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We're fond of saying at Zimmerman Lehman trainings that if President George Bush has one political purpose, it is to make life as comfortable as possible for the top one-half-of-one percent of the folks in the U.S. of A. What does this mean for philanthropy? Simply this: The folks at the top of the heap are doing better than ever, and nonprofits should train at least some of their fundraising firepower on the crème de la crème.

"Well, you might say, my struggling little nonprofit is hardly Brown or Stanford. True, but have you taken the time to examine the list of your donors and newsletter subscribers to assess their major gift potential?"

Witness: Brown University announced in the middle of September that it had received its largest donation ever--$100 million-from a businessman who had attended Brown for only one year. As a student, he had been too poor to stay at Brown more than one year. His gift is to be used for financial aid to guarantee the ability of current and future students to stay on at Brown. What is interesting here is that this gentleman felt enough love and respect for Brown that he was ready to make such a breathtaking gift, even though he was not able to matriculate there.

I do not know whether Brown had kept after this businessman on a regular basis, even though he had only spent a year at the university (my guess is that they did). What this anecdote points up is that major gift potential exists in the most unlikely places, and it is the rare nonprofit that is taking advantage of all or even most of this potential.

Even in uncertain economic times, nonprofits continue to receive mega-gifts from the folks at the top of the economic pyramid. In the world of higher education, news of the Brown donation followed hard on the heels of reports that Michigan, Tufts and Stanford had received gifts of $100 million, $50 million and $43.5 million respectively.

Well, you might say, my struggling little nonprofit is hardly Brown or Stanford. True, but have you taken the time to examine the list of your donors and newsletter subscribers to assess their major gift potential? Is visiting major donor prospects face-to-face one of your annual fund tasks? To be blunt, are the folks who might give you $25,000 being asked instead for $25 via direct mail?

Zimmerman Lehman is currently working with a community-based nonprofit and board that provides after-school services to youth in a large western city. Prior to initiating a major donor campaign, this organization had subsisted largely on foundation and government grants, with a sprinkling of small individual donations. What we discovered in working with this nonprofit was that major donor potential did indeed exist. We focused on two target groups: folks who had already made small gifts to the organization who had the capacity to give considerably more; and friends, relatives and colleagues of board members, staff members and volunteers.

Through training solicitors and matching prospects and solicitors, we helped this small nonprofit to begin to realize its major gift potential. The organization is nearing its major gift dollar goal, and we are confident will exceed it.

The great tragedy in the world of nonprofit fundraising is not that too little money is available; it is that nonprofits are not taking advantage of the potential that lies at their doorstep. At Zimmerman Lehman, we believe that all nonprofits have the ability to unearth major gift prospects and to solicit those folks in an appealing and appropriate manner. Isn't it time your organization took advantage of the potential that has lain dormant for too long?

Copyright 2007 Zimmerman Lehman.

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