Insights Archive - Page 17 of 32

Major gifts come with a bevy of benefits for nonprofit organizations. The most obvious is quantitative. The more money you raise, the greater the impact on the organization and those it serves. The ability to provide additional student scholarships is one example. There may also be a greater return on investment in staff time than the multitude of tasks that accompany special events. There are also qualitative benefits. A focus on individual giving allows the organization to build deep relationships with donors in which the donor learns more about the organization and its place in the community, and the organization better understands the donor’s passion for the organization.

The monetary threshold for what constitutes a major gift varies from organization to organization. For some, a major gift may be $25,000 or more; others may consider $10,000 a major gift. Regardless of your definition, savvy organizations and those newer to major gift fundraising may struggle with securing these high-level philanthropic investments.

One simple way to increase high-level gifts and ease the transition to major gift work is through pledges. Development professionals can maximize the philanthropic potential that already exists by asking for a multiple-year gift and documenting a pledge.

Why Pledges?

A pledge is a written commitment to making a specific gift investment over a set amount of time, typically three to five years.

For the donor, pledges can change the way they see themselves in relation to the organization. Their personal investment deepens their ownership of the organization’s success. Pledging can also consolidate the donor’s interests so they’re not constantly being peppered with requests. Additionally, less staff time requesting multiple smaller gifts means more time to provide a great experience for the donor through stewardship and conveying impact. It can also better honor their intentions and set recognition with one clear request and documentation at a higher level. A good example is a donor who intends to give $50,000 each year for five years. Without a pledge, your organization may recognize them at $50,000 annually. With a pledge, you would recognize them as a $250,000 donor to the organization, which could also inspire others to think bigger when considering their own support.

For the nonprofit, consistent income allows the organization to plan ahead. This is especially important as we remain in an uncertain environment regarding the COVID-19 pandemic and its ongoing ramifications. A solid foundation also provides the stability that organizations need to dream bigger and craft a vision for the next step. Additionally, pledges increase revenue over time because most donors only increase their support if and as they’re asked. The improvements to the donor experience will also serve the organization better.

Here’s an example of how effective a pledged multiple-year gift can be with the right process and stewardship:

Year	Donor Without a Pledge	Donor With a Pledge
2021	Gives $5,000 (recognized at $5,000)	Pledges $25,000, pays $5,000 (recognized at $25,000)
2022	Gives $5,000	$5,000 payment
2023	Gives $3,000	$5,000 payment, gives additional $1,000 annual gift
2024	Gives $1,000	$5,000 payment, gives $3,000 additional gift
2025	Gives $1,000	$5,000 payment, gives $5,000 additional gift (now giving $10,000/year)
2026	Gives $0	Asked for and pledges $50,000
Total Giving	$15,000	$84,000

Raise More Money

When considering how to approach documenting more pledges, it is most helpful to look inside the organization at your closest supporters and friends. Although you can certainly build a relationship that leads to a major gift from a brand-new introduction, faithful donors are the people most likely to make high-level gifts.

A process outline follows:

Identify regular donors, from direct mail, annual giving, and events.
Evaluate if a pledge is right. It may not be the best strategy to make this request of a foundation that makes decisions on a year-by-year basis, or a corporation that keeps their sponsor dollars separate from their other giving.
Inventory the donor’s giving interests from your records.
Identify an initial potential request amount to help you prioritize your outreach. For example, a donor giving $2,000 each year could pledge $10,000 over five years. If you have not asked them for a specific pledge before, you may use the opportunity to stretch to a higher amount.
Consider a blended gift, combining their interests into one request. This is a way to coordinate your approach, making it easier for the donor if they typically make a sponsorship gift in addition to a program gift. Also consider incorporating a planned gift request, if appropriate.
Cultivate – don’t take the donor or their interests for granted.
Solicit – make a specific request, ideally in person/by video with written support, based on their past gift levels, your research, and the conversations you’ve had to date.
Document the pledge.

A final process tip: plan ahead. A major gift typically requires more staff time at the beginning to build an authentic connection with the donor and respect the investment they may make. Articles to help you take it from here include “Five Steps to the Big Ask: How to Prepare Donors to Receive a Big Gift Request” and “Top Five Tips for Creating Robust Major Gift Portfolios Using CRM Data.”

The Right Fit

There are many additional factors to consider when determining the right fit between a donor and their gift pledge. The following may be helpful:

Pledge length: Five years is recommended; you may lose two years of impact if you ask for a three-year pledge. Five-year pledges are also short enough, in most cases, to maintain urgency toward their fulfillment. There are a few caveats, however, for both shorter and longer pledges. For event sponsorship requests, shorter (2-3 years) may be a safer bet since the event may run its course or evolve significantly over just a few years. Pledges longer than five years should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Consider acceptance in circumstances where there’s a long-standing relationship with the donor or an extended timeline is necessary because of other gifts. An example of this is if a donor is committed to another organization but willing to make their pledge now. Payments may not begin until next year but the gift will inspire others and build momentum.

