We explore US giving trends and what motivates donors as well as the common fundraising challenges nonprofit staff face today. Learn strategies and tactics to address those challenges, as well as insights from our experience partnering with more than 700 nonprofits annually.
Uncover the latest fundraising trends in the 2025 CCS Philanthropy Pulse report! Packed with data-rich insights from 600+ nonprofit organizations across diverse nonprofit sectors, this free report will help you plan for success in 2025.
This report provides a comprehensive look at the current state of US philanthropy, compiling and analyzing annual data from Giving USA and other prominent research to ensure your organization stays up-to-date on the most significant industry trends.
Individual giving remains the top giving source for philanthropy in the US. However, obtaining and developing donors continues to challenge every sector, especially arts and culture. With shifts such as the Great Wealth Transfer and the younger donor generation’s differing priorities, learning how to energize and engage the next generation of museum supporters is vital to fundraising success.
Individual Giving Remains Strong
Individual giving provided 64% of the nearly $499.33 billion donated to nonprofit organizations in 2022, significantly above other sources (foundations at 21%, bequests at 9%, and corporations at 6%). Yet 60% of surveyed arts and culture institutions reported that donor acquisition was their top fundraising challenge, and 47% said similarly of donor retention/stewardship.
As individual giving remains the majority source of fundraising revenue, and with nonprofits beginning to assess the potential impact of Gen X, Millennials, and even Gen Z in the philanthropic space, how can museums ensure that they appropriately cultivate their future supporters?
Next Generation — or Rising Generation?
The ability to optimally engage with these potential future supporters requires an understanding of who these groups are, such as generational differences, behaviors, and interests. However, the concept of the next generation of philanthropists can encompass people from their 20s to their 50s. While the term "next gen" is an easy way to lump those potential donors together, is it the most accurate?
Author Jay Hughes, Jr. feels that the term next gen "suggests a kind of dynastic succession" and ignores each generation's differentiated priorities and concerns and the individuals within it. He utilizes the term "rising gens" instead, highlighting that we cannot expect each generation to follow in the path of the one that came before. Instead, we should be prepared for them to chart their own course.
The great wealth transfer
Regardless of how we refer to them, addressing these challenges of attracting and retaining the next donor generations becomes even more apparent when we consider the wealth transfer that has already begun shifting assets among age groups. By 2045, over $84 trillion is anticipated to change hands, with approximately $73 trillion expected to transfer directly to heirs and approximately $12 trillion to philanthropic causes.
Noticeably, these generations deprioritize arts and culture when compared to those currently holding the largest wealth. This further validates the importance of creating an intentional set of generation-segmented engagement strategies.
The Next Donor Generation Is Generous
While the task facing museums would be easier if arts and culture were already among this group's top-valued causes, it is heartening to see the extent to which these generations have prioritized philanthropy. With a collective 79 million donors already giving over $56 billion a year, they are poised to continue growing the amount and the impact of their giving.
Rising gen donors agree—in a survey of high-net-worth individuals, 87% of respondents aged 21-42 (spanning Gen Z and Millennials) indicated they are prepared to support philanthropy. They went further, with 88% of Gen Z members and Millennials agreeing that "the next generation is strongly prepared to take on and support philanthropic causes" and 87% that "the next generation will be more effective in their philanthropic causes than older generations." This validates their commitment to giving, signaling a difference in how they will likely need to be engaged compared to older generations.
As organizations prioritize their fundraising strategies, they should explore generational trends around engagement. Various data points highlight nuances, such as the high value that Millennials place on experiences and how Gen Z prefers to give via social media. Further considerations include geographic and socio-political dynamics specific to each organization's location, culture, and mission.
Case Study for engaging the next generation of museum Donors
The Barnes Foundation
The Barnes Foundation is a fitting example of a nonprofit arts organization focusing on the most pertinent trends and challenges and creating a structure to address them.
