If you are not feeding new prospective major gift donors into your pipeline on a regular and systematic basis, sooner or later your efforts are going to stall. So, whether you are new to fundraising or have been active in the profession for years, this is a resource that can help you build new relationships and add good prospects to your portfolio. The book provides specific strategies that will increase your odds for success when you are ready to meet your donors. You will learn to "warm" your prospects so they are receptive to your outreach, to make allies of the gatekeepers who control access to the decision makers, and to conduct a qualification call that is both casual and purposeful. All of these methods are designed to initiate a comfortable and meaningful relationship that will one day result in a significant philanthropic investment.

This book has the insightful and cost-effective techniques you can use today that will deliver tremendous returns for years to come.

Written for anyone involved in soliciting charitable contributions for nonprofit organizations, this guide explains how to employ simple, effective, proven techniques for seeking and finding larger donations; maximizing the results from fundraising volunteers; assisting donors in maximizing their philanthropic experience; and cultivating and soliciting gifts more confidently.

Amy Eisenstein guides you, in only five hours a week, to safely and surely meet the challenges of getting your organization ready for major gift fundraising, all the way up to that all-important ask--and beyond. If you've been in fundraising for any length of time, you've no doubt heard of the "90/10 Rule." In its simplest terms, it means that 90 percent of the funding comes from 10 percent of our donors. Yet far too often, the majority of our time is spent focused on low-yield fundraising activities, such as events. Amy argues that the key to successful long-term, sustainable fundraising lies in dramatically increasing your fundraising income from individual donors. And savvy fundraisers will do well to heed her advice. But how can you get started? With Amy at the helm, guiding you in developing your organization's major gifts program, you'll find it's absolutely doable. Amy doesn't pull any punches. She makes it clear, if you're going to succeed in major gifts, that everyone will need to be on board and that effective and consistent fundraising training is a must. It's a commitment. Throughout the book, she explains key fundraising concepts, the difference between major gifts and capital campaigns, how to determine exactly what constitutes a major gift for your organization, the importance of gift acceptance policies, job responsibilities for your major gift team, the role of online fundraising in major gifts fundraising, the role of direct mail, maintaining your database, and more. In short, she cuts to the chase to show you that major gift fundraising is something that, yes, you can do. It just takes focus and Amy's know-how, marvelously outlined within these pages. Part One-- You Can Raise Major Gifts in Only Five Hours per Week! Chapter One: The Secret to Successful Fundraising: Creating a Culture of Philanthropy and Professionalism at Your Organization Chapter Two: Creating Your Strategy Chapter Three: The Secret Weapon of Major Gifts: Engaging Your Board Chapter Four: Creating an Army of Advocates and the Role of Social Media Chapter Five: What Does Bulk Mail Have to Do with Major Gifts? Part Two-- Are You Ready to Ask for a Major Gift? Preparing to Ask Chapter Six: Who Will You Ask for Major Gifts? Chapter Seven: Researching Your Prospects: The Fine Line between Professional and Creepy Chapter Eight: The Art and Science of Getting a Meeting: How to Meet With People You Know--and with People You Don't Chapter Nine: How to Build Deeper Relationships with Major Gift Prospects Part Three-- The Moment of Truth: Asking and Beyond Chapter Ten: Get Ready to Ask Chapter Eleven: The Moment of Truth (Time to Ask) Chapter Twelve: More Than Simply Thank You Part Four-- Taking Your Organization to the Next Level Chapter Thirteen: Considering a Capital Campaign? Chapter Fourteen: Can a Small Shop Really Do Planned Giving? Chapter Fifteen: Moving on Up: Taking Your Organization to the Next Level

"The Gift of the Magi" is a short story by O. Henry first published in 1905. The story tells of a young husband and wife and how they deal with the challenge of buying secret Christmas gifts for each other with very little money. As a sentimental story with a moral lesson about gift-giving, it has been popular for adaptation, especially for presentation at Christmas time.

This publication contains 15 papers concerned with the establishment at colleges and universities of new major gift programs or the improvement of existing programs. The papers, all by development professionals in higher education, are as follows: (1) "An Introduction to the Major Gift Process" (Jon Cosovich); (2) "Strategic Management of a Major Gift Program" (David R. Dunlop); (3) "Developing Major Gift Staff" (Carol L. O'Brien); (4) "Setting Guidelines: Assessing and Directing Major Gift Staff for Optimal Results" (Don Myers); (5) "Prospect Research: Key Methods for Discovering and Targeting Donors" (John Gliha); (6) "Prospect Management: Tracking and Coordinating Information" (Carole W. Karsch); (7) "Prospect Identification and Assessment: Using Prospect Meetings and Peer Review" (Linda J. Marks); (8) "Using Volunteers in the Major Gift Program" (David G. Pond); (9) "Narrowing the Major Gift Market: Principal Gifts" (William F. Dailey, Lucretia L. Martin, and Dennis J. Caplis); (10) "An Effective Model of Principal Gift Program" (William H. Boardman Jr.); (11) "Developing Prospect Strategies" (Marjorie E. Millar); (12) "Factors of Engagement: Using Volunteer Committees and Special Events to Cultivate Donors" (Charlotte B. Heartt); (13) "Asking for Major Gifts" (A. H. "Bud" Edwards and William Outhouse); (14) "Major Gift Case Studies" (James W. Osterholt and Roger A. Meyer); (15) "Stewardship of Major Donors" (William R. Haden). Includes a bibliography of major donor research resources. (JB)

Praise for Fired-Up Fundraising: Turn Board Passion into Action "Fired-Up Fundraising is honest, realistic, practical, and inspiring. It transforms the whole concept of fundraising from obligation and drudgery into passion and fun. Every CEO, development director, development consultant, and board chair needs to have and use this book." —Charles F. (Chic) Dambach President and CEO, Alliance for Peacebuilding Former Senior Consultant, BoardSource "A breakthrough! Fired-Up Fundraising takes the mystery out of engaging your board in the ongoing work of fundraising. In this well-organized little book, Gail Perry lays out a commonsense, four-step process that will fire up your board and help you meet your fundraising goals, year after year." —Mal Warwick author of How to Write Successful Fundraising Letters "Fired-Up Fundraising: Turn Board Passion into Action is by far the best book I have ever read on how to involve board members in the entire process of fundraising, from identifying prospects, cultivating them, and finally making 'the ask.' Just as important, it is an invaluable guide on how to select, enlist, train and especially inspire board members so they take ownership of their institutions. Every nonprofit CEO and development officer should read this book." —Robert L. Gale President Emeritus, Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges and founder of BoardSource (formerly known as the National Center for Nonprofit Boards) "This is the book for which EVERY nonprofit chief executive has been yearning since time immemorial. Every nonprofit needs money to survive and thrive, and every nonprofit has a board of trustees to help raise it, but few nonprofits come anywhere near using their boards to maximum benefit. Fired-Up Fundraising, a reader-friendly, realistic, and practical playbook written by a richly experienced, highly literate fundraiser turned consultant, takes readers by the hand and leads them step-by-step through eminently doable ways of inspiring the greatest possible engagement of-and return from-their trustees. It will instantly become the gold-standard guide for building successful boards." —Joel Fleishman Professor of Law and Public Policy and Director, The Foundation Research Program, Duke University