Building Relationships With Major Donors

You can delegate a task. You can’t delegate a relationship. At a recent meeting, we were discussing how to strengthen our relationships with doctors, whose post-op patients could benefit from our rehab services at The Wisdom Club. It reminded me of 2004, when we were setting up our Kandivali centre. My friend and senior, Dr. Ajay Hariani, MS/MCH in Plastic Surgery, already established in Kandivali, took time out to make introductions for me. While we both were post-graduates, it didn’t stop us from sitting in waiting rooms of doctors to make the proper introductions and apprise them of what Suburban stood for. Each evening at 7pm, after finishing work at the Andheri lab, I would take a 16km drive to Kandivali. From 8 to 10pm, I’d visit clinics, meet doctors, and introduce what we were building. This wasn’t for a week or two. I did it for over six months. There was no playbook. Just consistency. There was no team to delegate to. Just commitment. That experience taught me something I still believe today: Relationships aren’t tasks, they’re investments. And they only compound when made directly. Because if someone’s going to trust you with their patient’s care, they need to trust you first, then your team and then your brand. And trust like that doesn’t come from a pitch. It comes from presence. It may be tempting to leave to others or use tools and systems for outreach; but I believe trust builds better when we show up, listen, and be there personally, even if it’s an effort. If someone trusts you with their patient, it’s never just about the service. It’s about who you are, and whether you will show up when it matters. Here’s what I’ve learned: ↳ If the relationship isn’t personal, it’s temporary. ↳ If the trust is built through someone else, it belongs to them, not to you. ↳ When they move on, the relationship moves with them. In any business, the most enduring relationships are the ones you build yourself. PS: If you're serious about building something long-term, roll up your sleeves to get to it. #buildingabusiness #entrepreneurship #sales #businessrelationships

When I speak with people, especially in the Family Office world, the first thought on my mind is how I can help them. Sometimes that means introducing one Family Office to another, connecting people who share values, or sharing knowledge without expecting anything in return. These contributions compound over time and return in powerful ways. In this community, relationships come before transactions. The first questions are about trust, integrity, and whether values align. Once that foundation is in place, everything else follows. Offering value without expectation changes the dynamic. A thoughtful introduction, a timely perspective, or even the willingness to listen builds trust faster than a pitch ever could. Over time, these gestures create reputations that open doors and deepen partnerships. The principle is simple. The more you give, the more you get. Generosity builds momentum, signals authenticity, and encourages others to share opportunities and build together. This matters even more as the next generation steps forward. They care deeply about values, impact, and the character of the people they work with. Aligning with that mindset requires consistency, honesty, and the willingness to give first. By focusing on what you can contribute, you strengthen relationships and create opportunities that last. In the Family Office world, giving builds trust, and trust remains the currency that matters most.

There’s a long-standing belief that Gen Z cares loudly but gives sparingly. Our new report dispels that myth. GoFundMe partnered with GivingTuesday on new research that shows Gen Z is participating in generosity more often and in more ways than other adults. About 71% reported some form of giving in the past week; more than any other group of adults. What stands out is how connected their giving is. Helping a person, supporting a community effort, and giving to a nonprofit are not separate decisions. They build on one another. In fact, 91% of Gen Z users of community fundraising platforms like GoFundMe also give to registered nonprofits—16 percentage points higher than their peers who don't use these platforms. Sharing plays a big role in that. It’s what helps one act of generosity grow beyond a single moment and connect across people and causes. These findings reinforce that Gen Z is not a future donor segment. They are already reshaping giving today: socially, publicly, and online. That creates a clear call to action for nonprofits: build for the ways Gen Z already engages by making it easier to share causes, rally communities, fundraise, and give in digital spaces. The nonprofits that embrace these behaviors now will be the ones that turn Gen Z participation into long-term support and growth. You can read more in the report below. https://lnkd.in/guEEuWwj