Founded in 1922 by Dr. Albert C. Barnes with a mission to promote "the advancement of education and the appreciation of the fine arts and horticulture," the Barnes Foundation has welcomed an average annual visitorship of 220,000 since moving to its location on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia in 2012. Visitors come to view one of the world’s greatest collections of impressionist, post-impressionist, and early modern paintings, with especially deep holdings in Renoir, Cézanne, Matisse, and Picasso. The collection also includes important examples of African art, Native American pottery and jewelry, Pennsylvania German furniture, American avant-garde painting, and wrought-iron metalwork. It is displayed in “ensembles” meant to draw out visual similarities between objects not normally thought of together. Created as teaching tools, they were essential to the educational program Dr. Barnes developed in the 1920s.
A Personalized Approach to Engaging Rising Generation Members
The Barnes Foundation's current strategic plan includes goals around fostering a learning culture, challenging the perceived elitism associated with art institutions, and convening Philadelphia's cultural community. The institution sees the involvement of rising generations as essential to achieving those objectives. Accordingly, the Barnes has thoughtfully assessed what rising generation members look for and how its points of entry facilitate their participation.
In doing so, the Barnes sought to address the following questions:
Who are we trying to target?
What existing assets can we leverage?
Are we creating new programs or modifying existing ones?
Who are our potential colleagues for collaboration?
What resourcing is available to support these initiatives?
By intentionally and collaboratively seeking answers to these questions, the Barnes determined potential engagement platforms for rising generations across various interests.
INTEREST
POINTS OF ENTRY
Social Entertainment
→ Young Professionals Nights →First Fridays → Barnes Art Ball
Professional Advancement
→Contemporaries Membership → Summer Soirée → Young Professional Leadership Board → Volunteer opportunities → Community partnerships
Personal Enrichment
→ Membership and guest passes →Adult education classes → On-site, online, and hybrid programs → Group tours → Exhibition programming
Common threads tie these opportunities for engagement together. These include relevance to the mission and the opportunity for attendees to share experiences with peers and feel part of a collective with shared interests.
Next Steps for Cultivating Rising Generations of Museum Supporters
As you similarly seek to build out engagement offerings for members of the rising generations, consider the relevance of the questions posed by the Barnes. What additional questions would help you to develop an intentional and generation-segmented engagement plan?
Consider cost, ticketing, whether an event is invitation-only or open to all, and other logistics that may impact interest and attendance for the audience you aim to reach. Finally, think about the tools for engagement at your disposal, especially those that allow members of rising generations to co-create experiences and provide feedback on the events and programs they attend.
Cultivation Today Is Fundraising Success Tomorrow
Building a foundation of engagement for rising generations as the great wealth transfer continues does need to be a thoughtful process, but it does not need to be a difficult one. The key is to start now, even if that means starting small, to build the foundation for sustainable fundraising operations and growth and energize young museum donors.
In an increasingly competitive job market, nonprofits must recruit and retain the best talent. These are important considerations, especially around fundraising roles in organisations that rely heavily on philanthropic revenue. Insights from CCS’s extensive experience with major higher education institutions confirm the following:
Maximised talent leads to thriving development teams and greater fundraising results.
Misappropriation of time and resources impacts productivity, funds raised, and job satisfaction.
Staff turnover is costly.
How can you mitigate some of the risks leading to turnover in your development office? Create a positive, inspiring work environment by amplifying your team’s skills. Ensure that all staff can professionally thrive by optimising their work.
How are Your Frontline Fundraisers Spending Their Time?
Utilising 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 as they are forced to balance administrative tasks. This results in an under-optimised fundraising team, fewer funds raised, and increased burnout. Your fundraisers do not have the opportunity to do what they do best; deepen donor relationships and inspire new prospects. For experiences fundraisers this can be a frustrating position to be in and can lead to high staff turnover.
