Major Gifts 

Led by Serena Bruzgo, President, Craig Hospital Foundation

Fundamentals ~ Joy of This Work
Know Thyself: Use your strengths and those of your team members.
Love your Donor: Be authentic in sharing your joy and appreciation. Honor your relationship.
Donor Ready Initiatives: Participants received thoughtful questions to ask themselves when considering readiness that can be tailored to each relationship. (i.e. Will this make good business sense to the donor? Will be donor be surprised by the amount, project, or timing?)
Give the Gift of your Time: Map out your time on your calendar and protect the time needed for planning, reporting, research, stewardship, and in-person meetings or events.
Invite with Dignity: Be sure that you and the donor are prepared for the invitation. Throughout your time together, you can identify lots of "little yeses" you've received along the way and leading you towards the invitation.
 
Practical Tips for Portfolio Management
A question we here often in this work and in ILD is, what size should a gift officer's portfolio be? Drawing upon her vast experience, Serena developed a process for determining portfolio size. She considers the weekly, monthly, and annual time she will need to spend with each donor and time required for other internal/external responsibilities from management, to staff meetings, to other types of fundraising and community involvement. Once you have this comprehensive understanding of your time, you will know how many donors you can work with at each engagement level.

Thanks to Craig Hospital Foundation for hosting us! This semester, each course will be hosted by a different nonprofit. Craig Hospital Foundation kicked us off. In the afternoon, we had a special visitor, Dr. Jandel Allen-Davis stopped by to visit with the cohort. She met each of us and shared ways to find hope and inspiration in the weeks ahead.