A lead gift can be the single most impactful tool to help advance your institutional goals. Securing a lead gift might not be easy, but there is a clear path to success if you lock in your strategy, have the right support, and follow your plan. Tune in to this webinar to follow the story of how a Catholic parish, diocese, and school identified the right gift amount, donor engagement, and case language to transform their vision into reality with a lead gift.
How are religious institutions approaching fundraising this year? And how does it differ from years past? View this webinar recording to discover key findings from a recent survey of nearly 100 religious organizations.
Tune in to CCS Fundraising and #iGiveCatholic’s three-part video series featuring engaging conversations with dioceses, parishes, and schools to hear firsthand how these organizations have navigated stewardship in a digital world.
NEW YORK, NY – Today, CCS Fundraising, the world’s leading fundraising consulting firm, announced the arrival of Ashutosh Nandeshwar, the firm’s new Senior Vice President of Data Science & Analytics.
Nandeshwar joins CCS with extensive experience and expertise in systems engineering, artificial intelligence, and design thinking, and has built solutions to improve fundraising results at the world’s top higher education institutions, including the University of Michigan, the California Institute of Technology, and the University of Southern California. He is the author of multiple books, including a co-authored book titled Data Science for Fundraising, which has been lauded as an “invaluable addition to any serious data scientist’s library” by fellow data scientist, Bala Deshpande, Ph.D.
Nandeshwar will lead CCS’s Data Science & Analytics Practice, which helps nonprofit clients maximize their fundraising success by pairing critical technical capabilities – including Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Design Thinking – with deep expertise in fundraising strategy and implementation. Nandeshwar’s leadership will deepen CCS’s ability to provide data science & analytics solutions for its clients, and over the next several months the firm will announce plans for expanding its service offerings to nonprofit partners.
Speaking about the impact that data science & analytics can have on CCS’s clients, Nandeshwar said, “CCS works with many of the world’s leading nonprofit organizations, and a data-driven approach is critical to their ongoing fundraising success. I am excited to have the opportunity to work closely with CCS’s Data Science & Analytics Practice to build on their excellent work and help expand our offerings so that we can continue to deliver high-value, data-driven insights for our partners.”
“We are delighted to have Ashutosh join our team of leading fundraising professionals,” said Jon Kane, CCS President & CEO. “In our increasingly data-oriented world, it is critical that we keep building our unique expertise and cutting-edge offerings in this space to ensure we’re delivering the best possible results for our clients. I look forward to working closely alongside Ashutosh to ensure CCS remains at the forefront of data science and analytics solutions for fundraising.”
About CCS Fundraising
CCS Fundraising is a strategic consulting firm that has partnered with nonprofits for transformational change for 75 years. CCS provides a wide range of services that support and strengthen nonprofit fundraising programs, including campaign management, strategic planning, data analytics, and major gift strategy. The firm’s experts, skilled in campaign and development strategy, work closely with organizations of all sizes across nonprofit sectors and geographies.
Having a robust and up-to-date database can make a world of a difference in fundraising and stewardship. In an industry where fundraisers and development staff are competing for over $390 billion in philanthropic dollars, the opportunity is immense, and so too must be your attention to your donors.
Of the ten sub-sectors reported on by Giving USA 2022, 27% of those dollars were donated in support of religious causes, including Episcopal parishes.
While there are many ways to increase your stewardship potential, it all starts with your data:
Who are your donors? (e.g., baptized members, community members, friends)
What programs or initiatives do your donors support? (e.g., annual fund, property)
How do your donors give? (e.g., online, plate collections, mail)
What inspires your donors to support you? (e.g., religious “duty,” ministry)
To track this type of information, many parishes invest in donor databases that help them manage their directories and information on individuals who have been visited or require further contact by their outreach or welcome teams.