A ratioabove 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-optimised 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
Programme 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 organisations 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 may cause frustration and increase turnover. Fundraisers need time to build relationships and time spent elsewhere can be costly especially when a majority of philanthropic giving is driven by individuals. Individual philanthropy thrives on personal connections to your organisation’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 money they raised.
how to optimise 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 maximise your team’s efficiency with limited resources, CCS often encourages our clients to consider adding these support staff positions before adding costly frontline fundraisers:
Please note that one role may cover more than one of the responsibilities listed below.
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 organisation 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.
Fall is almost officially here, so your organization’s year-end fundraising campaign will soon be underway.
Year-end giving is critical to engage and motivate your supporters as they reflect on the past and anticipate the future. When putting together your fundraising strategy, do not forget to include the planned giving vehicles. Gift planning can play a pivotal role in shaping the success of your year-end campaign and advancing your mission over the long term. Additionally, year-end fundraising campaigns are an opportunity to provide donors with every possible option to support your organization’s mission.
Most organizations see the majority of their funds raised in the last three months of the calendar year. That’s because donors are often motivated by the spirit of generosity and to take advantage of potential tax breaks. Nonprofits have a unique opportunity to capitalize on these factors, realizing the short-term goals of cash while prioritizing assets donated that are considered future cash.
Planned giving methods
Various planned giving vehicles are available to implement during your year-end fundraising campaign, enabling your donors to make thoughtful and structured contributions. Beyond the immediate traditional cash donations, individuals can integrate their long-term philanthropy goals into their overall financial and estate planning.
Here are a few planned giving vehicles to consider in the context of year-end fundraising campaigns:
A bequest is a gift made through a will or a trust that designates a portion of the donor’s estate to your nonprofit. This popular and straightforward method allows donors to make significant contributions without impacting their financial situation.
Charitable Gift Annuities (CGAs)
A CGA involves a donor making a gift of cash or other assets to your organization in exchange for a fixed annual income for themselves or a loved one. This gift provides donors with a dependable income stream while supporting your mission. If you are unsure if your organization is capable of providing this type of planned giving vehicle, the American Council on Gift Annuities provides helpful information about CGAs.
Charitable Remainder Trusts
Donors can establish charitable remainder trusts that allow them to transfer assets into a trust that provides income to beneficiaries for a specific period. After the trust term concludes, the remaining assets come to your organization.
Donors can designate your organization as a life insurance policy beneficiary. Donors can leverage existing policies or buy new ones, which could mean substantial future cash for your organization.
Planned Giving Allows for Deeper Donor Relationships
Adding planned giving vehicles into your year-end campaign allows donors to build deeper, more meaningful connections with your nonprofit. By educating your donors about your impact, you also provide an invitation to support in other meaningful ways.
Immediate cash will always remain essential, but you should also plan for future cash.
Implementation is the key, and here are some ideas:
Segment your donors who are 70 years old and older and email them about the opportunity to give from their IRAs. Those 72 and older must satisfy the required minimum distribution from these financial assets.
Ask your donors to name your organization in their will, trust, or DAFs.
Send a survey asking your donors if they have designated your organization in their will, trust, or DAF.
The only way to ensure you receive future cash gifts is to announce that donors can give these types of gifts.
Uncover the latest fundraising trends in the 2025 CCS Philanthropy Pulse report! Packed with data-rich insights from 600+ nonprofit organizations across diverse nonprofit sectors, this free report will help you plan for success in 2025.
In this article, learn how to apply the Faster Funnel Process to your organization to support major gift fundraising, save time, and ensure that development officers can focus on your most promising leads.
Your board has determined the need for a fundraising campaign, and you are responsible for elevating this activity. How do you know if your organization is ready to implement a successful campaign?
Your first step in determining campaign readiness is confidently answering “yes” to the following questions:
Does your staff have the bandwidth to effectively implement a campaign?
Is your Board ready to lead a campaign?
Have you defined an adequate philanthropic goal and timeline to complete?
Do you have a well-defined volunteer structure?