Documentation: For gifts with few components, pledge forms are clear and easy for the donor. A pledge form is typically up to two pages with the donor’s contact information, gift amount and designation, and payment details (don’t forget their preferences for pledge reminders). A simple letter may stand in for a pledge form if the donor prefers. Longer gift agreements or addendums to pledge forms are recommended for gifts with multiple designations or restrictions, or whenever naming is part of the donor’s recognition plan. For example, donors to scholarships may need an additional form to indicate award distribution timelines, or their preference for students with financial need or academic performance above a specific level.

Language: Consider using a different word, such as commitment or intention, if “pledge” is a culturally or individually sensitive term, or if it doesn’t translate well in the donor’s primary/preferred language.

An Example from the Field

Salt Lake Community College (SLCC) is a great example of the power of pledges. SLCC is the only community college in Utah and serves both students who intend to transfer and those in need of workforce training. It’s also the largest and most diverse institution of higher education in the state, with more than 60,000 students across 11 campuses.

SLCC is currently in a $40 million comprehensive campaign in support of its strategic plan. Faced with a significant goal to raise, their development team shifted focus from event fundraising to major gifts. Although fortunate to recruit and retain talented leadership and staff, this has not been a quick transition for SLCC.

Campaign success hinged on the first pledges to set the pace and inspire others. SLCC had many dedicated donors who gave each year, but who had not yet been asked to make a multiple-year commitment and document their pledge. An early conversation with a volunteer who had been giving annually led to a confirmed 6-figure pledge, which both motivated him to take a greater leadership role and ownership in the campaign, as well as inspired others to dig deeper themselves.

Make a Bigger Difference

Pledges for multiple-year gifts can help organizations raise more money and take donors to new levels of major giving. With more donor investments, nonprofits can have a greater impact and make an even more meaningful difference in their communities.

CCS Senior Vice Presidents Allyson Randolph and Natalie Skinner come together with the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Washington D.C. Metro Area Chapter, in an insightful conversation around major gifts and the transformational impact they have on philanthropy and nonprofit organizations.

PRESENTED BY

Allyson Randolph

Senior Vice President

Natalie Skinner

Managing Director

At the heart of nonprofit development operations is the process of accepting, acknowledging, and recognizing gifts. Gift acceptance policies can be more than a dusty procedure manual that outlines various methods of giving. Gift acceptance policies can be actively deployed to advance equity within your institution, diversify and educate your donor base, make giving more accessible, and reinforce the values of your organization.

Why Equity Matters

According to the U.S. Trust Study of High Net Worth Philanthropy, individuals are generous regardless of race, gender, or sexual orientation. Making your gift acceptance policies more equitable is not only the right thing to do, but it is a best business practice.

Increase accountability and manage risk.

First and foremost, set a clear policy that your organization will not accept gifts with restrictions that unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, creed, color, citizenship, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender, age, marital or partnership status, military status, or disability.

Make sure your donors know that you will respect the privacy of each individual and that you are working to create an inclusive and donor-centric giving program. Support donors in their journey to become a part of your mission by including a confidentiality policy.

That said, you must also prepare for the unlikely event that a gift would compromise the public trust or adversely impact the reputation, image, mission, or integrity of your nonprofit. Your organization has rights and, while it’s unlikely that you will need to take legal action, your gift acceptance policies can help to set expectations. Including “morality clauses” can help protect your institution financially and ethically by outlining the termination of recognition agreements and by stating that your organization has no obligation or liability to a donor and would not be required to return gifts.

Educate donors about what your nonprofit needs to be successful.

Donors have long been key influencers of institutional decision-making, both through their financial power and through their desire to make an impact. We all know the pitfalls: while donors may desire to restrict funds to a specific program or purpose, it may not always serve the long-term goals of the organization or the needs of the community you serve. This is not a reason to abandon major gifts. Instead, we must acknowledge that each of our donors approaches philanthropy from different points of view. At the same time, donors have a duty to stay engaged intellectually and emotionally in the advancement of the nonprofit organizations they support.

As nonprofit leaders and subject matter experts in your program and mission, you can create policies that gently lead and incentivize your donors to make high-impact gifts. Keep in mind that these policies may prompt authentic conversations and bring generative conflict. Prepare for and welcome these conversations in order to advance each donor’s understanding of your mission or the needs of the community.

One example of misguided donor education that can be remedied through gift acceptance policies is the overhead myth. The overhead myth perpetuates the idea that vital activities like staff compensation and utilities are somehow frivolous expenses, as Dan Pallotta discusses in this 2013 TED talk. Using gift policies, you can outline the importance and value of unrestricted giving, allowing nonprofit leaders to make financial decisions that serve the mission rather than the current interests of our donor base. If you do maintain categories of restricted giving, ensure that those gifts are not so narrowly restricted that they prevent effective use or administration. Having too many restrictions – either immediately or that accumulate over time – can be problematic.

Invite donor and vendor participation to increase your capacity.