To store and manage this information, parishes, like most nonprofit organizations, recognize the value of a system more elaborate and comprehensive than an excel spreadsheet. But after that initial investment, and maybe a few weeks of user training, it can just seem easier to use the database like a spreadsheet after all: linear and disconnected from the process of stewardship. Only using the system for its most basic functions defeats the purpose of the investment and can bring parishes back to square one in regard to data.
It’s easy to see why this cycle repeats. Producing good data takes time, a deep understanding of the system, and requires effective management to create a process that gets you closer to your desired objectives. The good news is that there are big opportunities and untapped potential with a database that can do so much more than store contact and donation information. Most importantly, it can help you do your job of donor stewardship more efficiently. Those who expand their database usage see immediate results.
When your parish is focused on ministry, formation, and outreach, managing membership information is understandably not always a priority. Whether your parish is responding to a natural disaster, providing much needed support to a family who has lost a loved one, or celebrating the life and renewal of members and the community at large, you cannot justify substituting these priorities with minuscule administrative tasks.
In addition to the time investment issues that comes with learning a data management system, constraints could also be due to staff shortages or turnover, resulting in the frustrating loss of the investment your staff and vestry made to train users of the database. But despite any limitations, this institutional knowledge cannot be fully realized if you don’t know how to maximize the features in the database.
Identifying Preventable Errors
Many institutions within this sector invest in databases designed specifically for Episcopal parishes. While many parishes are effective at managing the basics such as contact and donation information, they do not always fully utilize the more robust features the databases have to offer. Because of this, common oversights emerge that can have detrimental results.
Something as simple as pulling (exporting) data from a system to create a capital campaign prospect list can quickly turn into a small headache. This occurs when appropriate filters are not applied, such as removing names of individuals who were under the age of eighteen or deceased. Imagine if during a leadership committee meeting, in a room with volunteers present, several individuals known to be deceased ended up on your donor list. These individuals are normally marked as deceased in a database, but if there is not a full understanding of how to use the query system, you leave yourself open to these kinds of vulnerabilities.
The solution can be as simple as checking a box: “Do not include individuals marked deceased.” This and other data mistakes are common with any database, but when your mission is that of a parish, these mistakes can be costly both financially and spiritually.
Another common example is the management of information on households and families. It is not unusual for spouses to donate separately or children to have separate accounts if they are baptized members when their parents are not. In one instance, an infant child ended up on a mailing list and this error was only noticed when the child’s grandmother approached the development team with mail addressed to her grandchild. It then became evident that there was no protocol for reviewing accounts that were missing date of birth or age, making it too difficult to filter out members under the age of eighteen.
Making Forward Progress
Recognizing the need for a checks and balance system, and protocols for how to manage information, many Episcopal parishes have expressed an eagerness to address these issues. In one example, a parish formed an informal group of church members to review the directory and mail lists. Hearing there was a need for something other than asking for money, volunteers began to stop by the office to review the prospective campaign and annual fund donor list, providing the type of information that fundraisers and development staff find invaluable when building an effective program:
“These individuals should be asked for more.”
“These families have to be approached by the Rector.”
“This family is my next-door neighbor, let me talk to them.”
This kind of collaboration will always lead to a healthier database and often more fully involved parish members. Beyond the membership directory and donor lists, other potential donors who are lapsed, or are not official “members,” could be identified as prospects who have a strong affinity to the work of the parish and could demonstrate a higher likelihood to support the mission.
If your parish is facing a similar issue, it’s important to know that it’s never too late to maximize your database. Trusting your own data, and how you use that data, can make a world of a difference so that you can continue outreach with confidence. Once you have a system established to review your data, you can begin to focus on maximizing features you are paying for in your chosen database.
Four Ways to Start Maximizing Your Database’s Potential
Form a committee to review and audit the membership directory and contact lists annually. This can start with your welcome committee and be supported by your ministry programs and clergy.
Take the time to learn about your database. What are the strengths and weaknesses? What features does the database have that could replace intensive and timely manual work your staff is doing? (e.g., producing mail lists, segmentation of annual fund donors, integration with online church directory systems).