Are your volunteers ready to serve on a committee or request funds from others?
Four previous CCS client partners, who each developed the successful foundations for their campaigns, provide their advice from the field — sharing their perspective and recommendations for any organization considering embarking on a campaign.
The Feasibility and Planning Study
All successful campaigns begin with an informed roadmap. To provide your organization with this information and confidence, implementing a feasibility and planning study is the first step in building your campaign foundation. A study will inform the following areas:
Prospects’ relationships to your organization and their perception of your progress
Reactions to your initial case for support and areas of need
Advice on success directly from your prospects and supporters
Individuals’ willingness to engage in your proposed campaign
Overall view of the philanthropic climate and economy
Determining an Informed Campaign Goal
Your study provides a wealth of knowledge and guides your organization to understand the preliminary potential of your campaign. For many organizations, campaigns are developed out of financial necessity. The reality is that many organizational financial goals may not align with a philanthropic goal feasible from their network of prospects. A planning study provides qualitative feedback directly from your constituents around their willingness and initial interest in the project. This valuable information helps ensure you set a preliminary ambitious, yet achievable, fundraising goal.
Julie Lucas, Chief Advancement Officer | Darlington School | Rome, GA | Campaign Quiet Phase 2023
Case for Support Development
The next phase of campaign readiness ensures your organization can effectively define and articulate your case for support or organizational need. Your case explains “why” your organization exists and serves as a physical document that articulates all that your organization does and the impact it has in your community. To fully define your fundraising case, you must answer the following questions:
Who are you?
What do you do in the community?
How do you create positive change?
Why do you need support?
How much do you need?
When do you need it?
How will your campaign make an impact on your organization and those you serve?
Preparing your case for support prior to launching your campaign ensures that your organization and recruited volunteers feel confident in sharing the message and inviting others’ support. Clear direction and confident communication are essential to any successful campaign.
Recruiting Strong Volunteers
Volunteers are the lifeblood of any organization in both carrying out your mission and supporting it in the early campaign stages. Identifying and engaging the best volunteers is an essential step in determining if your organization is ready to take on a campaign.
Passionate volunteerism begins with your board and disseminates through your entire organizational community. It is important to identify and recruit volunteers who are:
Engaged in the mission and willing to work
Leading by example
Enthusiastic and positive
Attending meetings and making themselves available
Active participants in your work and respond in a timely manner
Offering practical and supportive advice on prospects and strategy
Msgr. John J. Enzler, Retired CEO Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington | Washington, DC | Completed $100,000,000 Campaign | 2021
Analyzing Your Data
A foundational element of any successful campaign includes the development of a strategic and well-informed prospect pipeline. Utilizing data analytics tools to understand your database provides the first step in developing a pipeline that will drive your campaign activity.
Data analytics tools, including predictive modeling, Monte Carlo simulations, or RFM analysis, provide organizations the opportunity to understand those prospects most likely to become major donors, those individuals with potential to engage in a campaign, and those who should be researched further. Your campaign pipeline should be developed with a top 75-100 prospect list and a robust list of additional prospects, providing a runway for campaign success.
David Sears, Vice President of Institutional Advancement | McDaniel College | Westminster, MD | Campaign Readiness Phase 2023
Developing Your Campaign Plan
The final step to your campaign readiness is to ensure you have a campaign plan prepared prior to the launch of your campaign efforts. A successful campaign plan will include:
Timeline
Phasing
Organizational structure
Roles and responsibilities
Table of gifts
Marketing and communications plan
Goals and benchmarks
Budget
Calendar
Donor recognition plan
Gift acceptance policies
A strategic and robust campaign plan provides organizations the opportunity to drive activity in your campaign and ensures effective implementation.
Preparing for your next campaign is no small task. Addressing the foundational principles of your case, leadership, prospects, and plan are essential to developing your campaign and providing your organization with the confidence to move forward successfully.
