The Philanthropy Works Podcast

David Lawrence has been a senior leader in the development field for decades. He has worked at and consulted for major institutions all over the country and in the process has interviewed and hired hundreds of major and principal gift officers. You can read David's bio here. In this week's interview, David talks about the top three attributes of the most effective major gift officers: 1. Sincerity In the first part of his breakdown of what makes a successful MGO, David says, "Sincerity. I would

In this call, we talk with Andrew Brown, Vice President of Advancement at Macalester College in St. Paul, MN. The qualifying (or discovery) visit is where a nonprofit representative - usually a gift officer - determines a potential major donor's capacity and inclination to give to their organization. Many gift officers say this is their least favorite task. Andrew walks us step-by-step through a qualifying visit including what it is, why it's important, what we're hoping to discover. Some

Renee Kurdzos is a 15-year veteran fundraiser and planned giving specialist with the American Red Cross of Western Washington. In this 18-minute call, we talk about ways that you can incorporate a planned giving conversation into a visit with any donor. In the call: Renee makes a point of noting that we should not make assumptions about our donors and their situations based simply on their past giving. (beginning of the interview) I ask Renee if you should try to have planned giving or

Gail Perry is a nationally recognized fundraising guru. She is a prolific blogger, consultant, coach, and keynote speaker. In this call, she takes us step by step through how to make a major gift visit. Here's a cheat sheet if you want to skip around: Getting in the door. Gail shared some words and phrases to help get the appointment. - 3:30 Getting past the gatekeeper. - 6:11 The advice visit. Gail's favorite way to get in the door. - 8:28 What NOT to say to get the visit. - 11:20 Gail talks

(scroll to the bottom of the page for the audioplayer) Cecilia Hogan has been leading the prospect research effort at the University of Puget Sound for 20 years. She published the first comprehensive book about prospect research in 2003. She teaches and presents to research groups around the country. You can read more about Cecilia here. She is also really candid and very funny - a great interview. I talked with Cecilia about prospect research and specifically how smaller organizations who don't

In today's Overheard, Peter talks with Jennifer about how a policy of transparency and honesty is transforming the relationship between the donor and organization. Early in our conversation, Peter talks about Splash, an NGO whose fundamental work is about providing clean water for children in Asia and Africa, specifically in urban poverty settings--kids living in orphanages and hospitals and places where they don't have clean water to drink. Splash is a water organization, but it's having

Sarah Hopper is an independent philanthropy advisor who has been working with high net worth individuals and families for over a decade. In this very first Overheard we cover the following topics: Profile of a typical client and how she works with them: (skip to 3:59) What trends/patterns she sees among philanthropic families: (skip to 7:49) Advice for nonprofits wanting to engage with high net worth families: (skip to 13:59)