Major Gift Fundraising for Small Shops: How to Leverage Your Annual Fund in Only Five Hours per Week

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

Amy Eisenstein, MPA, CFRE, ACFRE, is also the author of Raising More with Less: An Essential Fundraising Guide for Nonprofit Professionals and Board Members and of 50 A$ks in 50 Weeks: A Guide to Better Fundraising for Your Small Development Shop, as well as a contributing author to You and Your Nonprofit: Practical Advice and Tips from the CharityChannel Professional Community. Through writing, speaking, and consulting, Amy helps nonprofit staff and board members raise more money for the organizations they love.

Amy is the principal and owner of Tri Point Fundraising, a full-service consulting firm that supports nonprofit organizations with executive and development coaching, capital and annual campaign consulting, development planning, individual and major gifts programs, and board and staff member training and development. She is also a frequent speaker at conferences and a facilitator of board and staff retreats.

Amy received a master’s degree in public administration and nonprofit management from Wagner Graduate School at New York University and a bachelor’s degree from Douglass College at Rutgers University. She currently serves as the president of the board of the Association of Fundraising Professionals–New Jersey Chapter. She became an ACFRE in 2013, has been a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE) since 2004, and became a certified Master Trainer in 2009.