NEW YORK, NY— CCS Fundraising released the twelfth edition of its Philanthropic Landscape report, the premier resource for nonprofits and associations that compiles and analyzes industry research from Giving USA and other leading sources. The report provides commentary and a synthesis of the current state of philanthropy in the U.S. from the country’s leading fundraising and philanthropy experts to help nonprofit leaders create informed and nimble fundraising strategies for the new year.
CCS’s 2023 report takes a deep dive into the expected flattening of US charitable giving after the pandemic era and racial justice movement of 2020 and 2021 spurred record giving levels nationwide. The report analyzes this readjustment in giving coupled with economic fluctuations, and reveals what new and reemerging trends nonprofit leaders and fundraisers will want to monitor as they set strategy for next year and beyond.
“In this year’s report, we also included a new chapter, ‘Innovations in Data and Technology for Philanthropy,’ which closely examines the dynamic world of data, analytics, and the emerging impact of artificial intelligence.” said Lindsay Marciniak, CCS Managing Director and Report Co-Chair. “Particularly, we offer greater insight on how data, analytics, and AI intersect in our increasingly technology-reliant world and how they will continue to impact our philanthropic ecosystem.”
Giving USA’s initial 2023 data reveals charitable giving appears to have decreased by 3.4% in 2022 to $499.33 billion. However, when assessing multi-year trends, philanthropy has steadily grown when accounting for inflation activity and factoring in additional data. Donors continue giving, and Americans are still generous.
Ruyi Lu, CCS Senior Vice President and Report Co-Chair, remarked, “While the current philanthropic landscape is nuanced and complex, we’ve seen in our work with client partners that motivated donors will continue rising to the occasion with their giving, and nonprofit organizations will continue expanding their reach and making an impact in the communities they serve. It is an exciting time to be part of the advancements bettering our world.”
The 2023 report discusses essential findings from across the field of philanthropic research, including:
Individuals, foundations and corporations donated $453.73 billion in 2022.
Giving across five sectors of philanthropy grew in current dollars in 2022, with two—international affairs and foundations—outpacing inflation.
Individuals were the largest drivers of US philanthropy in 2022, giving $319.04 billion.
The total amount donated by individuals and the number of donors both decreased in 2022.
Foundation giving grew by 2.5%, to an estimated $105.21 billion in 2022.
Corporate philanthropy as a giving source increased by 3.4% in 2022, totaling $21.08 billion.
Bequest giving increased by 2.3% over 2021 to $45.60 billion in 2022.
Grants from DAFs increased by 9% to $11.2 billion in 2022.
CCS Fundraising is a strategic consulting firm that has partnered with nonprofits for 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, systems and change management, 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.
The last few years have undeniably changed the way people work. Remote work flexibility has advanced from a desirable benefit to an expectation, and returning to the traditional office environment continues to be debated. How does fundraising evolve as a relationship-based business to meet stakeholder needs, including employees, volunteers and donors? How do we best respond to the continuing need for a thriving nonprofit culture to drive performance versus the need to use technology to facilitate work and allow for enhanced work-life balance for employees?
The answer, we believe, lies in finding the right intersection of leadership, culture, and people at your nonprofit.
Ensure Leadership Sets the (Right) Tone
Thriving in today’s organizational environment requires thoughtful and deliberate leadership, generally understood to directly correlate to organizational performance. Poor leaders often leave money on the table, while effective leaders know how to make a profit and keep the needs of their key stakeholders at the forefront of their decision-making.
The most extraordinary leaders help establish norms for how individuals carry out their organization’s work, align that work to mission, and build an organizational culture that meets the needs of all stakeholders.
Acknowledge and Understand Culture Complexities
Culture defines what an organization encourages, discourages, accepts, or rejects and is anchored in unspoken behaviors, mindsets, and social patterns. While leadership must directionally set an effective culture, organizations must simultaneously recognize culture’s multi-faceted and multi-layered intricacies.