Invest in staff and volunteer training, and budget this training annually. Database features are always improving, sometimes because of scheduled maintenance and other times because you asked for a new feature.
Document your best practices. If the features of the database don’t exactly meet your objectives, find a work around, and document those processes so in the case of turnover, nothing gets lost in the transition.
Information is always changing, but having a plan in place to review and update your data, and investing the time to learn your database can be the difference between meeting fundraising goals and exceeding them. While the data doesn’t update itself, allow your database to help you reach your full potential.
How do you make the best decisions on how to prioritize your team’s valuable (and limited) time and resources to maximize your effectiveness in cultivating and closing major gifts?
Sharpen your focus on those who have the greatest capacity to give and make sure you are working with your top and most obvious donors first when prioritizing your valuable time. While a seven-figure prospect who has not responded to repeated outreach may still be a long-term relationship to pursue for many reasons, a consistent five-figure donor who is not yet giving at their seven-figure capacity may be a higher current priority for your organization.
Fortunately, data can inform how to segment donors into short, medium, and long-term focus. Examining the intersection between Recency, Frequency, Monetary Value (“RFM”) and wealth screening is the simplest way to start narrowing your prospect pool to focus on those who are both closest to you and have capacity. When those very basic results are combined with relationship mapping and engagement analysis, they form the foundation of a strong plan to increase major gifts.
RFM: What is it and why would we do it?
A Recency, Frequency, Monetary Value (“RFM”) analysis is the scoring of current donors to rank and prioritize your database through three attributes: recency, frequency, and volume of giving. It can help you answer many questions, including: Who has given recently and is with you right now? Who has given over time and demonstrated loyalty to your cause? Who are your top lifetime givers?
Questions to Answer
Before getting started on your analysis, you’ll want to ask yourself the following questions:
Would I like to measure total lifetime giving or total giving within the past certain number of years (e.g. the last 10 years)? This will inform how you set up your RFM key, described in the guide.
Do I have enough information about each donor to complete the analysis? You will need name, database ID, the date of their last gift, the number of times that they have given (lifetime or within the time frame you decided), and the amount of their giving (lifetime or within the time frame you decided).
Who will I use to screen my data? There are many vendors; which one you use is less important than knowing that you are aiming to focus on those closest to you with identified capacity and knowing that using publicly available data is one helpful tool to inform that decision.
How to Perform an RFM Analysis
You have followed along and may be wondering, how exactly does one perform an RFM analysis? Jessica Roberts, Assistant Vice President of Data Analytics at CCS, can help! Jessica has used advanced analytics to advance nonprofit fundraising for over 15 years and has put together a step-by-step guide here: How to Perform an RFM Analysis. For questions about the process or donor analytics more broadly, contact Jessica and CCS’s Data Analytics Team at analytics@ccsfundraising.com.
Wealth Screening: Another Tool in the Quiver
There are many vendors who can screen your data for pennies per name, and many organizations already have access to built-in screening through database subscriptions. While wealth screening is not perfect (every screening turns up a million-dollar donor with low identified giving capacity), it can be very directionally important. The consistent $1,000 donor who gave last year with a capacity to give $1M+ that you never thought about is one ideal outcome of this exercise for short-term focus. Those who screen as high capacity but have limited giving history or are currently unassigned to a portfolio can be reviewed for relationship mapping or discovery meetings to advance long-term goals.
Other Recommendations
Whether you have 50 front-line fundraisers or are a one-person show, there is some number of people that you can realistically connect with each quarter. Determine your unique number, and create filters in an excel spreadsheet that contains your RFM and wealth screening results to exclude lower capacity and lower RFM scores until you get there.
We have found that the most robust results of an RFM analysis occur when they are used to inform community engagement and donor request strategies.
