In the July 13th Chronicle of Philanthropy news update, professional fundraisers declare “major changes are necessary in how campaigns are conducted to meet the challenges of the future.” Because experts expect to see a decline in the number of lead gifts ($1,000,000 or more) to campaigns, organizations will need to broaden their prospect base to include larger numbers of Major Gift and Community Gift donors.
While this new strategy may take more time and effort to cultivate donors, in the long-term this may be a “cup half full” strategy for many nonprofits. Organizations that employ creative donor cultivation and stewardship practices may turn one-time capital campaign donors into long-term annual supporters. Do you agree? Could a shift in resource allocation from pursuing a few megagift donors for a campaign to spending more time cultivating a larger base of mid-range gift donors be more prudent for long-term sustainability?
#1 by Paul Weber on July 14th, 2009 - 3:59 pm
Ironic that this appears after my recent blog entry about my own college raising their efforts to solicite donations from older grads like me. The months to come will be interesting.