Insights Archive - Page 10 of 31

I once knew a man named Lauren, a name that was once popular for men but has since “gone out of fashion.” In a previous nonprofit position, I was surprised to find him in our database—and even more surprised to see someone had marked his gender as female and going so far as to add a “Ms.” to his salutation. I quietly corrected the mistake.

Someone else quietly changed it back.

Their intentions were good—they wanted to expand our data collection, ensuring that all the Johns and Janes of the world had appropriate gender markers and salutations for future event invites and direct mailings. However, without proper protocols about when and how to update donor records, they contributed to what is known as dirty data.

The database kept an audit log of all changes, so I found the culprit and explained that, no, this donor is not a woman; can you please leave the record as you found it? This honest mistake could have resulted in a slight to Lauren, someone whom I knew had been on the receiving end of honest data mistakes his whole life and who would appreciate an organization to which he donated a significant sum to correctly address him as “Mr.”

The world is full of Laurens—donors with unusual names, donors whose data points invite contradictions of how we expect to categorize people. Our world exists beyond binaries, but that’s not always the case for the tools that we use. It’s time to think about how we ensure that our data honors our donors through data integrity and inclusion. Below are some considerations for thoughtful and intentional data collection and application.

steps toward data inclusivity

Tracking Meaningful Data

We tend to think that the more data we have, the better. However, I often work with organizations with too much data—too many options to choose from upon data entry, data tracked in the wrong field, and data collected in online donation forms that are never used.

A key data integrity component is tracking the data that will lead your organization to relevant insights and outcomes. In the case of the dirty data culprit mentioned above, they wanted to invite women to events hosted by our organization’s women’s giving circle in the hope that they would become more philanthropically involved. Gender was a meaningful data point to track (though I would argue that gender is rarely relevant outside of specific gender-targeting initiatives like the women’s giving circle). The problem was that the data was not donor-provided—it was employee-assumed.

Your organization should determine what data is most important to achieving success. Often this starts by asking, “What does success look like for us?” and then working backward to understand what data points will inform your goals. For instance, if you want to expand your direct marketing, you would require addresses and emails on forms that donors and prospects fill out and run queries to check for inaccuracies in either field (such as gmal.com vs. gmail.com). Creating data standards and protocols that outline when and who enters integral data is equally important—these guardrails help organizations keep their data clean and trustworthy.

Addressing Donors With Respect

I once worked at an organization with around 60 salutation options on their online donation form. Trying to choose a title was one long, seemingly endless scroll. With the approval of the chief development officer, I narrowed the list down to a reasonable number of salutation options to improve the donor experience—and added an option as well.

Mx. (pronounced “mix”) is a gender-inclusive salutation often used by individuals who are not strictly male or female. Adding this option to the form signaled to donors that our organization valued and made space for donors who live outside the binary of Mr. and Mrs./Ms. As a trans person, it was vitally important to me that our data reflected the diversity of our donors.

Donors trust organizations to keep their data safe. If someone shares their information with an organization, it’s up to that organization to honor it. Adding gender-inclusive options to data fields allows organizations to accurately and respectfully capture information about their donors. Beyond salutations, organizations should consider tracking pronouns—pronouns are used daily and are critical to referring to someone with dignity. Capturing and using the correct pronouns is another way of valuing donors, and expanding data to account for gender diversity gives organizations helpful markers to aid stewardship.

Connecting the Donor Dots

With the passing of the Obergefell ruling, nonprofits are seeing an increase in LGBTQ+ philanthropy, as more couples who can legally marry now choose to donate together. Often the spouses do not have the same last name—leading to a data integrity breach. Each person in the relationship receives separate solicitations because they have not been labeled as a single household in a database.

HOW GOOD DATA AFFECTS DONOR STEWARDSHIP

This challenge is not limited to LGBTQ+ donors—over the years, I’ve seen the use of “Mrs.” decrease as younger donors seem less interested in titles or adopting their husband’s last name. However, it’s important that organizations do their best to link these donors and develop stewardship plans involving both partners. Linking and soft crediting the donors accurately captures their combined donation totals and ensures both partners are involved in their philanthropic giving. Treating spouses who wish to donate together as a single entity demonstrates that your organization respects their union and appreciates their giving—no one should allow poor data practices to get in the way of good donor stewardship.

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Traditionally, those who make a gift every year are schools’ most loyal supporters. These individuals are bonded to the organization’s mission through consistent communication and engagement. As fundraisers, it is our responsibility to keep donors informed, understand what motivates them, and share the impact of their gift — no matter the size. Major gifts come to fruition through dedicated donor cultivation and engagement. By building and stewarding relationships with existing donors rather than working to acquire new ones, we can bridge the gap between annual and major gifts.

Understanding how and when to transition a mid-level or leadership annual giving donor to major gifts is crucial for strengthening an organization’s major gift pipeline. While this transition starts with exploring one’s giving potential, it ends with a shift in the donor’s mindset. As fundraisers, we can raise donors’ sights and inspire them to think deeply with us on what they hope to accomplish philanthropically.

building a strong major gift program is important for the education sector

In partnering with various nonprofits, CCS found that the top 10% of all donors contributed 92% of total fundraising dollars over ten years.