Having clean data is important. Performing an RFM analysis could be an excellent opportunity to organize and update your data to maximize the accuracy of your results.
Harness the power of your data by asking yourself, “What do I want to know about donor behavior?” Your questions can likely be answered by increasing data gathering and exploring advanced tools for data-driven fundraising solutions.
How can we help you?
CCS offers an array of Data Analytics services to help nonprofit organizations reach their full fundraising potential.
As Human Rights Watch continues to raise funds to defend the rights of people across the world, Laura Boardman, Managing Director of Development & Outreach at Human Rights Watch, discusses how they ensure confidence and offer practical advice for donor engagement.
The session is designed to be helpful to all nonprofit professionals regardless of sector, location, or scale of your fundraising operations.
Discover what key lessons Central European University (CEU) has learned about fundraising during challenging times, from legislative changes that directly impacted their nonprofit to the COVID-19 pandemic.
It’s important to remember that campaign success is not only about funds raised, but also about the ongoing accomplishments that keep a development team feeling positive about the direction forward.
Today, many nonprofit organizations round out their annual and major gift efforts with programs focused on planned giving. Implementing a planned giving program can be an effective way to diversify revenue streams and move donors along a continuum of commitment to your organization similar to the one shown below.
Recently, CCS partnered with Holocaust Museum LA (HMLA) to design a planned giving program that will be rolled out to a select cross-section of donors in the near future. HMLA felt it both important and relevant to increase emphasis on planned giving, particularly because the concept of honoring legacy is a central theme in their mission to “commemorate those who perished, honor those who survived, educate about the Holocaust, and inspire a more dignified and humane world.” Holocaust Museum LA CEO, Beth Kean, said, “With an aging community of survivors, we had long wanted to create a proactive planned giving program to offer families opportunities to make an enduring, meaningful gift that will impact future generations. We just didn’t know where to get started. After CCS helped us launch a successful capital campaign, we knew their team of strategic fundraising experts would be the perfect partner to guide us on a legacy program.”
Many of the volunteers at the heart of the Museum’s programming are Holocaust survivors now in their 90’s. Others have parents, grandparents, or other family members who escaped or perished during the Holocaust. Couple this history with statistics on the alarming increase of hate crimes and extremism in our society today, and the need for HMLA’s work to endure is evident. A successful planned giving program provides a unique opportunity to quickly scale an organization’s endowment as well as meet more immediate cash needs. At HMLA, such a program will help ensure that the Museum’s vital work continues in perpetuity.
In order to develop a planned giving program tailored to the Museum, CCS conducted a gift planning assessment and first sought to understand the attitudes about and proficiency with planned giving that exist within HMLA’s universe of donors. HMLA’s unique legacy-focused culture combined with the Jewish concepts of tzedakah and tikkun olam – moral obligation to give charitably and to repair the world – suggested that such a program would flourish at the Museum; however, it was important to see this intuition confirmed by data. Thus, we worked with HMLA to isolate a strong set of planned giving prospects and invited them to participate in a survey that gathered qualitative and quantitative data related to donor satisfaction, engagement, and interest in planned giving. What we learned about this community was encouraging and provided us with the basis for developing the materials, events, and messaging that now compose HMLA’s planned giving program.
The program was designed to start small and eventually grow into a more robust operation as HMLA expands its staff and expertise with various gift planning vehicles. Initial focus was placed on developing the following materials:
Prospect matrix – This database grew out of the planned giving survey, wealth screening analysis, and other data analytics work. A significant list of potential planned giving donors was created and then prioritized for cultivation. Strategic outreach activities were designed to correspond with various prospect groups. For example, a follow-up email was designed to announce the planned giving society, and multiple versions were created with text befitting survey participants, current planned giving donors, or those in the survivor community.
Preliminary brochure – A brochure featuring donor testimonials was designed for digital and print use to introduce the planned giving program. The brochure includes a QR code and website URL that enable donors to sign up to learn more about the program. A separate list of planned giving vehicles and their benefits was developed to accompany the physical brochure and serve as a donor takeaway at meetings and events.
