Gail Perry-Mega Donors Making Mega Gifts

By Gail Perry

Mega gifts are clearly back! Our most wealthy and generous donors are making major investments to their favorite nonprofit causes.

The top 10 biggest charitable gifts in 2014 came to a combined total of an amazing $3.3 billion. Imagine that much money coming from just ten people!

The Chronicle of Philanthropy says that most mega-gifts happen close to home
So keep your eyes open locally! Be creative with your local networking. You may have more ways to access your friendly local billionaire (or multimillionaire) than you think.

Major donors are highly engaged with their favorite nonprofits
How about this: 89 percent of high net worth individuals volunteered their time and talent to nonprofits. I'll never forget about the time a mega-wealthy donor said to me, "We give our money where we give our time." I never, ever forgot that! Clearly, the wealthy only make big gifts to the causes that are near and dear to their hearts.

What are you going to do to get your mega donors more involved? How about a committee or your board? How about a focus group? It's one thing to take them on-site in the middle of your action — that's terrific and a must-do! But the next step is to get them involved in decision-making or policy roles. That's when the bigger money may start to flow in.

The growing role of financial advisors
Donor-advised funds are growing at a staggering rate. Contributions to donor-advised funds increased almost 20 percent in 2013, according to the National Philanthropic Trust.

All this money is under the management of financial wealth advisors. They often have an opportunity to assist with charitable-giving decisions and can discreetly help your cause.

So do what you can to befriend the financial planners, estate attorneys, CPAs and wealth advisors in your community. Why not put a financial advisor on your board or on a special fundraising committee?

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Gail Perry Author's page Gail believes in parties first, rabble-rousing second, and having fun while changing the world. Gail Perry CFRE is an international fundraising coach, speaker, trainer and thought-leader. She is a leader in a new breed of fundraisers who are on the cutting edge of fundraising today. Her Fired-Up Fundraising approach, developed over the past 25 years as a nonprofit philanthropy expert, has helped organizations raise hundreds of millions in gifts. Gail's practical and refreshing approach to raising money in today's world is based on the very latest innovative fundraising strategies. An inspirational and popular speaker, she leads energizing fundraising workshops and board retreats around the globe. She particularly enjoys working with nonprofit board members, introducing them to a new perspective on fundraising and ways they can be successful at it. Gail's book, Fired-Up Fundraising, has been called the "gold standard guide to building successful fundraising boards." Gail got her start in fundraising at Duke University, and then went on to lead fundraising at the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can read Gail's weekly blogs at FiredUpFundraising.com, and also find her provocative articles at FundraisingSuccess, Guidestar, and Capital Campaign Magic.