Notably, education partners have great confidence in major gifts in 2023.
• 45% of an institution’s fundraising comes from major gifts
• 84% anticipate mid-level gifts will either increase or stay the same
• 87% anticipate major gifts will either increase or stay the same

Defining a leadership annual giving prospect

What constitutes a leadership annual giving prospect at an organization can vary. For example, some organizations consider a leadership annual giving donor to be someone who makes an annual contribution of $1,000 to $25,000. Organizations that choose to invest in engaging leadership annual giving staff and a formal moves management process are building a major-gift-centered donor pipeline. This pipeline is focused on identifying and qualifying emerging prospects and ensuring that loyal, recurring donors feel connected.

How to transition a leadership annual giving donor to major gifts

Ensure the following are well thought out and successful before considering moving a leadership annual giving donor to your major gift pipeline.

Personalized Communication and Engagement

Development team members should send personalized communication to leadership annual giving donors, in addition to broad-based newsletters and emails. Providing a donor with the opportunity to have an assigned point of contact on the development team creates a deeper connection to the organization. Donors want to hear from you and understand how their gift is being put to work and their impact on the community.

Strong Stewardship

Leverage stewardship to inspire donors to dream big. Consider sharing stories of those directly impacted by your organization’s mission and what can happen when philanthropy is put to work. If you have giving societies in place, determine how a mid-level or consecutive giving society can create a natural cadence of communication. Provide meaningful touchpoints with key personnel at the organization, recognition, and opportunities for donors to see their gift in action. Strong stewardship can motivate donors to keep giving and, more importantly, consider an increased gift. Donors of all gift sizes who receive exceptional stewardship are able to see first-hand how your organization is handling their gifts. This, in turn, furthers their trust in your school.

WHen leadership Annual Giving Donors Should be Moved to the Major Gift Pipeline

Consider these key indicators when determining if a leadership annual giving donor should be moved to the major gift pipeline:

Note: Not all of the following need apply to move a donor into the major gift pipeline.

Qualify the donor. Prioritize consecutive, longtime donors who can make a major gift. Utilize a wealth screening tool to determine the donor’s capacity, including assets, current employment, and business holdings. Ensure your interests are aligned, and determine if a relationship exists either personally or with someone close to them.

Understand the donor’s philanthropic involvement within the community. Explore their giving (size and focus) to similar organizations or other nonprofits within your community.

Identify any shifts in the donor’s giving to the organization. Either the vehicle in which they give has changed and/or they have increased their annual gift amount. Vehicles to flag include giving through a family foundation or donor advised fund, a stock gift, or through their IRA.

Note a first-time unrestricted gift that falls within your organization’s major gift threshold (ex: greater than $25K). Also note if a donor shares one of the following:

They have included the organization in their will.
They are interested in serving in some volunteer leadership capacity (board, campaign, etc.).
They have experienced a major life change such as selling a business, retiring, or finding a new job.

As you build and grow your major gift pipeline, consider those closest to your organization as a starting point. Look at your leadership annual giving donors’ access, affinity, and ability to give — there may be a few diamonds in the rough.

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Health organizations are complex institutions with comprehensive, nuanced, and meticulously created operating budgets. While perhaps best known for delivering patient care, executive leaders are obligated to ensure efficient operations and outcomes for wide-ranging responsibilities, including but not limited to:

Facilities
Personnel
Research
Training
Government Relations
Marketing
Equipment and Supplies
Legal and Compliance
Billing and Insurance
Medical records
Data systems
Food Service
Security
Parking

Each function is vital to the organization’s overall health and well-being and requires significant consideration, oversight, and resources. Amid the competing priorities necessary to run an efficient healthcare organization, C-suite leadership sometimes overlooks or deprioritizes philanthropy.

Despite being one of the few revenue drivers within a healthcare organization, the aggregate amounts raised through fundraising pale compared to clinical or other organizational revenue streams. Our historical experience and industry analysis have shown that philanthropy typically accounts for 1-3% of total health system revenue. Nonetheless, the philanthropic activity return on investment is unparalleled and can result in significant unencumbered monies for a healthcare organization.

Consider These 3 Healthcare Fundraising Points

Fundraising leaders should consider three key points when encouraging their C-Suite Executive Leadership to maintain or increase investment in their fundraising operations regardless of organizational size or financial position.

1. No other revenue stream within the organization can generate philanthropy’s outsized returns.

Several measures help gauge healthcare organizations’ efficiency and effectiveness in raising philanthropic funds. One such metric is Return on Investment (ROI), which calculates the return, or profit, generated by an investment.[1] At many organizations, the fundraising team produces the highest ROI of any department. According to AHP’s 2022 Report on Giving, for every $1 invested in philanthropy, healthcare organizations return an average of $5.41, with the highest performers delivering as much as $7.78 per dollar invested. In comparison, for every $1 invested in patient care, hospitals and health systems will return on average between $1.01 and $1.03. [2]

2. Philanthropy is less resource-intensive than operational revenue streams.

When your organization’s C-Suite considers investment options to generate revenue, very few options are cheaper than philanthropy. A philanthropy-generated dollar takes less organization-wide effort, resources, and space to produce. It can cost up to 250x more to invest in clinical care than in philanthropy to net the same dollar amount.

