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Major Gifts Campaign Checklist A successful Major Gifts fund-raising campaign is not magic. It is a straightforward, concise process of executing well-defined components arranged in a step-by-step progression. I know this to be so because I have seen it done over and over again --- starting at A and working through to Z, successfully carrying out campaign after campaign and achieving goal after goal. Looking at the nuts and bolts of a Major Gifts fund-raising campaign is the best way I know to make its success probable and its process understandable. Breaking down a campaign step-by-step, point-by-point, lets you present it to staff and volunteers of your non-profit organization in a way calculated to increase acceptance of over-all goals and individual responsibilities. However, if successful fund-raising is simply hard work on the part of the thoroughly prepared, then that preparation must begin before a campaign is planned. An organization contemplating a Major Gifts campaign needs first to assess and evaluate its readiness to raise money. To that end, I suggest that the checklist below be used to self-evaluate your organization's Major Gifts fund-raising readiness at a special board meeting, at a staff retreat, or as a one-on-one survey of trustees and staff. Try it yourself and see if it changes your own understanding of your organization's readiness to raise money from Major Gifts. It's easy to do. Just check each statement that you can honestly claim to be true for your organization. Our Major Gifts Fund-Raising Program: Works from a General Development Plan _____ Operates with other campaigns without diluting any of our resources _____ Has a solid base of major gifts from our Board of Trustees _____ Functions with the guidance of a Development Committee of the Board _____ Has the staff in place to provide all of the needed campaign resources _____ Involves and informs our organization's other departments and personnel _____ Prioritizes individuals, corporations, foundations for maximum potential _____ Rates and evaluates prospects for their maximum giving potential _____ Provides suggested asking amounts to all prospects _____ Features challenge and matching gifts to attract the gifts of others _____ Always settles upon achievable goals before we start to solicit _____ Presents a compelling case for support _____ Maintains stewardship and cultivation programs for donors and prospects _____ Projects what numbers of gifts in what amounts we need to meet goals _____ Promotes gifts via memberships and other named opportunities _____ Develops campaign time-lines for the leadership and solicitors _____ Provides job descriptions and duties for the leadership and solicitors _____ Equips our solicitation team with the best information and instruction _____ Provides solicitation training with special focus upon the asking process _____ Features one-on-one and partners for the actual asking of gifts _____ Seeks to have the best possible prospect to solicitor assignments _____ Benefits from a full range of relevant publicity and promotion activities _____ Provides progress reports and other regular campaign updates _____ Ensures that all requests for contributions are followed to completion _____ Obtains in all instances, reasons individuals refused or reduced their gifts _____ Records gifts and collects the money in a timely fashion _____ Promptly acknowledges donors' gifts and apprises the respective solicitors _____ Announces results, gives recognition and thanks donors and volunteers _____ Reviews and assesses all completed campaigns to improve the next ones _____ This checklist contains 29 key affirmations I believe a non-profit organization must be able to make before planning and conducting a Major Gifts fund-raising campaign. How many were you able to claim as true for your organization? Now that you have gone through the entire list, I suggest that you reread it to make sure you understand each affirmation. The points on this checklist are synopses. Please don't let their brevity get in the way of developing a full understanding of what they represent. On top of that you should evaluate their relevance to your particular situation, look for ways to maximize their effectiveness and value for you, and consider adaptations and adjustments that better tune them to your organization. Tony@raise-funds.com Addendum: Additional Major Gift Campaign Resources In Search of the Elusive Major Giver http://www.raise-funds.com/052803forum.html Major Gifts: Development Of A Total Plan http://www.raise-funds.com/exhibits/exhibit84.html http://www.raise-funds.com/exhibits/exhibit84.pdf Major Gifts Calendar For The Annual Fund http://www.raise-funds.com/exhibits/exhibit07.html http://www.raise-funds.com/exhibits/exhibit07.pdf Duties For Chairperson Of Major Gifts Campaign http://www.raise-funds.com/exhibits/exhibit19.html http://www.raise-funds.com/exhibits/exhibit19.pdf Action Calendar For Chairperson Of Major Gifts http://www.raise-funds.com/exhibits/exhibit20.html http://www.raise-funds.com/exhibits/exhibit20.pdf Major Donors And Prospects --- Two Versions http://www.raise-funds.com/exhibits/exhibit57.html http://www.raise-funds.com/exhibits/exhibit57.pdf http://www.raise-funds.com/exhibits/exhibit58.html http://www.raise-funds.com/exhibits/exhibit58.pdf Major Gifts One-On-One Solicitations http://www.raise-funds.com/exhibits/exhibit68.html http://www.raise-funds.com/exhibits/exhibit68.pdf (cartoon) Major Gifts Campaigns Must Be Major Giver Campaigns http://www.raise-funds.com/exhibits/exhibit88.html http://www.raise-funds.com/exhibits/exhibit88.pdf

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