Donors don’t remember what you asked for. They remember how you made them feel. No donor remembers your budget line. They remember the moment they felt seen. Last year, I worked with a mid-sized charity struggling with donor retention. Their appeals were beautiful — but donors weren’t coming back. When we looked closer, it wasn’t the messaging that was broken. It was the feeling. Or more accurately, the lack of feeling. Every email spoke at their donors. None spoke to them. So we rewrote their follow-ups. We started with: “You made this possible.” We ended with: “How did this story make you feel?” Within six months, repeat giving rose by 38%. Fundraising isn’t persuasion!!! It’s connection!!! Donors don’t remember the amount you asked for — they remember the moment you helped them feel part of something bigger than themselves. Before you send your next appeal, pause and ask: → “Where’s the feeling in this message?” → “Would I be moved to respond?” If the answer is no, start again. This is the philosophy that drives all my work: Fundraising is meaning, not money. AI, data, and strategy matter — but they should amplify empathy, not replace it. If you’re rethinking your donor strategy for 2026, start with how you make people feel. That’s where loyalty — and legacy — begin

A Fundraising Process That Builds Donor Trust The “ambush ask” – luring donors to meetings under false or veiled pretenses, then asking for “a gift” -- has done significant damage to donor trust and to the credibility of fundraising. The underhandedness of some has made it more difficult for sound practitioners to secure appointments with donors. They have to overcome suspicion and mistrust engendered by shady practices if they are even afforded the opportunity to establish themselves as honorable fundraisers. As with so many fundraising practices, one is left wondering why anyone would attempt something so short-sighted, especially when the inverse of the ambush ask – the completely transparent fundraising process – produces better results, builds trust, and leaves donors receptive to future meetings and requests. Two critical elements of a transparent process are asking permission and previewing material. When material is shared before each request to meet with a donor, a donor is more apt to respond favorably to the request, to feel adequately informed to discuss the topic at hand, to feel fairly treated and to develop a higher opinion of the fundraiser and the organization he or she represents. The principles of preview and permission, which work hand in hand, can be applied to every type and level of fundraising. For instance: 🔸 Ask permission of current annual donors to send them a preview of the next year’s annual giving objectives to see if they resonate and, if so, which ones, which allows them to be heard, to think about which options are most appealing and predisposes them to respond favorably to the appeal 🔸 Ask permission of midlevel donors to send them a preview of brief impact projections to see which they find most relevant and inspiring and, when they share which ones do, follow up with an expanded description of the project, and ask permission to seek their reaction either in person or on a virtual platform 🔸 Ask permission of a major gift prospect to send a draft concept paper; if they say yes, send them a hard copy or an electronic version asking them to suggest ways that the content, logic and wording could be improved; if they do, ask permission to provide them with a list of ways they could more about the initiative 🔸 Ask permission of significant estate donors to send them a copy of Charles Collier’s “Wealth in Families” (thank you Philip Cubeta for this suggestion) so you might discuss with the questions Collier poses in that book; if they do, ask permission to meet with them to explore which questions they found most meaningful and how you could help answer them Sneaking up on donors is dumb and destructive. Being explicit about what we are asking of them, and previewing material in advance leads to better results and promotes long-term partnership building.

I once worked on an 8-figure gift where the board chair had one job: show up to one meeting and answer one question, "Why do YOU care about this mission?" He wasn’t there to recite program details or run the strategy. He wasn’t even there to make the ask. A team of expert staff did the research and together we set the strategy. Over 18 months, we met with the donor, hosted site visits, reviewed finances, and got to know the donor's whole family. We determined the right ask amount and the right moment. We brought the board chair to the solicitation meeting with one clear role: tell your story. He shared the moment he realized this work mattered and why he chose to join the board. I remember being a little nervous. Would that be enough? Would the donor want more technical details from him? But a board member brings something different to the table, a kind of peer influence that builds on the staff’s work. Board members are not on the payroll. They choose to give their own time and money, and that carries weight when they tell another donor, "Here's why I give. Here’s why I believe in this team.” Staff presented the funding opportunity and made the 8-figure ask. The donor said yes. It worked because of months of preparation, a donor who was ready, and staff and board who trusted each other to do their part. The board chair didn't need to know how to structure a gift of this size or understand cultivation timelines. He didn't even need to be comfortable asking for money. Staff can't manufacture peer credibility or replicate the power of one donor telling another donor, "I believe in this enough to give my time and money. Here's why." That opens doors, builds trust, and helps turn a good conversation into a yes. I've thought about this a lot since then. Board members often ask how they can help with fundraising, and I keep coming back to this: Join a solicitation meeting and share why you care, peer to peer. It's one of the most meaningful things you can do as a #nonprofit board member. Share why this work matters to you. You don't need to have all the answers. You just need to start the conversation. #NonprofitLeadership #MajorGifts #BoardDevelopment #Philanthropy #FundraisingStrategy