Many hospitals and health systems face flat or declining profits due to increased headcount costs, clinical innovation and population health initiative investment, and core business commoditization and decreased utilization. COVID-19 pandemic-related elective surgery decline also greatly exacerbated declining profits. Consequently, increasing patient volumes may no longer improve the organization’s operating margin, a profitability indicator showing patient care operations income. [3]

Industry analysis indicates that most healthcare organizations already have razor-thin operating margins of 1-3%. In view of these margin pressures, the quantity of clinical services needed to net even $1 million is significant.

However, philanthropy can significantly impact healthcare organizations’ operating margins. According to AHP, the average healthcare organization’s fundraising “cost-to-raise-a-dollar” (CTRD)[4], a measure of fundraising efficiency, is $0.19, with the highest performers reducing that cost to $0.13. In comparison, a healthcare organization would need to invest closer to $0.97 – $0.99 in patient services to get a $1 revenue return. Using these metrics, the chart below illustrates the patient service dollars needed to net those of philanthropy.

Net Return	Patient Services Costs[5]	Gross Patient Services Revenue	Total Fundraising Expenses[6]	Total Fundraising Revenue
$10 million	$323 million – $990 million	$333 million – $1 billion in services	$2.34 million	$12.34 million
$5 million	$162 million – $495 million	$167 million – $500 million in services	$1.17 million	$6.17 million
$1 million	$32 million – $99 million	$33 million- $100 million in services	$230,000	$1.23 million

Utilizing the table figures from above, if a hospital’s chief financial officer (CFO) needs to produce $10 million in new revenue, what would be the most efficient route? At a 1% operating margin, the hospital would need to provide $1 billion in services, costing $990 million, compared to investing $1.9 million in fundraising operations.

Philanthropy provides undeniable value to healthcare executives looking for more complementary revenue sources. Of course, the argument is more nuanced than simply injecting additional fundraising operations capital to produce a guaranteed result, and most healthcare organizations’ primary mission surrounds patient care, which will always come first. Generating fundraising revenue differs from the supply and demand transactional nature of patient services. Yet, with payment cuts for care delivery on the horizon, philanthropy will likely have a more substantial ROI, become an even cheaper investment opportunity, and play a more significant role in alleviating margin pressures.

Fundraising operations investments should be monitored and reviewed regularly discern metrics such as ROI and CTRD, and to ensure that investments were wise. Organizations can pressure test additional and continual fundraising investments until the long-term ROI and CTRD diminish to the point that such investments are no longer an efficient or effective organizational practice.

3. In times of increased financial stress, philanthropy can be a good investment.

Philanthropy adds directly to an organization’s net operating margin, relieving margin pressure.

At first glance, it is not surprising that fundraising might seem inconsequential within overall healthcare organizational finances; AHP’s 2022 Report on Giving shows that health systems average $16.42 million [7] in annual philanthropy, perhaps marginal at billion-dollar health systems. However, the healthcare industry’s low operating margins also indicate that philanthropy could determine whether a hospital ends up in the red or black in any given year. In fact, according to the Kaufman-Hall analysis of 900 hospitals nationwide, 2022 closed out with operating margins at just 0.2% for December, with an average annual margin of -1.3%. Given this statistic, philanthropy can be vital to the bottom line.

Case Study: A West Coast-Based Nonprofit Healthcare System

To illustrate how financially impactful philanthropy can be on a healthcare institution, here is an example of a West Coast-based nonprofit healthcare system.

Operating Data (includes only patient services, not philanthropy financials)

Operating Revenue	$3,243,046,000
Operating Expenses	$3,157,320,000
Operating Income (Operating Revenue – Operation Expenses)	$85,726,000
Operating Margin (Operating Income/Total Operating Revenue)	2.6%

Philanthropy Data

Fundraising Revenue (Contributions and Grants)	$50,586,862
Fundraising Expenses	$8,615,529
Fundraising Income (Fundraising Revenue – Fundraising Expenses)	$41,971,333
CTRD (Fundraising Expenses / Fundraising Revenue)	$0.17

Operating and Philanthropy Combined Data

Total Revenue (Operating Revenue + Fundraising Revenue)	$3,293,632,862
Total Expenses (Operating Expenses + Fundraising Expenses)	$3,165,935,529
Net Income[8] (Total Revenue – Total Expenses)	$127,697,333
New Profit Margin (Net Revenue / Total Revenue)	3.9%

Philanthropy can be a critically powerful tool for an organization with negative operating margins. The $51 million fundraising revenue accounts for only 1.5% of the organization’s $3.3 billion total revenue, yet, the $42 million in net fundraising revenue represents an impressive 33% of the organization’s $128 million net income. Given the organization’s low operating margin (2.6%), philanthropy significantly contributes to the organization’s bottom line and overall fiscal health.

