In our consulting work, we see a lot of the same issues come up that are preventing non-profits from seeing greater success in major gifts. So for this Question of the Month, we’re sharing some of the most common and avoidable issues we’ve seen – not to embarrass anyone or make you feel bad, but to help you and your organization identify where you need to improve so you can grow and thrive.

Watch the video below to hear Jeff’s take on the top challenges in major gift fundraising, sorted by category. And if you see yourself or your organization in these descriptions, you’re in good company! We’ve helped many organizations to remove these barriers, and we believe you can do this too.

Read the transcript below:

Jeff Schreifels
Hi, and welcome to the Question of the Month. I’m Jeff Schreifels, Principal of Veritus Group, and today I want to walk through some of the most common issues that are holding organizations back from greater success in major gifts. Now, first, I want to clarify that I’m not here to point fingers or make you feel bad. The point of having this conversation is to help you identify areas for improvement so that your organization can thrive and so that you can make a bigger impact on your mission. So, let’s dive in.

The first hurdle we often see is leadership that doesn’t fully grasp the strategy of major gift fundraising. If your CEO or board doesn’t understand the value of cultivating donor relationships, that can really hinder your efforts here. Take steps to educate your board and your leadership about what it means to take a relational approach to major gifts, and what they can do to support you. And if you need some help explaining the value of this approach, you might want to point them to our book, “It’s Not Just About the Money.” We’ve had many people, many CEOs, read that book, and it’s really changed how they approach major gifts.

Next up, ineffective management. This is such a common issue in the non-profit space because most managers and leaders aren’t given any training to help them adapt to those responsibilities. They may have been a great major gift officer, but promoting the best fundraiser to a management role isn’t always the best idea. Fundraising and management require different skill sets and without proper support and guidance from managers, your fundraiser can feel lost and unsupported.

Which brings us to the issue of donor management. It’s crucial to have a strategic approach to engaging your major donors. But too often, we see organizations treating donors like ATMs, instead of real partners. Are you approaching your donor conversations with a goal of being a bridge between their passions and interests and the work your organization does?

And finally, many organizations are blocked from doing more for their mission because they haven’t developed a real culture of philanthropy. If your entire staff doesn’t understand and respect the role of donors in achieving your mission, you’ll struggle to build those transformational relationships.

Wow. Okay. That was a lot to cover. But trust me, overcoming these obstacles can lead to incredible results. We’ve seen it happen many times. If you could use some support to identify and work through these challenges, we’d love to talk to you about where we can partner with you and your organization. A great place to start is with our free, no obligations, Donor File Assessment, which will help you to uncover the opportunities within your donor pipeline. You can find out more at the link below. Thanks for tuning in, and we’ll see you next time.

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