Recognition and benefits – CCS worked with the Museum team to conceptualize Enduring Truth, a legacy society for planned giving donors. Benefits of membership include special listings and the chance to participate in legacy society luncheons, planned giving seminars, and planned giving salon events. CCS also reviewed and updated HMLA’s gift acceptance policies to adhere to current standards and support a greater organizational focus on planned giving.
Planning calendar – An annual calendar of planned giving communications and events was created to ensure that donors at various stages in the pipeline are being cultivated and stewarded at an optimal cadence.
Branding and messaging development – A concept note for a digital planned giving newsletter was developed to welcome new legacy donors, celebrate milestones, provide advice from featured financial experts, and spotlight events and exhibits at the Museum.
List of experts – A list of financial planners, CPAs, estate attorneys, and other experts was compiled. During the course of the project, many of the individuals listed were engaged to review materials and plans and provide feedback to the Museum. In the future, these individuals may be featured in the newsletter or invited to speak at seminars and other planned giving-focused events.
Creating the simple tools above as well as the talking points and communications plan to introduce them to potential donors were foundational steps in crafting what will undoubtedly be a strong planned giving program at Holocaust Museum LA. CCS looks forward to our continued partnership with HMLA as they embark on implementing and growing their planned giving program for the benefit of their donors and mission.
If you have questions about exploring gift planning work at your organization, please contact info@ccsfundraising.com.
In this session, we hear from Dr. Una Osili, Associate Dean for Research and International Programs at the IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, who leads the research and production of Giving USA, a publication of the Giving USA Foundation. Dr. Osili presents trends from the latest report, which features a look back at charitable giving in 2021.
Following the presentation, panelists dive into a discussion on the significance and implications of this year’s numbers.
This report provides a comprehensive look at the current state of US philanthropy, compiling and analyzing annual data from Giving USA and other prominent research to ensure your organization stays up-to-date on the most significant industry trends.
Official Report Release & Webinar with the IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy ORIGINAL BROADCAST: Tuesday, June 21, 2022
In this session, we heard from Dr. Una Osili, Associate Dean for Research and International Programs at the IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, who leads the research and production of Giving USA, a publication of the Giving USA Foundation. Dr. Osili presented trends from the latest report, which features a look back at charitable giving in 2021. Panelists also dove into a discussion on the significance and implications of this year’s numbers.
We also invite you to join us in a city near you! View our in-person regional 2022 Giving USA events below.
southEast US EVENTS
[CONCLUDED] 2022 Giving USA Philanthropy Forum: Miami Wednesday, October 12 | 8:30am ET | Adrienne Arsht Center
[CONCLUDED] 2022 Giving USA Philanthropy Forum: Washington, DC Friday, September 23 | 8:30am ET | Howard University
[CONCLUDED]2022 Giving USA Philanthropy Forum: Charlotte (In Partnership With AFP Charlotte) Thursday, July 14 | 8:30am ET | Goodwill Industries Of The Southern Piedmont
southWEST US EVENTS
[CONCLUDED]2022 Giving USA Philanthropy Forum: Orange County (In Partnership With AFP Orange County) Tuesday, July 19 | 10:30am PT | City National Grove of Anaheim
northEast US EVENTS
[CONCLUDED]2022 Giving USA Philanthropy Forum: New Jersey (In Partnership With AFP New Jersey) Wednesday, June 22 | Noon ET | Seton Hall University
[CONCLUDED]2022 Giving USA Philanthropy Forum: Philadelphia Friday, June 24 | 8:30am ET | The Franklin Institute
[CONCLUDED]2022 Giving USA Philanthropy Forum: New York City Tuesday, June 28 | 8am ET | New York City Bar Association
[CONCLUDED]2022 Giving USA Philanthropy Forum: Pittsburgh Tuesday, June 28 | 8:30am ET | Phipps Conservatory & Botanical Gardens
CENTRAL US EVENTS
[CONCLUDED]2022 Giving USA Philanthropy Forum: St. Louis (In Partnership With AFP St. Louis) Thursday, August 4 | 7am CT | Lindenwood University
virtual EVENT
[CONCLUDED] Giving USA Webinar/August Power Hour (In Partnership With the African American Development Officers) Tuesday, August 2 | Noon ET / 9am PT
Join the conversation with us!