Philanthropy Is a healthy Investment for Healthcare Organizations

Health organizations now recognize philanthropy as a core business strategy to provide operational and capital dollars for organizational advancement, particularly during recent changes in healthcare economics. For any CEOs, CFOs, and healthcare leaders looking to improve their financial performance and operating margins, philanthropy is a worthy investment.

[1] For the purposes of this article, ROI is based on cash, not production accounting. ROI is calculated by dividing gross funds raised by total fundraising expenses.

[2] Assuming an operating margin of 1-3% per section 2.

[3] The operating margin is calculated by dividing the difference between the total operating revenue and total operating expenses by the total operating revenue.

[4] CTRD is calculated by dividing total fundraising expenses by total fundraising revenue.

[5] Assuming an operating margin of 1-3%.

[6] Assuming a CTRD of $0.19.

[7] Based on cash accounting.

[8] Net Income is the equivalent of the Operating Income + Fundraising Income.

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In an increasingly competitive job market, nonprofits must recruit and retain the best talent. These are important considerations, especially around fundraising roles in nonprofit organizations that rely heavily on philanthropic revenue. Insights from CCS’s extensive experience with major higher education institutions confirm the following:

Maximized talent leads to thriving development teams and greater fundraising results.

Misappropriation of time and resources impacts productivity, dollars raised, and job satisfaction.

Staff turnover is costly.

The Center for American Progress has found that the average cost to replace an employee such as a major gift officer is up to 213% of the salary and benefits of the person being replaced. How can you mitigate some of the risks leading to turnover in your development office? Create a positive, inspiring work environment by maximizing your team’s skills. Ensure that all staff can professionally thrive by optimizing their work.

How are Your Frontline Fundraisers Spending Their Time?

Utilizing data gathered from over 70 annual higher education partners, CCS has found a ratio of 1:3 – 1:5 frontline fundraisers to support staff is optimal. In this model, “support staff” includes far more than administrative team members. Consider any member of your team who provides resources for your frontline fundraisers part of this definition of “support staff.”

A ratio below 1:3 may indicate your fundraisers are not dedicating enough time to active donor engagement. This results in an under-optimized fundraising team, fewer dollars raised, and increased burnout. Your fundraisers do not have the opportunity to do what they do best; deepen donor relationships and inspire new prospects.

A ratio above 1:5 may indicate an environment where “back of house” team members dominate, creating a high volume of red tape and potentially inefficient systems and processes. This results in an under-optimized fundraising team that is unable to focus on relationship building through strategic cultivation and solicitation leading to transformational gifts.

If your frontline fundraisers conduct any of the following indirect fundraising tasks, read on!

Event planning and/or management
Proposal writing and gift agreement administration
Program support
Prospect research

Administrative responsibilities (e.g., data entry)

the case for retention

Last year, CCS supported over 70 colleges and universities and worked with a total of 700 organizations located in over 350 cities across 18 countries. We frequently encounter frontline fundraisers with inordinate responsibilities that keep them from direct fundraising, which we define as cultivating, soliciting, and expertly stewarding prospective supporters and donors.

Though it might seem reasonable for fundraisers to wear multiple hats, this approach will cause frustration and increase turnover. Fundraisers need time to build relationships and time spent elsewhere can be costly especially when more than 67% of giving in the United States is driven by individuals. Individual philanthropy thrives on personal connections to your organization’s mission, and the time required to build those relationships is critical to fundraising success.

Retaining your fundraisers has a huge financial impact. It takes multiple years for a fundraising professional to meet their peak potential. In fact, the Chronicle of Philanthropy found that it took, on average, four years for major-gift fundraisers to “mature into their roles.” After four years, frontline fundraisers dramatically increased the average dollars they raised.

The Impact of an Imbalanced Development Operation

Examples abound demonstrating how the misappropriation of fundraisers’ time negatively impacts philanthropic revenue. Consider an organization that spends less than $0.20 to raise a $1 for their primary annual fundraising event. On the surface, this type of result is commendable. After closer consideration, however, this event’s low cost may mean that the development staff, including frontline fundraisers, carry too great a burden to optimize the cost to raise a dollar. This would certainly impact their ability to cultivate donors, build relationships, and solicit gifts—all of which could be avoided with a simple shift in resourcing for the event.

In addition to assessing how various activities impact fundraising, you can also assess how your frontline fundraisers individually make an impact. Here is one example:

Deon, whose salary is $100,000, is responsible for raising $1,000,000 each year. If 25% of Deon’s time is focused on non-fundraising activities, one could extrapolate that the organization is risking $250,000 in possible gifts each year (not even factoring in compouned growth). The organization is also indirectly budgeting $25,000 every year (a quarter of Deon’s salary) to support this non-fundraising activity.