Factors That Anchor and Alter an Organization’s Cultural Trajectory
Mission/services: An independent school may have a particular organizational culture based on its history; a faith-based institution will have a specific culture based on its denominational beliefs, etc. (CCS tailors our Catholic services for this very reason).
Nonprofit sector: A hospital with significant earned income (e.g., clinical care) will likely have a different set of cultural norms than a human services organization largely or entirely dependent on philanthropic support and volunteer contributions.
Organizational size: A large organization, like a University, will likely have a different culture than a five-person nonprofit.
Geography: An organization on the West Coast will have a different set of community norms than one in the South or the Northeast.
Development infrastructure: A hospital foundation may have its own culture separate from its supported hospital; a centralized university advancement department may have one culture, while a decentralized one may have many separate cultures; a federated networked nonprofit may have a different set of cultures through each of its local chapters, etc.
Leadership is responsible for recognizing and understanding the various external and internal characteristics influencing its organizational culture and reconciling that with its vision for a cultural ideal state.
Build a Great Team by Putting People First
As important as leadership and planning are to organizational culture, change is fully co-dependent on adoption and implementation by the people working within the culture. Each team member can add to, complement, or detract from leadership’s cultural planning and intentions. The people themselves must buy in to the cultural design, execution, and accountability to enable the strongest likelihood of success for collective cultural change.
Unfortunately, the people needed to create a thriving culture are often the same ones embattled with troubling workplace dynamics.
Nearly half of fundraisers will switch jobs within the next two years according to research published in 2022.
The vast majority feel tremendous pressure to succeed in their role.
People do not use their vacation time or they work while on vacation.
More than half feel unappreciated for their work.
Workers are hesitant to discuss personal challenges with supervisors.
Remote Work Can Lead to Burnout
Workers and managers often view remote work as the modern solution to these challenges, and most job seekers now look for remote-only jobs. Yet this flexibility often creates additional unanticipated challenges requiring attention. Most remote workers state that the flexibility results in longer hours and burnout, with no clear start or finish to their workday. Putting your people first will address these issues, add to your culture, and aid recruitment and retention efforts.
Focus on Performance AND People
Fundraising outcomes are ultimately the most important development performance measurements. An organization with the best leadership and culture cannot maintain its culture or keep its people if it cannot raise money. A similar outcome will befall an organization that only focuses on fundraising performance at the expense of its people. An organization that deploys an intentional leadership-driven cultural strategy with a people-first approach is most likely to see success in today’s workplace environment. St. Joseph Catholic Church, for example, was able to raise its sights, engage prospects, and secure major gifts when CCS leveraged their strong clergy leadership for fundraising.
Becoming people-first requires setting and codifying expectations of leaders and managers, and the remainder of the team, concerning work logistics, core behaviors, and professional growth, among other things.
Steps to Build a Thriving Nonprofit Culture
Work logistics must be defined and consistently applied to adapt to the organization’s particular culture and its team members.
Consider the Optimal Environment for Your Team’s Work
Thriving organizations often utilize a hybrid approach (e.g., 3 days in the office and 2 days remote). If you adopt this approach, consider how best to address mentorship and professional development.
Be Flexible
Recognize that your team members have lives outside of work and offer flexibility for personal circumstances. Thriving cultures recognize their people’s personal lives, offering support and flexibility in times of personal need.
Bring Your Team Together Occasionally
Consider some mandatory in-person meetings. Thriving cultures often require in-person meetings for team meetings, one-on-one check-ins with a supervisor, or team retreats. To avoid burnout, consider small steps, such as confining email to certain hours of the day, limiting evening communication and work when feasible, and considering email or meeting-free afternoons. An employee’s greatest barrier to effectively contributing to cultural development is often the unconstrained measures leadership creates through specific actions or standards.
Provide the Resources Necessary for Success
Invest in the tools needed for people to be successful. Thriving cultures anticipate and provide workplace tools and technology to support the modern workplace.
