Posted , by Wendy McGrady, Executive Vice President. Topic: Giving USA.

I was honored to be invited again and to participate in The Hudson Institute’s Giving USA Release 2014 panel. My colleagues on the panel represented The Chronicle of Philanthropy, The Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, The Urban Institute, and the Nonprofit Quarterly.

Once the numbers were delivered, my comments were focused on how to apply them. Afterward, there were several questions and comments of note that I thought I’d share with you.

One question, which I thought was very insightful was, “How do you build a culture of philanthropy in the middle class?” Patrick Rooney of the Lilly School of Philanthropy said, “Household by household, instilling those values in our children.” Tom Pollack of The Urban Institute said he had worked with many cities and towns across America who had organized and rallied around responding to the needs of their community. I suggested it could also be done by nonprofit organization by organization – if your organization is just beginning with private philanthropy, you may need to “educate” your natural constituents as to the value of that philanthropy. Some will be early adapters; others will need to see the investments and the results of those investments. So, talk about why philanthropy is needed, and then show what it has accomplished and what you need it to do in the future.

There was also some discussion of the great divide – the “haves” and the “have nots.” Giving USA notes that there were more “mega-gifts” given by the ultra-wealthy this year and it was pointed out that, unless the representatives from the nonprofits in the room knew any of those few who made the $200m+ gifts, then they weren’t likely to receive those $200m gifts in the future. I suggested that for most of the nonprofits in the room, a $25,000 gift would likely be considered a major gift. Whether you’re a nonprofit with a budget of $250k or $250m, it all comes down to developing relationships with funders and potential donors. You may not have a relationship with the Gates Foundation, but you may be able to develop relationships in your own community that may sustain or help grow your organization. In addition, those local funders can see the results, possibly even involve their employees in your work, and may be even more willing to continue to fund you in the future.

Afterward, two or three session participants thanked me for the reminder that fundraising is all about relationships. One was a prospect researcher for a large university. We talked about how, sometimes, it’s easy to get bogged down in data or strategy and lose sight of growing the relationships! While technology is important to our work, we can’t let it take the wheel. If we do this right, a donor should be with us for a long time. But relationships take work – we have to spend time, develop trust and further develop our understanding of one another. You don’t want transactions, you want long-term relationships with your donors.

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