This example does not account for the time it takes to develop meaningful donor relationships. With 25% less time to focus on fundraising, Deon has lost incalculable opportunities for relationship building and future revenue generation. For example:

Would a donor have given twice as much if Deon had the time to more deeply engage them?

This calculation will be further exacerbated when Deon is tasked with responsibilities that don’t play to his strengths and take him away from activity that will allow him to hit his goals. You can anticipate this situation will ultimately lead him to give notice, leaving your donors without a steward they know and trust.

If you think your organization would benefit from revisiting the delegation of responsibilities across the fundraising team, take these steps to determine your current fundraising-to-support staff ratio.

how to optimize Your Team

1. Evaluate and Redistribute Responsibilities

Begin by defining who you consider a frontline fundraiser and who you consider support, noting that support does not always equate to strictly administrative responsibilities. The simplest approach is to consider support staff as any role that does not hold direct fundraising responsibilities. Some roles may be split (e.g., roles that include managerial, administrative or other responsibilities), and for those roles you can divide their time across both categories (.25, .5, .75 etc.).

Here are some examples of how this might be approached:

Sample Role	Frontline	Support
Director of Development	.5	.5
Manager of Individual Giving	1
Major Gift Officer	1
Manager of Institutional Giving/Corporate Relations	1
Planned Giving Officer	1
Communications Coordinator		1
Research Analyst		1
Database Manager		1
Development Associate/Assistant		1
Special Events Manager		1
Alumni Relations Staff		1
Advancement Communications Staff		1

If the fundraising to support ratio falls short of our recommended 1:3 – 1:5 ratio, you should determine where you can delegate more of your fundraisers’ indirect work to support staff.

2. Consider Hiring Support Staff

Next time a vacancy opens up on your team, or you have an opportunity to add headcount, pause to reflect on this ratio and how your staff are currently spending their time. Consider asking your staff to spend two weeks tracking their time. This exercise will provide data for an informed assessment to support potential changes in the way you delegate and/or how you reallocate tasks.

To maximize your team’s efficiency with limited resources, CCS often encourages our clients to consider adding these support staff positions before adding costly frontline fundraisers:

Areas of Support	Impact
Proposal or Grant Writing	Frontline staff can advise on content but are not tasked with the considerable time necessary to produce stellar proposals.
Stewardship Report Writing	Frontline staff can focus on amplifying the stewardship process (e.g., arrange to hand-deliver a report) if not tasked with writing the content.
Event Coordination	Frontline staff can focus on inviting prospects and engaging attendees during and after the event, ensuring positive experiences, and deepening relationships.
Data Entry	This reduces desk time and ensures both efficacy and continuity of information included in the CRM.
Data Analysis	Harnessing your data to make informed decisions (e.g., portfolio analysis) can improve fundraising performance.
Prospect Research	Frontline staff can focus instead on research insights, connecting their donors to demonstrated areas of interest.
Board Management	Boards are frequently the biggest drivers of fundraising activity and expert management is key. Dedicated staff ensures that your Board is leveraged to their fullest extent and ensures a seamless donor experience.
Volunteer Management	Connecting donors to meaningful volunteer opportunities (such as Advisory Boards, Alumni Councils, Admissions, Career Development, etc.) frequently results in greater philanthropic investments. Frontline staff should connect the dots, while others should manage logistics such as volunteer assignments, training, and data collection.

Where your team spends its time is where your organization spends its money. Investing in the right kind and amount of support for your frontline fundraisers will reduce turnover, increase funds raised, and can make all the difference.

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Artificial Intelligence is a broad field with a wide range of sub-fields, and data science also sometimes uses AI. Almost every application of AI depends on the input data, which the AI algorithms use to predict an output. One preferred definition of AI is “Prediction Machines,” given in the namesake book by Ajay Agarwal.

With the power of AI, nonprofit organizations can now automate and optimize their fundraising practices to engage donors more effectively and make a more significant societal impact.

Consider these six applications of AI in fundraising.

1. Giving Likelihood Prediction

One of the most promising applications of AI in fundraising is giving likelihood prediction. By studying the donation history of donors in a dataset, AI algorithms can predict the likelihood of future donations. These predictions can then be used to group donors, such as lead annual giving or major donors, and tailor communication and fundraising strategies accordingly. A popular technique for such predictions is Random Forests, more commonly referenced as “decision trees,” graphical representations of all the possible solutions to a decision based on certain conditions. AI takes the manual decision-making process out of the mix and does it for you.

2. Segmentation

AI can segment prospects or donors based on similarities such as geography, age, donation history and preferences, major in college, graduation year, and other factors. This can help to customize fundraising strategies to better engage and retain donors. Clustering or cluster analysis is a commonly used method to create these segments. Giving likelihood models can be combined with segmentation to help with donor retention or upgrades.

3. Text or Language Generation

AI language generation models such as ChatGPT and the underlying generative pre-trained transformer (GPT) models have gained attention for their ability to generate text and language. In the context of fundraising, language generation models can be used to generate qualification emails, thank you or stewardship letters, proposal generation, and research profile creation.