Continually Focus on Culture
Keep culture top of mind. Thriving cultures often create leadership-sponsored, staff-driven committees focusing on culture, interpersonal relationships, and overall workplace well-being, manifested through weekly newsletters, incorporation into staff retreats, internal clubs, and education opportunities.
What a Thriving nonprofit Culture Looks Like
Core behaviors must also be articulated and modeled to effectively permeate into organizational culture. As leaders, team members, and colleagues, thriving cultures tend to:
Show compassion in their interactions with one another.
Monitor themselves and colleagues for burnout and other signs of need.
Encourage collaboration and connectivity in their interactions.
Check in regularly with their team and manager.
Create space to talk about workplace challenges.
Focus on relationships rather than simply tasks.
Regardless of work logistics and core behaviors, a people-first approach requires an emphasis on retaining the best people through professional growth opportunities and competitive compensation:
Provide stretch assignments and leadership development for all staff levels.
Be creative with job responsibilities and upward mobility.
Consider leadership exposure opportunities like executive coaching and the ability for people to join higher-level meetings.
Show professional pathways and growth opportunities regularly.
Encourage and provide time for employees to participate in community-building activities.
Modern Challenges Require Modern Leadership
As the workplace environment evolves, today’s “new normal” will quickly become outdated. Yet the strategies to support a thriving nonprofit culture in today’s “new normal” are fundamental building blocks that will likely support a thriving team in the “next normal” and beyond. An intentional people-first cultural strategy, led by and defined through exemplary leadership, will create the optimal opportunity to address modern workplace challenges.
Capital campaigns at independent schools are often seen as the primary fundraising strategy to drive strategic change. The potential impact of campaigns is high; however, the conditions of your school’s culture of philanthropy, development infrastructure, and donor readiness must be ripe for a campaign to be highly successful. Your examination of these standards may reveal that conditions are not yet optimal for a campaign. Understanding these barriers can reveal a campaign readiness blueprint with areas of opportunity.
Concentrated efforts to bolster your internal fundraising infrastructure and capacity and to connect with key prospects will drive momentum toward a future campaign and enrich your current fundraising success. These efforts could include strengthening your culture of philanthropy, establishing a major gifts initiative, top prospect cultivation, concentrated donor stewardship, or further developing your annual giving or planned giving programs.
Strengthen your culture of philanthropy
A primary consideration for every independent school’s fundraising is defining a culture of philanthropy within your school. Philanthropy is the lifeblood of the independent school model, influencing every aspect of the student and family experience. From faculty to programs and experiences, philanthropy propels every independent school. Welcoming each family within your school’s community into a culture of giving will provide everyone the opportunity to contribute to a legacy that will endure for generations.
Introduce philanthropy early in a prospective family’s journey by partnering with the admissions team to incorporate specific talking points during their tour of the school. Discuss philanthropy’s impact on the school during conversations about parental involvement opportunities. Further, leverage new parent events to make connections with the development team and introduce the director of development early on. Upholding and celebrating the role of philanthropy at your independent school through communications, programs, and individual relationships will maintain the importance of fundraising in the minds of families representing current and future donors.
Establish a major gifts initiative
A major gifts initiative that supports distinct one-off capital or programmatic projects that align with the strategic vision of the school can be a step in securing transformational gifts for specific goals. These special projects can draw attention to a unique need and further develop a culture of philanthropy within the school to achieve aspirational goals and highlight the significant impact that philanthropy has on a school culture and experience. Addressing one or two projects through a major gift initiative can create momentum within the school community and identify philanthropic champions for a future campaign. It’s rare that a donor’s largest gift is their first or even second gift, making a major gift initiative the perfect opportunity to solicit gifts for transformational impact while also identifying and cultivating lead gift prospects for a future campaign.