Stop chasing Boomer dollars. Your fundraising strategy is stuck in 1997 and younger donors can tell. Here's where this gets messy. Nonprofits still host $250/plate galas. Send generic emails to everyone. Ask for $10K from people still paying off student loans. Then complain millennials don't give. They do. Just not like that. When I worked with K9s.Org, we tried something different. We created a Young Professionals Council. Not a token junior board... an actual advisory group with real influence over programs and strategy. These people didn't have wealth yet. But they had networks we couldn't access. Fresh perspectives that challenged our assumptions. Time and energy to put in. Social media reach that blew ours away. We gave them ownership. They gave us growth. What works with donors under 40: Peer-to-peer fundraising works because social proof beats your brand every time. Make it simple for them to fundraise through their own networks. Show them exactly where the money goes. Dashboards, real-time updates, photos from the field. Vague impact statements don't cut it anymore. Monthly giving over big one-time asks. $50/month is manageable. That's $600/year of recurring revenue you can count on. Let them volunteer, advise, and co-create before you ask for money. They want to be part of the work, not just watching from the sidelines. If your donation page requires mailing a check or takes forever to load... you've lost them already. The biggest mistake I see? Treating young donors like they're just "future major donors" instead of partners right now. You're not building a relationship, you're waiting for them to turn into someone else. That doesn't work. When they do have money to give... they'll remember the organizations that valued what they brought to the table today. Not the ones who put them on hold for a decade. You don't get to wait for them to age into your system. Build something they want to be part of now. What's your experience engaging younger donors? Drop a comment. #YoungDonors #NonprofitFundraising #MillennialPhilanthropy #PeerToPeerFundraising #DonorEngagement

Here's what surprised me about digging into Grammy winners' philanthropy: the youngest artists don't treat giving as something separate from their work. It's just part of who they are from the start. After posting about Bad Bunny and Kendrick, I kept researching how younger artists approach giving. They're not waiting to "make it big" before they start. They're building it into their careers from day one. Billie Eilish won Song of the Year for "Wildflower." By 23, she'd channeled $11.5M through her tour giving program via REVERB. She didn't build a foundation or hire staff. She partnered with an existing nonprofit that handles everything. Her job? Show up and advocate. The infrastructure takes care of the rest. Olivia Dean won Best New Artist. She's using PLUS1, which adds $1 per ticket and distributes it to causes. It's automatic. As her career grows, so does the impact. No added complexity. Why this approach? Younger artists came of age during climate crisis and social movements. For them, giving isn't what you do after success. It's part of how you define success. This is embedded giving: building philanthropy into how you already operate, not adding it on top. What makes it work: They treat giving like any other business function. Integrate it. Automate it. Let it scale. They use infrastructure that already exists instead of building their own. It grows automatically with their success. Younger donors want the same thing. Embedded options. Monthly recurring gifts. Payroll deduction. Not "will you give?" but "can I automate this?" Sound familiar? I know what you might be thinking: "We don't have the capacity/budget/authority to change our systems." I get it. Not every org can overhaul their tech stack right now. But here's what I do know: most platforms already have monthly giving built in. The barrier often isn't the technology. It's whether donors can find it easily, and whether your team can guide them to it when they ask. Worth checking when you have a moment: - Is your monthly option visible on your donation page, or buried three clicks deep? - When donors ask about recurring giving, can your team find the link quickly? - Do you have a standard response for "can I make this automatic?" First-time retention for younger donors sits around 15-20%. Meeting them where they are gives you a better shot at keeping them. This is where fundraising ops becomes retention strategy. Using what you already have more effectively. Setting it up to match how donors actually want to give. Not through overhauls. Through better configuration and clearer processes. Young donors aren't asking for special treatment. They just want systems that match how they want to show up. I'm curious: what's working for you with younger donors? What have you tried?