4. Image, Video, Music, or X Generation

AI can generate images, videos, music, or other forms of content. These models are trained on large datasets of images or other media using a combination of human labeling and computerized description. Some fundraising applications are graphic generators for communications, personalized stewardship videos, or dynamic proposals.

5. Augmented or Virtual Reality (AR/VR)

Augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) can also be used in fundraising to transport prospective donors into an imaginary world to show the impact of their gifts. While not strictly in the AI domain, AR/VR technology can overlay different objects into our physical world or transport us to a different one.

6. Data Science

Data science is an applied field that can be used to stitch together unique fundraising solutions by analyzing large datasets to identify trends, insights, and opportunities for optimization. AI technologies can automate and optimize various fundraising practices and operations, enabling nonprofits to focus on their core mission of positively impacting society.

In conclusion, AI can revolutionize the fundraising sector through its ability to provide valuable information on donor behavior, segmentation, communication, and content creation. Nonprofits can use AI technologies to automate and enhance their fundraising practices and operations, allowing them to take the guesswork out of what may yield the most remarkable results and concentrate on their primary objective of creating a more significant impact on the world.

Explore Part II of this Revolutionizing Fundraising series, which dives into real-time examples of this work and how you can apply AI techniques to your fundraising plan and outcomes.

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New York, NY – CCS Fundraising, the world’s leading fundraising and strategic consulting firm, is proud to announce the elevation of five new partners in the firm. These individuals have demonstrated exceptional leadership, expertise, and a deep commitment to advancing the mission of the clients they serve.

Suzanne Eden, Barri Kass, Douglas London, Tim Nurvala, and Sarah Sochacki have been instrumental in driving fundraising success and lasting community impact for CCS clients, and their contributions have been invaluable to the firm. CCS is thrilled to recognize their accomplishments and welcome them into the new role of Partner.

Suzanne Eden has been with the firm for over a decade, providing leadership to clients in the areas of campaign management, strategic planning, major gifts, and more. She has worked with a diverse range of nonprofit organizations, from small community-based nonprofits to large national institutions, and across all client sectors. Her engagement as a presenter at national development conferences and as a published author for CCS thought leadership has helped both her clients and the firm achieve transformative impact. Suzanne received her B.A. from Trinity College of Arts & Sciences at Duke University and an MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business.

Barri Kass joined CCS in 2010, bringing with her eight years of experience in the legal profession. During her tenure, she has counseled multiple organizations through nationwide planning studies, intensive campaign goal setting, case development, and pipeline building. She has a deep understanding of the philanthropic landscape and has helped clients navigate complex fundraising challenges with success. Barri received her B.A. from University of Michigan and her JD from Brooklyn Law School.

Douglas London has built his entire professional career in fundraising and strategic consulting. His areas of expertise include fundraising planning, inclusive philanthropy, major gift strategy, donor stewardship, and development staff coaching and management. He has a strong track record of guiding clients through transformational initiatives, helping them to achieve ambitious goals and build lasting relationships with donors. Doug is a native Chicagoan and received his B.A. in Communications & Politics from Lake Forest College.

Tim Nurvala has over 35 years of experience working with nonprofit organizations, governmental agencies, and international technology. His strategic approach and focus on impact have helped clients achieve sustainable growth and success. He has worked with nonprofit organizations spanning numerous industry sectors including education, healthcare, faith, environmental, and human services. Tim has a B.A. and M.A. from the University of Florida and a M.A., Ph.D. (ABD) from American University.

Sarah Sochacki has been a key member of our team for nearly a decade. With an expertise in case development and major gifts strategy, she has executed campaign planning studies, facilitated multi-million-dollar campaigns, directed development assessments, and coached client staff and volunteers through securing transformational gifts. As part of her continued commitment to philanthropy, Sarah regularly presents at various industry events and on CCS sector- and region-specific webinars. Sarah holds a B.A. from the University of Notre Dame and a M.S. in Fundraising Management from Columbia University.

“We are thrilled to promote Suzanne, Barri, Doug, Tim, and Sarah to partner,” said CCS Fundraising CEO, Jon Kane. “Their dedication to our clients and the firm has been exemplary, and we are confident that their leadership will help us continue to grow and provide transformational impact to our partners and communities around the globe.”

With the addition of these five partners, CCS Fundraising continues to strengthen its position as the world’s leading fundraising and strategic consulting firm.

About CCS Fundraising

CCS Fundraising is a strategic consulting firm that has partnered with nonprofits to create transformational change for over 75 years. CCS Fundraising provides a wide range of services that support and strengthen nonprofit fundraising programs, including campaign management, strategic planning, data analytics, and major gift strategy. The firm’s expert consultants, skilled in campaign and development strategy, work closely with organizations of all sizes across nonprofit sectors and geographies. For more information on CCS Fundraising, please visit www.ccsfundraising.com

In the basketball world, March is the most wonderful time of year. Our collegiate teams find out if the hundreds of hours devoted to practice, travel, and gameday have landed a ticket to a national tournament in March. Recent post-season victories flooding our screens remind us of the many successes that higher education institutions may have the opportunity to celebrate: awards, honors, athletic feats, Nobel Prize winners, ribbon cuttings — the list goes on.

