Ruth Irwin
Book One covers the basic requirements for a major gift fundraiser to be successful. Book Two is intended to go deeper for both the major gift executive personally and from an organisational perspective for the major gift programme overall. This is a straightforward ‘how to’ book brimming with ideas for practical application. Learn how to understand a donor’s motivations through uncovering their personal interests, values and philanthropic leanings. The ‘ask’ is covered in detail from leading up to the ‘ask’, the ‘ask’ itself and the follow on programme including a description of the proposal to use for the face to face meeting. There are practical steps to influencing a culture of philanthropy within an organisation including setting up an internal stakeholder group with suggested ideas for the terms of reference. Working with the chief executive is key to the success of the major gift programme and there are helpful insights to enhance this working relationship including how to manage donors where the relationship is ‘owned’ by the chief executive. Finally, there can be some confusion over the use of capital campaigns and there is clarity on how to plan for a capital campaign working out how this marries with a major gift programme.
