Fundraising Update

Welcome to Fundraising Update. This week, we dig into how to win more DAF gifts. We also share tips for small charities on running capital campaigns.

Plus, don’t miss the newest installment of our Nonprofits Now podcast. In this week’s episode, two veteran leaders — Alexandra Bernadotte and Elsa Morales-Roth — spoke to our CEO Stacy Palmer about how nonprofit leaders can successfully manage intergenerational teams.

I’m M.J. Prest, senior editor for advice at the Chronicle of Philanthropy. If you have ideas, comments, or questions about this newsletter, please write to me.

Thanks to our sponsor DonorPerfect for supporting Fundraising Update.

Donor-advised funds now hold $250 billion in total assets, but not all fundraisers are aware of the best ways to attract gifts from them, writes my colleague Rasheeda Childress.

“Reinventing the Cycle: Adapting Relationship Fundraising for Donors Who Use DAFs,” a new report from the DAF Research Collaborative, interviewed 46 fundraisers to reveal how they interact with DAF donors, what the pain points are, and what’s working best to capture their attention.

The survey gathered insights from charities of all sizes. “We talked to people in teeny tiny organizations, founders who had a staff of maybe one, and then we also talked to the people in very large fundraising operations, at hospitals and universities,” says Genevieve Shaker, one of the report’s authors and a professor of philanthropic studies at Indiana University’s Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.

Shaker co-authored the report with Dan Heist, an assistant professor of nonprofit management at Brigham Young University, and Rachel M. Sumsion, a graduate research associate at BYU.

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Rasheeda interviewed Shaker and Heist, who offered strategies that can help fundraisers generate more money from DAFs.

• Become a detective. One common challenge for nonprofits is determining the donors behind the DAF. Donor information isn’t required to be public, so it is often incomplete and doesn’t consistently include a name or contact information. This means fundraisers often must tap into their inner Nancy Drew to investigate where the donations came from, Heist and Shaker say. Ask your supporters if they have a DAF, and if donors say they will be making a gift, inquire if it will be coming through a DAF.
  

• Learn about their intentions. Fundraisers who are winning the most DAF donations are having deeper conversations with their donors. Donors are often open to talking about the DAF and their charitable goals, Heist says, and savvy fundraisers get great results simply by having open-ended conversations with their donors. “They’ll say things like, ‘Well, we sold a business,’ and the fundraiser is like, ‘I didn’t know you sold your business,’” Heist says. “You start talking about the DAF, and all of a sudden you’re talking about their wealth and their assets and their philanthropic intention.”
  

For more insights on how to talk to DAF donors, read the rest of Rasheeda’s article.

$3.3 million to $9.5 million
— Average amount groups with annual budgets under $1 million raised in capital campaigns, according to a 2024 study by Capital Campaign Pro.

Small nonprofits may think capital campaigns are only for bigger organizations, but with a solid strategy and an achievable goal, charities of all sizes can find success with multiyear drives, writes my colleague Lisa Schohl.

Rather than aiming for a new building or an endowment, smaller groups might want to double their baseline annual fundraising, for example, or expand their programs and impact.

The first step: Lay the groundwork to assess your readiness. Matthew Naylor, CEO of the National World War I Museum and Memorial, suggests conducting a “readiness study” to determine whether your group has the systems and capacity to manage a multiyear campaign. That includes the staff to do the work, a culture of fundraising at the organization, and a donor database that enables you to track and steward supporters properly.

For more tips on running a successful capital campaign, read the rest of Lisa’s article.

• Nonprofit Leaders Face Tough Choices on Staffing, Fundraising as Federal Cutbacks Continue

  A new report from the Center for Effective Philanthropy found that financial instability is among the many hardships nonprofit leaders say they face in the current political landscape. My colleague Stephanie Beasley reports that the majority of 585 nonprofit leaders surveyed said they were confronting unprecedented challenges that included the politicization of their work, especially programs that serve historically marginalized communities.

  “It is tough to do business as usual when our world and core values are being challenged at every turn,” one nonprofit leader told CEP, which kept respondents anonymous.

  Read Stephanie’s article for more takeaways from the report.

Bill Conway Jr. gave $1 million through his Bedford Falls Foundation DAF to Morgan State University’s School of Community Health and Policy to back scholarships for nursing students, academic coaching and career mentoring, and professional-development programs for nursing faculty in its Department of Nursing.

Conway co-founded the Carlyle Group, a private-equity firm headquartered in Washington. He has given more than $325 million to nursing programs at colleges and universities in the eastern and mid-Atlantic regions. Conway told the Chronicle in 2024 that he plans to reach $1 billion in giving to nursing over the coming years.

For other notable gifts this week, read more in my colleague Maria Di Mento’s Gifts Roundup column. To learn about other big donations, see our database of gifts of $1 million or more, which is updated regularly and has data going back to 2000.

6 Steps to Turbocharge Your Board Recruitment. Passion for the cause and diversity of experience are as valuable as fundraising chops or the capacity to give big, experts say.

5 Ways to Take Monthly Giving to the Next Level. Read on for insights that can help you maximize monthly giving and ensure steady revenue for your nonprofit, despite the shaky economy.

Harvard ramps up fundraising as research cuts deepen. In response to escalating attacks from President Trump and billions in frozen federal funding for its research departments, Harvard University is calling on alumni to speak out and give to their alma mater, reports Harvard Magazine.

In an email appeal, Harvard president Alan Garber asked alums to donate to a new Presidential Priorities Fund that will offer “flexible support” for Harvard’s research and teaching amid the Trump administration’s broad funding cuts, which currently exceed $2.7 billion. Garber also asked Harvard supporters to “stay informed” about the research at stake and to defend the university to “friends, acquaintances, and colleagues.”

The Trump administration has accused the Ivy League institution of racial discrimination and antisemitism, attempted to cancel visas for its international students, and initiated efforts to revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status. (Harvard Magazine)