In this article, we explore how to engage your donor base in collegiate success. Ben Mandelbaum, Assistant Men’s Basketball Coach at Alcorn State University, a “public historically Black, comprehensive land-grant institution of higher education” located in Mississippi, helps us paint the picture through the lens of basketball.

Annually, CCS Fundraising conducts thousands of personal interviews with constituents of our incredible partner organizations. One of the questions we like to ask during those interviews is, “When you choose to make a gift to a nonprofit organization, what compels you to make that gift?”

Year after year, donors are compelled to give when they feel they are making a true impact with their gift and that something great happened because of their generosity. Storytelling is an important way of underscoring the impact made from philanthropic gifts. If your higher education institution has achieved a noteworthy feat, like making a national tournament, it is a tremendous opportunity to engage your community.

Here are a few tips to keep in mind while telling your story.

FOR NEWLY ENGAGED constituents

Whether your school has made it to a tournament game or seen another success among the student body or institution, consider these tips for engaging your community now.

Partner with your school’s marketing department to share your message in a timely way. Once you have something exciting to share, you can plan and schedule your social media content to post at opportune times.

In fundraising, we always say that folks want to be a part of success. Your own community’s local media likely will be interested in showcasing the good news of your school. If you can share on a wide scale, end your engagement stories with a call to action by sharing where constituents can continue to engage with and cheer on your university.
Use this opportunity to showcase how a win for your team, or other triumph at your school, extends to positive accolades for your regional community. As in campaigns, success builds upon itself, and a strong educational institution pays dividends to communities.
Lean on your volunteers. Has an identified prospective donor showed interest in your success? Ask one of your closest fans to invite them to the game and sit with them, or invite them to special presentation from a university award winner. Nothing helps show the power of your mission than being in it.

With all eyes on your team, help show the world what it took to get here. It could be a great time to share some of your easy-to-understand team needs; the cost of a scholarship, room and board for a standout athlete, equipment, and gear, can be daunting. And if your constituents want a thriving college community, nothing is better for enrollment in my opinion than something exciting to stand behind.
Ben Mandelbaum, Assistant Men’s Basketball Coach, Alcorn State University

FOR YOUR BIGGEST FANS

When it is time to speak personally with your closest constituents about supporting the program, consider the following ideas:

In some ways, individual students’ stories can make the most difference. Each student has a unique story that brought them to your school. When appropriate, help donors connect with those stories. Most certainly, a standout student, faculty or staff member from your home state adds a layer of excitement.
When it comes to a “quick win,” no one understands you better than your top donors. Sharing what is needed in real time — whether a travel expense, celebratory gear for the team, or the like — can make it clear for donors to understand and support your needs.
For VIP prospective donors, it is important to make the need tangible. Each school has different budgets, and budgets are shockingly disparate. Bring your prospects into the fold and show them what is needed to take your program to the next level.

You can make people feel really close to the game. Invite folks to practices, show them through your eyes what your needs are. A quick walk through the locker room, as an example, and you won’t have to explain that it needs a facelift.
Ben Mandelbaum, Assistant Men’s Basketball Coach, Alcorn State University

IN THE OFFSEASON

Looking for a new storyline for a giving day? You can use a running storyline to grasp audience engagement, like a day in the life of different players, or an example of things that happen each month leading up to a major success.
It can be hard to explain in the moment how much goes into a collegiate achievement, like making a national tournament. Use the offseason to point to what it felt like to work up to tournament season personally, in your own words.
Use the time in the offseason to research who supported your team when you made a call to action or when you had a great deal of success. Use that research to determine who should be next on your list to qualify as a potential continued donor.

Every team has a story. I hear the ins and outs of each player every day. If more people knew those stories, how could you not root for the team?
Ben Mandelbaum, Assistant Men’s Basketball Coach, Alcorn State University

In conclusion, with the above tips, you can translate your good news into ongoing philanthropic support and engagement for seasons to come. Congratulations to all teams who participated this year and to every college and university that has seen a recent institutional success. And congratulations to Coach Ben and the Alcorn State Braves on their regular season title and NIT appearance.

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The front cover of the March 2023 "Raising & Investing Endowment Capital in the Education Sector" report

DOWNLOAD THE REPORT

For many school foundations and university councils, generating endowment capital is a top priority. Although there is a popular misconception that endowment funds are harder to raise than capital project funds due to the lack of tangible outcomes, endowments have long-term, positive effects on organizational programs and the people they serve.

While Australian fundraisers do face challenges in raising endowments, the education sector has seen success. Australian fundraisers can build upon this success by adopting the right mindset, dedicating resources, and utilizing best practice strategies.

CCS Fundraising is a strategic fundraising firm that partners with nonprofits around the world for transformational change.

Koda Capital is an independent investment governance advisor and endowment portfolio manager advising Australian secondary and tertiary education institutions.