Use #CCSGivingUSA before, during, and after the events.
Uncover the latest fundraising trends in the 2025 CCS Philanthropy Pulse report! Packed with data-rich insights from 600+ nonprofit organizations across diverse nonprofit sectors, this free report will help you plan for success in 2025.
This report provides a comprehensive look at the current state of US philanthropy, compiling and analyzing annual data from Giving USA and other prominent research to ensure your organization stays up-to-date on the most significant industry trends.
In 2016, Michael Waldman, the visionary CEO of St. Paul JCC, sought CCS Fundraising out as a partner when the fundraising slowed on their Capital Campaign. The multi-million-dollar campaign was initiated to reimagine spaces, including a state-of-the-art performing arts center, aquatic center, fitness facilities, and a cultural arts wing. Together, the JCC and CCS created a plan to move the needle upwards from $7 million. By the end of 2017, more gifts were secured than imaginable, reaching $15 million. By the end of 2018, the total surpassed $16 million and membership had grown by 600 families. Today, the JCC is stronger than ever, having merged with another local JCC to form the Minnesota JCC with Michael at the helm. Brooke Laskin, Vice President at CCS, caught up with Michael Waldman to reflect on their partnership, Michael’s leadership, and the role of Jewish values in philanthropy.
Brooke: Can you believe it’s been more than five years since we worked shoulder-to-shoulder?
Michael: It’s flown by and the last pledges are being paid this year. We were fortunate that more than 99% of the funds pledged came to fruition!
Brooke: What an impressive rate of return. What do you credit it to?
Michael:Our donors, our friends, our community, our Jewish values. We are fortunate.
A child enjoys swimming at the JCC.
Brooke:Let’s talk a little about Jewish values. Like many, I learned how to swim at a JCC as a preschooler, but I also learned about the Jewish values of tzedakah (giving back) and tikkun olam (repairing the world) as a JCC preschooler.
Michael: These values are all about philanthropy – making the world a better place and doing acts of charity. We teach this early on at our early childhood centers, two camps (Butwin and Olami), and through our youth programming. What’s unique about the JCC is that we are guided by Jewish values and our campers and preschoolers are both Jewish and non-Jewish. We program through a Jewish lens, and create accessible ways for our youth to experience the act of giving on a local level to help them see what is right in front of them and then help them connect what they learn to a more global perspective. For example, why is it important to give to food banks? We didn’t just do a canned food drive to reach a goal and have pizza party– we did it because someone is going to eat those canned goods who otherwise may go hungry tonight. It’s important for kids in our community, who may never know what it is like to be hungry, to understand early on how to be better citizens of our community and world. While these are Jewish values, they are ultimately human values that relate to us all.
Brooke:Tell me a little about how you carry out these values in your own home and how they have been passed down from one generation to the next.
Michael: I looked at what my grandparents and parents instilled in family about giving back. While they didn’t have a lot of money, they still gave financially and through gifts of time. Today, my parents talk to my own two sons and their other grandchildren about giving annually. They tell each grandkid to research a nonprofit and they donate to the places the kids recommend. The giving has shifted from the zoo, to homeless shelters, to Alzheimer’s research, to cleaning up the ocean – whatever is on their minds as they grow up. It’s more than a teaching moment – it’s never been a question of why philanthropy is important because it is so ingrained.
