outside work. Imagine having enough money to not only meet expenses and get past the status quo but grow. Imagine on-the-job stress and exhaustion are gone. Imagine time for friends, family, and personal pursuits.
You can make your dreams come true. You can stabilize your agency’s finances. You can significantly advance your organization’s mission, making a substantial positive impact on the human condition. And you can do it in only 1½ days a week.
Raising Big Money and Having a Life Outside Work
You think I’m crazy? That I have unrealistic dreams? I do if I try and raise that kind of money through grants and special events. I don’t if I implement Major Gifts Ramp-Up, a model that produces multiple five-, six-, and seven-figure dollar gifts.
Major Gifts Ramp-Up identifies people of wealth interested in giving to your nonprofit, gives you a plan to cultivate donors with means, and teaches you a proven method of asking that results in high-net donors giving their best gift. It is backed by a sound plan that shows donors how you will scale your nonprofit to solve your community’s most pressing problems.
Whether your agency addresses poverty, disability, trauma, climate change, teen pregnancy, brain injury, gun violence, hunger, disease. sexual assault, homelessness, pollution, literacy, unemployment, school dropout, urban blight, elder abuse, or any other issue, this model works. Whether you are a small start-up or a multi-million-dollar agency, this model works. Whether you are an all-volunteer organization or have a team of development staff, this model works. All you need is dedication to making a significant impact and a desire to fund your efforts.
The Major Gifts Ramp-Up Model
I like Major Gifts Ramp-Up because it covers all the essentials of raising money while quickly getting at the core issues hindering most nonprofits from making a big impact. And it emphasizes donor-centric fundraising. Specifically, if it is followed religiously, Major Gifts Ramp-Up will:
- Create awareness of your nonprofit in your community among people of means who have an interest in your work
- Build the infrastructure your agency needs, preparing your organization to ask for, receive, and manage game-changing gifts
- Identify people of wealth in your community
- Provide you with the tools you need to cultivate potential donors so you can make a significant ask
- Teach you how to steward your donors so they give again
The return on your investment is sky-high, a concept near and dear to my heart. I believe nonprofits should only make investments in fundraising that give them big returns.
Three Phases of Action
Major Gifts Ramp-Up has three phases to it. The building and planning phases align closely with the ideas I preach in my two books and use in my work with nonprofits.
The Building Phase
During the building phase, you align your organization with the management philosophy that money is king, without which your nonprofit will die on the vine. You learn about major gift fundraising and what it means for your agency to do it. You go through an organizational development process that readies you for major gift management. You craft a knockout case for support that excites people of means. You establish your campaign leadership. And you coordinate an 18-month calendar with all the existing and campaign tasks necessary for your nonprofit’s success. The building phase usually takes about six months to complete.
The Planning Phase
You start the planning phase and the building phase together. You implement them concurrently.
During the planning phase, you identify your prospects, people with the means to give game-changing gifts. You plan and execute a highly choreographed awareness event. This event is not an ask event. Its purpose is to introduce people of wealth to your work. After the event, you develop a detailed cultivation plan for each event attendee who has agreed to be contacted. After everyone is contacted, you hold a signature ask event, again carefully choreographed and executed. You raise lots of money and, because you’ve created a memorable donor experience, your donors are on cloud nine.
But the Major Gifts Ramp Up model doesn’t end there.
The Inviting Phase
The inviting Phase is the last phase leading to full campaign success. During this phase, you work with your campaign leadership to visit donors a second time to ask for a another, bigger gift. You and your campaign leaders conduct personal interviews at a place chosen by the donor. Then you make your second ask. You ask for money to help you meet your nonprofit’s operating expenses, growth goals, capital needs, and endowment goals. And, because you crafted a knockout case for support, you watch people agree to make another game-changing gift when asked.
The Inviting Phase takes anywhere from three to six months.
And then you, your team, and your donors celebrate campaign success! You follow up with donors by communicating the change their donation is making.
Bringing It Together
Expand your agency’s impact. Raise enough money to scale your nonprofit. Get rid of on-the-job stress and exhaustion. Have time for friends, family, and personal pursuits. Make your dreams come true.
If you are looking for a fundraising tool that raises the kind of money you need to change the world, Major Gifts Ramp-Up is for you. If you want to realize an excellent return on investment, Major Gifts Ramp-Up is for you. If you want more time for a personal life, Major Gifts Ramp-Up is for you.
Attend one of the Major Gift Ramp-Up Conferences and get the tools you need to raise really big bucks. I’m glad I did. Make your own dreams come true. I would love to help you.
Next Steps
Learn more about Major Gifts Ramp-Up. Sign up to attend a Major Gifts Ramp-Up conference here.
If you have any questions about Major Gifts Ramp-Up and how it might fit into your fundraising efforts, contact me at [email protected].
I look forward to changing the world together!
