144. Beyond Cash: Unlocking Asset-Based Major Gifts
How to Open Major Gift Conversations About Stock, DAFs, and Other Non-Cash Assets
The biggest gifts your donors will make in 2026 likely won't come from their checkbooks. They'll come from appreciated stock, a donor-advised fund, a piece of real estate, or shares in a business they've spent decades building. If you can learn to ask one different question, and then steward what comes next with care, you'll quietly outpace the cash-only fundraisers in your sector.
This is for major gift officers, development directors, and nonprofit leaders who want to grow major gift revenue without leaning harder on the same cash donors. By the end of this post, you'll know how to spot the donors most likely to give a non-cash asset, how to open the conversation warmly, and how to steward the gift so well your donor wants to do it again.
Why Asset-Based Gifts Matter in 2026
The conditions for complex giving have never been more favorable. Donor-advised fund balances are at historic highs, and a lot of your loyal donors are sitting on growing balances they're actively looking to deploy. The wealth transfer underway is enormous, and many of your most loyal donors are quietly thinking about legacy and the impact they can make during their lifetimes. Tax planning is more dynamic than ever, and donors are looking for ways to give that are smart for their families.
Meanwhile, cash giving in most shops I work with has plateaued. Inflation, donor fatigue, and shrinking average gifts have created a slow squeeze. Asking the same donors to give more cash, year after year, isn't a strategy.
Asset-based gifts open a much bigger room.
The four asset types every major gift officer should be conversant in are:
Appreciated securities. Publicly traded stock, mutual funds, and ETFs the donor has held long enough to grow in value. The donor avoids capital gains and receives a deduction at fair market value.
Donor-advised funds. Charitable accounts that already hold money set aside for giving. Donors recommend grants to your organization, and your job is to make it easy to say yes.
Closely held business interests. Shares in a private company or LLC, often gifted just before a sale or exit.
Real estate. Homes, vacation properties, land, or commercial property, transferred to your organization and sold for mission use.
You don't have to be a tax expert. You have to be confident enough to bring it up and bring in the right help.
How to Identify Candidates in Your Portfolio
Train your eyes on these signals. A donor owns a business, especially one approaching transition or sale. A donor has given consistently for seven or more years but cash giving has plateaued. A donor is over 65 and has mentioned anything about retirement or estate planning. A donor has named a financial advisor or referenced a DAF, even in passing. A donor recently sold a property, exited a company, or came into a windfall. A donor talks about their children or grandchildren and what they want to pass on.
When two or three signals stack on one name, that's your candidate.
How to Open the Conversation Without Sounding Transactional
The mistake I see most often is fundraisers either avoiding the topic entirely or jumping in too technically. Here are two openers that have worked for my clients.
The first sounds like this. "Some of our most thoughtful donors are giving from places other than their checkbook these days. Things like appreciated stock, donor-advised funds, or assets they've built over a lifetime. If that's ever something you'd want to explore, I'd love to walk you through a few options. No pressure, just an invitation."
The second sounds like this. "I want to be a good partner to you and your family on this. If it's ever useful, I'm happy to coordinate with your advisor on the simplest way to make a gift that works for everyone."
Lead with mission and impact. Let the tax piece be the icing.
How to Steward a Complex Gift So It Compounds
Speed matters. The day a complex gift arrives, your donor hears from you personally. Precision matters. Your acknowledgment letter includes share count, transfer date, fair market value, and the required IRS language. Advisors matter. Send a courtesy copy of the receipt to the donor's wealth manager or attorney when permitted. Impact matters. Within 90 days, share a specific story about what the gift made possible.
And invite them in. A site visit, a briefing, a small group with leadership. A donor who gave once at this level is signaling readiness to be more involved. Read the signal.
Try This Next Week
Identify 3 donors in your portfolio who fit two or more of the candidate signals.
Practice one conversation opener out loud until it feels natural.
Walk down the hall to your finance lead and ask three questions: Do we have a brokerage account set up? Do we have a written gift acceptance policy? Who owns the workflow from receipt to acknowledgment to impact report?
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. Who is this approach best suited for?
This approach is designed for major gift officers, development directors, and nonprofit CEOs who want to grow major gift revenue without burning out their cash donors. It works especially well if you already have a defined major gift portfolio, a brokerage account set up to receive stock, and a finance partner you can collaborate with.
Q2. How much time should I expect this to take each week?
Most fundraisers can get started with about 2 to 4 hours per week focused on identifying candidates, having one or two donor conversations, and tightening internal processes. The key is consistency. Protect that time so it doesn't get swallowed by event logistics or board prep.
Q3. What if my organization is small and I wear multiple hats?
The principles still apply. Scale the tactics. Start with 5 to 10 candidate donors instead of 40, have one complex gift conversation per month, and lean on a pro-bono CPA or planned giving consultant for technical support. Expand as you see results.
Q4. How do I know if it's working?
Look for early signals like donors mentioning their advisor, a DAF, or appreciated stock without prompting. Watch for more meetings on your calendar that include a spouse or financial professional. Over time, expect larger average gifts, more multi-year commitments, and a meaningful share of revenue coming from non-cash sources.
Q5. Where does AI fit into this, if at all?
AI is there to reduce friction, not replace your relationships. Use it to draft thank-you letters to advisors, summarize gift acceptance policies into plain language, prepare donor briefs that pull together giving history and public business activity, and write follow-up emails that confirm gift details quickly. Keep the human work of listening and relationship-building in your hands.
I'd love to hear from you
Connect with me on LinkedIn and tell me which donor came to mind first while you were reading this.
You're early on this, not late. The fundraisers who get comfortable with complex gifts this year will quietly outpace everyone else over the next three. Start with one donor, one conversation, this week.
“The skill of complex gifts isn't about being a tax expert. It's about being willing to ask one different question, and then knowing how to receive what your donor wants to give.”
Tammy Zonker, Major Gift Expert, Keynote Speaker, Author
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