If I had to rebuild nonprofit impact reporting from scratch today, I wouldn’t start with glossy annual reports. I’d start with: Timing. Because most nonprofits don’t lose donors due to lack of results. They lose them due to lack of memory. Here’s exactly how I’d rebuild donor reporting so it sticks: 1. Respect the 72-hour rule Cognitive science shows memory fades after 3 days. If you wait 3 months to share impact, donors forget the emotional spark that led them to give. Don’t let the moment slip. • Send an update within 72 hours. • Even if it’s raw or imperfect. • Tie it directly to the donor’s gift. Momentum beats polish. 2. Micro-updates, not mega-reports Stop saying: “Wait for our end-of-year report.” Start saying: “Here’s what your gift did this week.” Short videos, quick photos, a 3-line story. Your donors want to feel progress, not sift through 20 pages. 3. Make impact a habit, not an event The best donor journeys are built like fitness routines. Consistent, bite-sized reps, not sporadic marathons. Do this instead: • Weekly “impact snapshots” • Monthly behind-the-scenes notes • Quarterly deep dives (not the other way around) Build rhythm. Build trust. 4. Anchor updates to emotion, not just outcomes Data fades fast. Emotion lingers. • Instead of “We planted 5,000 trees”… Say: “Meet Lucia. She’s breathing cleaner air today because of you.” Stories keep the trigger alive. 5. Create recall moments If you want donors to give again, bring them back to their first spark. • Replay the video that moved them. • Send the photo that made them act. • Use the same language that triggered their gift. Remind them why they cared in the first place. Delayed reporting doesn’t just cost attention. It costs retention. In 2025, donor communication should feel less like PR. And more like a memory anchor. Not an annual report. A living reminder. Comment “retention” and I’ll send you our playbook on how to do all of this using LinkedIn. With purpose and impact, Mario

How I get new individual donors (my entire strategy) People think to get new major donors, you need:  - huge brand - big marketing department - gala with celebrity co-chairs and host committee - paid ads - lots of media Here’s my 4-part method (that includes none of that 👆) that’s helped me and my clients raise $66M and counting from individual donors. (Nothing wrong with any of that stuff, it’s just all very difficult to manage, expensive and time-consuming - and good for you if it works for you!) Part 1/4: Referrals ➡️ Ask current donors ➡️ Ask board members ➡️ Ask email subscribers to share the email with a friend I tack a referral ask onto every conversation that I think “goes well” If the donor is all in, then they are likely to intro us to someone else. Easy. Btw, this usually creates more work for me with all the new intros, so I don’t have as much pressure for parts 2-4 to work right away. Part 2/4: Zero-Cost Intimate Gatherings (hosted by donor, board member) What the nonprofit does: (Me)  - Guide the host on the right “who” to invite  - Advise the host on how to share from their heart What the donor or board member does: (Them)  - Plans, executes, and pays for the whole thing  - Invites their network to their home It’s personal. It’s intimate. More people /= better.  We’re going for the RIGHT FIT people. I do this 4x a year. Bada-Bing Bada-Boom.  New major donor pipeline. Part 3/4: LinkedIn: Organic Posts & Outbound Outreach I write about the nonprofit like it’s my job. - My first-hand experience blog-post style on a “vision trip” - Most compelling impact stats and “story of 1” with photos  - Big picture thought leadership stuff I do this 2-3x a week. I connect with people who: 1. Look like the ideal donor profile 2. Mutual connections with my current donors and board members Ideal donor profile: (for example)  - CEO or C-suite of mid-size company  - Generous (volunteer history)  - Cares about [issue or cause] If I need more donors, I’d send 50-100 connects a day. Part 4/4: Convert Raving Fans I look at all the people involved  Who haven’t donated in the last 6-12 months ✅ Event attendees  ✅ Volunteers  ✅ Email subscribers who clicked  ✅ Social media commenters and followers I reach out, gauge interest, and ask them to donate. I do this 1x a week. That’s it. This 4-part method is what I teach my clients with templates and coaching along the way. My client shared with me last week she did this method, and here’s the update: - Donor-hosted event 1 month away with a $250,000 goal, they’ve already raised $150,000 for - the host is giving $50k with new people attending  - Got 20 meetings with new people connected to current supporters and interested in getting more involved (she did 100 outreach connects total) All this in just 6 months. This is an organization with a $1M budget in Indiana, and the ED is the sole fundraiser. If you’d like help with this, let me know.