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SEE ALL IN: Higher Education Primary and Secondary Education

DOWNLOAD PRESENTATION SLIDES

Planned giving is an invaluable tool for growing your annual and major giving programs, but have you avoided implementing it because you doubt you have the time or the resources to do it well?

CCS experts Anne Thomas and Christopher Dake help remove the fear and uncertainty of engaging in planned giving, provide best practices for what you can do with limited time and resources, and share tips on how to determine your real planned giving potential, including:

How to address the most common concerns for investing in planned giving
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Religious organizations are one of the nonprofit sectors facing the greatest pressure to adapt to the current needs of the members and communities they serve. With aging structural facilities, increased technological demand, generational shifts in spiritual priorities, and a growing cultural need for healing, organizational budgets and staff can feel stretched thin.

To meet this growing wave of donor engagement and societal need, many religious organizations are embarking on transformational, multi-year, capital campaigns. These campaigns support growth and prepare their faith communities for a lasting, sustainable future.

Strong major gift efforts at the outset of campaigns can generate early momentum and provide anchoring stories of donor generosity and philanthropic impact, which can resonate throughout the potential donor pool. This article outlines the necessary steps for your religious organization to identify and engage potential major donors, and to secure early major gifts to stimulate community engagement throughout your capital campaign.

1. Leverage Strong Leadership: Use Your Existing Resources

The key to a successful major gift initiative is to utilize available resources to identify and engage the most generous and active donors. Easily accessible prospects that have an affinity for supporting your organization or similar organizations and are able to give are those who are most likely to provide a transformational gift toward the campaign.

Leadership in this stage of a campaign starts with the faith leader. If the head of your organization is actively involved in the process, the probability of participation will increase and yield a fruitful fundraising campaign. Likewise, the supporting committee chosen to back your leaders must feel equally enthusiastic about the mission and plan for conducting the campaign.

Within a religious campaign, your main prospects are already built into your existing community. It is essential to leverage your leadership for prospect identification purposes. Often, faith and lay leaders can help determine many prospective major donors based on personal knowledge and community connection.

Once these prospective supporters have been identified, campaign support staff and research tools can maximize potential gifts by determining potential ability and affinity. Our team at CCS Fundraising employs a suite of research tools to understand a prospect’s financial potential and historical giving trends to your organization and fellow nonprofits. Some of our go-to tools include (but are not limited to) multiple wealth screening analysis, data collection from 990 forms, and internal modeling tools based on giving trends across the country. These tools allow us to identify families with a large propensity that may not be immediately apparent based on their giving history.

2. Share your Comprehensive Case: Convey True Need

Once we have identified top prospects, the next objective is to bring them to the table and to share the case for support. Letting those you hope to engage as lead donors have the first look at the campaign case is crucial to creating a sense of unity, leadership, and importance of the proposed projects.

Invite your top prospects to a campaign “launch event.” A launch event allows donors to learn about the overall campaign needs across ministries, meet like-minded donors and other interested parties in the campaign, and unite under a mutual initiative to strengthen your community of faith.

This event also allows faith leaders to launch further conversations and gives a natural connection point with their top donors. By presenting a strong case early, a faith leader can brief donors on specific case elements, address questions, and reiterate individual donor impact in a personal manner.

Early supporters will ask intentional questions, reflect on the transformative planned initiatives, and initiate discussions with their pastors on how they can best support the campaign. If they show up to the event, it is very likely that they are already interested in the campaign and willing to participate in some capacity. The leader’s job is to continue this conversation and provide the correct request.

3. Make the Request Personal: Prioritize Consistency and The Follow-Up

Now that the donor has knowledge of the campaign from a group-based event, the faith leader should continue a personalized dialogue to discuss their gift. The formal gift request should take place in a private setting; this is a conversation between the leader, the individual, and their family. It may be beneficial to have an additional campaign leader that maintains a close relationship with the donor as a supporting advocate who can navigate specific interpersonal situations. The request should be expressed verbally and in a formal letter that should be left with the donor at the end of the meeting.

Following the gift request, the prospective donor will likely take some time to consider their gift. Thank the donor for their time, and promptly move into the follow-up phase within the next one to two weeks. CCS has found that after the five to seven-day window, gift amounts and donor interest tend to decrease significantly, unless proper follow-up steps are taken. Schedule the follow-up as a starting point to clarify any additional questions and to secure a transformational gift.

unlocking transformational giving

Conducting a successful major donor solicitation involves three key steps: identifying and researching potential lead gift prospects, building relationships with these donors, and making the ask. By taking these steps and securing large gifts early in a campaign, your religious organization can not only gain a strong funding foundation, but also inspire others to give generously and engage more deeply with organizational life.

The impact of this early success cannot be understated—it will provide a strong message to the community that the mission is important and worthy of investment to a significant degree. By implementing a strategic and thoughtful approach to major donor solicitation, your nonprofit can secure the funding it needs to make a meaningful impact throughout your community and strengthen your mission and resources for future generations.

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