Start by prioritizing engaged donors with identified capacity who would be interested in making a major gift to support a special initiative. Stewarding these donors to bring them closer to the school and showcasing the impact of their giving will begin the process of cultivation for a major gift to a future campaign and secure them as a philanthropic champion of the school. Once secured, marketing major gift successes to the rest of your donor base and family community will celebrate achievements and establish trust in the school’s ability to secure major gift support from parents, alumni, grandparents, and others. Use the tangible results of generosity to demonstrate the footprint philanthropy can have on shaping the school experience.
Cultivate and brief top prospects
Cultivation tours or briefing blitzes can offer meaningful chances to advance relationships with your school’s top donors and prospects. Through these types of opportunities, your head of school can engage in personal conversations with top prospects about the school’s strategic vision and priorities. Those touchpoints will help deepen prospects’ connection to the school and their relationship with key school leaders. Additionally, they will help your head of school learn more about top prospects’ philanthropic interests and motivations and explore areas of overlap – important pre-campaign cultivation activities.
Key data points about your top prospects’ philanthropic activity, such as philanthropic motivations, top philanthropic causes, and board involvement will be assets in understanding whether your donor base will be receptive to supporting a future campaign.
Target your donor stewardship
Deepen relationships to the school and position the school to communicate a vision for engagement and giving by engaging your unique donor communities, such as alumni, through special giving societies. Effectively recognizing donors for their level of affinity for the school can build on their existing values and experiences to cultivate their connection and cement an understanding of the impact of their giving. Giving societies build a sense of community which in turn drives donors’ giving and cements their philanthropic commitment.
Refocus annual giving efforts
Drive donor participation through unrestricted giving by focusing on your school’s annual giving program and educating families about the importance of philanthropy. Annual giving appeals are a direct way to lay out your school’s fundraising priorities and establish a clear and cohesive vision of how fundraising impacts outcomes each year. In addition to written and electronic appeals, utilize giving days, mini-campaigns, and otherannual giving efforts to foster school pride and a sense of community, and celebrate reaching collective goals. Finally, annual giving programs can be effective training for the development team, the development committee, school leadership, and the board in fundraising best practices, which will translate into future campaign success.
Consider bolstering gift planning
By establishing strong giving habits within your alumni base now, you set the stage for them to be planned giving prospects in the future. Each class’s graduation offers a window for engaging new alumni and launching their future engagement as lifelong donors. Establishing an immediate relationship with each new alumni class will significantly increase the likelihood of their philanthropic participation throughout their lifetime. Develop a post-graduation engagement plan to thoughtfully engage graduating classes and cement a lifelong affinity for giving back.
Each of these opportunities to tighten fundraising efforts can drive your independent school forward in near- and long-term development goals. Consider segmenting constituents by initiative to ensure the most direct strategy to connect with alumni, alumni families, parents, grandparents, or new graduates. Your donors and prospects should always come first in developing a plan to drive their engagement forward. Though your school may not be immediately prepared for a campaign, understanding and investing in opportunities for improvement will ensure short- and long-term successful outcomes.
Raising philanthropic funds for endowments is crucial for the financial stability of educational institutions in today’s challenging economic and demographic landscape. This white paper will offer step-by-step information on how to:
Craft a compelling case for support that emphasizes the institution’s mission, priorities, and the impact of donations
Establish strong donor relationships through regular updates, engagement opportunities, and recognition
Invest wisely in educational endowments to weather market fluctuations and ensure consistent returns
Collaborate with development professionals and experts
Partner with experienced investment professionals and financial advisors to navigate long-term investments
Download this resource today to inform the launch and health of your school’s endowment.
Ackowledgements: We thank our thought partners, Koda Capital, for their partnership on co-creating the original version of this whitepaper for the Australian market.
Tune in to learn about The Case for Endowment during this year’s Summer in Session, CCS’s annual fundraising webinar for independent school professionals. In this video, you will:
See the latest trends in independent school philanthropy
Understand why it’s important to have an endowment
Learn how to make the case for an endowment at your school
