Blog
Sharing insights, strategies and inspiration you can use right now.
This is where I share strategies, action steps, and ideas for scaling major gifts, and answers to questions that matter most right now.
165. Staying Whole While Raising Big Gifts
After reading, you'll be able to name the hidden pressures draining your energy, use three mindset tools to stay courageous, and start one resilience practice this week.
Managing Your Own Energy, Mindset, and Resilience
How Do Major Gift Fundraisers Stay Resilient Without Burning Out? In this edition of Scaling Major Gifts, I'm sharing: the three kinds of weight fundraisers are carrying in 2026, three mindset tools for staying courageous and grounded, simple energy rituals for before and after big donor meetings, and the Whole Fundraiser Plan, a one-page personal resilience template.
Human-Centered Fundraising for Greater Impact: Shared Power Models
This is for major gift officers, development directors, and executive directors who want deeper donor trust and stronger community legitimacy at the same time. After reading, you'll be able to:
Explain what "fundraising with, not for" looks like in a major gifts program
Choose a shared-power model that fits your size and culture
Invite donors into shared decision-making without saviorism or tokenism
Pilot one simple shared-power experiment this quarter
164. Human-Centered Major Gifts
This is for major gift officers, development directors, executive directors, and board members at small to mid-sized nonprofits. After reading, you'll understand why the human-centered model is rising, which shared-power practices work in major gifts, and how to frame this work with donors, communities, and your board.
International and Cross-Border Major Gifts
After reading, you'll be able to: Spot the cross-border elements already sitting in your portfolio, ask five early questions that prevent most surprises, and use a simple checklist to vet and manage an international major gift with your finance and legal partners.
163. Thinking Global: Cross-Border Major Gifts
This is for major gift officers, development directors, and executive directors at small- to mid-sized nonprofits. After reading, you'll know why global giving is growing, which questions and pitfalls matter most, and how to build a simple support team and protocol for international gifts.
Repairing Stalled or Strained Donor Relationships
This edition is for major gift officers and development directors who have a few donors they've been quietly avoiding and want a clear, kind way back in.
162. Bringing Relationships Back from the Brink
On this week's Intentional Fundraiser Podcast, "Bringing Relationships Back from the Brink," I talk about the reality of stalled relationships and how to find your way back in.
Year-End Readiness: Setting Up a Strong Q4 for Major Gifts
In this week's edition of Scaling Major Gifts, I share a backwards-planned Q4 roadmap for visits, proposals, approvals, and stewardship. Plus a simple dashboard you can build in an hour.
161. Stacking the Deck for Year-End Major Gifts
This is for major gift officers, development directors, and executive directors at small to mid-sized nonprofits. After reading, you'll understand what changed for year-end giving this year, have a five-checkpoint calendar you can use right away, and know how to keep your team focused with a one-page dashboard.
Measuring Impact in Ways That Matter to Major Donors
This edition of Scaling Major Gifts is for major gift officers, development directors, and executive directors who want impact reporting to deepen donor commitment, not just check a box.
160. Impact Reporting That Deepens Commitment
This episode is for major gift officers, development directors, and executive directors at small and mid-sized nonprofits. You'll walk away knowing what donors want from impact reporting, how to agree on metrics together, and which formats and tools make it manageable for a busy team.
Integrating Planned Giving and Major Gifts Conversations
This is for major gift officers, development directors, and executive directors who want to talk about legacy giving naturally, without handing donors off or waiting for "the right time."
159. Today’s Gifts, Tomorrow’s Legacy
This is for major gift officers, development directors, executive directors, and board members at small and mid-sized nonprofits. You'll walk away knowing which donors to talk with about legacy, what to say, and who to bring to the table.
Managing Donor Anxiety About the Future
This is for major gift officers, development directors, and nonprofit CEOs who are hearing more hesitation from good donors right now.
158. Calming the Waters: Supporting Anxious Donors
This is for major gift officers, development directors, and nonprofit CEOs who are watching good donors slow down. After reading, you will be able to spot the behavioral signals of donor anxiety, use four conversational moves that lower the emotional temperature, and offer five gift structures that make a large commitment feel safer.
Coaching and Developing the Next Generation of Major Gift Fundraisers
This is for development directors, major gift officers, and executive directors who want to build major gift talent instead of constantly rehiring it.
157. Growing the Next Wave of Major Gift Talent
This is for development directors, chief development officers, and senior major gift officers who want to grow the people on their team instead of replacing them every eighteen months. By the end, you'll be able to name what the fundraisers coming up now need, coach inside work you're already doing, and build a development plan in about thirty minutes.
Major Gifts and Digital Giving Experiences
This is for major gift officers, development directors, and executive directors who want their digital presence to support high-touch relationships instead of quietly undermining them.
156. When Clicks Meet Conversations: Digital and Major Gifts
This is for major gift officers, development directors, and executive directors who want their digital presence working with their relationship building instead of against it.