A group of adults take part in a Zumba class at the St. Paul JCC.
Brooke:A passion for fundraising runs in your family!
Michael:My father was a social worker and, as he took on the role of an agency executive in the 1980s, that came with the role of fundraising. He started a comedy event at Jewish Family and Children’s Services to raise money, which was novel at the time. Today he is 81 and has retired three times. He keeps restarting at places to fundraise and is now helping a local Jewish overnight camp. He loves it and I am inspired by him.
Brooke:The JCC has persevered through a lot as a result of COVID. How have you adapted and grown as an organization?
Michael:We saw a growth in annual giving as a result of COVID. There was recognition of what the JCC means to people who are marginalized, such as those with disabilities or the elderly. Without the JCC, many were isolated from the community with no connections other than our staff that did outreach. For example, we adapted our programming so that, rather than having people come to the JCC for their meals, we delivered it right to them and created a kosher drive-through. On the fundraising side, we would never have asked people for money by Zoom before COVID, but now we find we can connect with more people more often using technology, and that is a good thing. That said, it’s still not the same as sitting at the table with someone or catching up in the parking lot after a board meeting. But we have found meaningful ways to continue to move relationships forward.
Fast forward to now, we had a $1.5 million deficit this year because we’ve dropped a main source of revenue as a result of the pandemic – membership. People weren’t coming in person. Less members means less classes, less campers, less personal training, and more. We dropped from 3,700 membership units to 1,400 during the pandemic and are now back up to 2,700. We set up the Gesher Initiative to bridge the difference. Gesher means “bridge” in Hebrew. Generous people who understand that the JCC must get through this are stepping up.
Brooke:How did combining with another JCC during COVID play into this all?
Michael: We had been exploring a combination effort ahead of the pandemic and we had a strong theory that combining would have both a positive programmatic and financial impact. Obviously, no one knew COVID was coming, but our hypothesis proved to be accurate—when resources got tight, we found important opportunities to be more efficient together. Significant planning and work by dedicated leaders had occurred ahead of the pandemic, and we were fortunate that the timing lined up.
Brooke: Any advice to other organizations considering merging?
Michael:Start with an open mind. Start by saying, “We think there might be value in combining. Let’s see if this is true.” It is critical to weigh all information and not solely focus on the financial aspect. The first step was asking, “Should we merge?” Then the next step was, “How?” We explored many different options and structures. In the end, we wound up forming two new entities—an operating JCC and a separate foundation that holds our endowments and real estate assets.
Kids in a JCC program smile for a group picture in their life jackets.
Brooke: It’s been awhile since I worked on your case for support. What’s your latest pitch?
Michael:Just as it’s always been—we change lives in ways large and small. We’re more than a place to exercise—we are a community. The purpose of the case is to help people understand that it’s all about what we do with revenue—through summer camping; early childhood education; supportive services; Jewish art, culture and enrichment; and of course, health and wellness, we ignite the human spirit and transform lives every day in ways big and small. We invest your money back into the community through scholarships, meal programs, programs for people with disabilities, and more. Everything we do is interfaith and welcoming to all that share our value of inclusion, and everything we do is done through the lens of Jewish values and culture. What other organization fights antisemitism by bringing people of all faiths together to have fun?
Brooke: I’m a JCC champion and I hope my annual fund gift, combined with other friends, will help the J persist for generations to come. Thanks for catching up, Michael.
This interview was adapted and edited for online article format.
Uncover the latest fundraising trends in the 2025 CCS Philanthropy Pulse report! Packed with data-rich insights from 600+ nonprofit organizations across diverse nonprofit sectors, this free report will help you plan for success in 2025.
“Culture” is ubiquitous, although that does not mean it is easy to define. Instead, “culture” presents a challenge when we try to change it without buy-in from essential stakeholders. Understanding that every organisation has a particular culture, whether or not stakeholders acknowledge it, is crucial in formulating a fundraising strategy.