Who is involved in policy development matters; it’s as important as the outcome since true inclusion requires viewpoint diversity. Consider inviting a focus group of donors to inform your gift acceptance policies and appealing to a broader donor base and expanding the ways of giving. Using your constituent database, you can also take time in advance to evaluate your donor community with questions like: “Who is already giving (and how) and who is not yet giving to your organization?” This process will make sure a diverse set of voices are informing your menu of giving opportunities.

We also know that time and staff capacity are precious in any nonprofit and that accepting these types of gifts may not always be straightforward. There are so many ways to give these days, from retirement assets, to vehicle and property donations, to stock and cryptocurrency. Consider partnerships like Donate Stock, Car Easy, The Giving Block, or Every.org to help make gift processing easier for your nonprofit.

Make your policies public.

Finally, don’t forget to make your gift acceptance policies public to ensure transparency and accountability. Making a gift acceptance policy public can also help your organization broadcast which types of gifts you are able to process. By showcasing a variety of giving vehicles, you may facilitate more diverse philanthropic activity at your organization.

This piece has been prepared for informational purposes only and is not to be construed as legal advice.

In the CCS Philanthropic Climate Survey conducted in January 2021, many nonprofit leaders shared that the renewed societal focus on racial equity and social justice has activated their organization to begin taking the necessary steps to adjust their overall workplace policies and board activities.

An organization’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is much bigger than individual silos of work or initiatives. To create meaningful impact, DEI must be a cornerstone of the organization’s mission and integrated into every facet of its work and culture. Many nonprofits are looking to diversify their board, aiming to understand what a focus on DEI means for their organization and board members. This is the beginning of a long, much-needed journey where everyone at your organization, including the board, can play a role and lead by example.

As you continue on this journey, consider the three key areas outlined below to ensure your board is diverse, inclusive, and equity-focused:

1) Assess the example your organization sets for the board

Consider creating a road map of how your organization as a whole will deploy DEI strategies and assess your efforts along the way, holding your organization accountable.

Take time to reflect on the following questions:

Is your strategic plan informed by ongoing feedback and guidance from the communities you exist to serve?
How are you creating an impact that is both deep and broad, understanding and working to solve the root causes of challenges facing the communities you serve?
How are you telling your organization’s story? What language and images are you using to honor the dignity of the communities you serve and avoiding the pitfalls of a savior complex?
Do your staff, board, and volunteer recruitment practices break down biases and intentionally seek out diversified perspectives and backgrounds?
How are you creating a work environment that embraces diverse cultures and perspectives, allowing your team to be present in their authentic self?
Are your staff, board, and volunteers reflective of the communities you serve or partner with?
Are you creating regular and frequent space for open discussions and education around DEI, supporting your team to be comfortable with being uncomfortable?
Have you created a DEI commitment statement? If so, has it been shared with your board and the broader community?

2) Cultivate a strong board culture that celebrates differences

The culture of a nonprofit board can define how work is carried out and the role the board plays in an organization’s mission. Individual volunteers provide their time, talent, and treasure because they have a connection to or passion for the cause. Open communication, trust, respect, accountability, and transparency among fellow board members and organizational leadership are crucial to success. Organizations must understand the complete identity of their board members to effectively engage and collaborate.

As you progress on your DEI journey, don’t forget to bring your board members along. The board chair sets the tone and cultivates the board culture through leading by example as it relates to how the board operates. A strong board culture doesn’t just happen overnight—it takes time and patience to cultivate. It is important to reflect on how inclusive your board culture is, what blind spots might exist, and what opportunities lie ahead.

Questions to consider:

Does your board have regular and ongoing conversations about diversity, equity, and inclusion?
What education opportunities exist in your current structure or need to be added in order to guide the board in meaningful DEI work?
When it comes to building a diverse board that truly reflects the community that your organization serves, what is the process for identifying these individuals? Is it inclusive?
Does your organization acknowledge, value, encourage, and leverage the different perspectives and life experiences of board members to create action plans on how to advance your mission or purpose?
How might you foster an environment that ensures board members reflect, listen, and learn from one another's experiences?
Are you providing opportunities for your board members to identify and process their blind spots and/or unconscious biases?
How is your board creating accountability to measure DEI progress and success?
How can the board adapt to better support the work that needs to be accomplished in the most impactful way?

3) Board composition and diversity: working to represent the communities served

A nonprofit’s board composition can either help or hinder how connected an organization is to the community they have set out to serve. It can signal if the organization values the perspectives, needs, and priorities of the community. While many organizations acknowledge the need to focus on building and recruiting a diverse board, the makeup of these leadership bodies across the country remains unchanged. According to BoardSource’s 2021 Leading with Intent report, less than 17% of board chairs identify as Black, indigenous, and/or people of color (BIPOC), and only 22% of board members nationally identify as Black, indigenous, and/or people of color.

Acknowledging the shortfall is only the first step to making change. Diversity is not a box your organization can check off and forget about. Think bigger and avoid the common pitfalls of tokenism by being proactive instead of reactive when it comes to ensuring everyone has a seat at the table. It will require implementing intentional DEI policies and practices to recruitment efforts in order to diversify board leadership. Diversity must move from intentionality to actuality and eventually be ingrained into your organization’s DNA. Take the time to honestly acknowledge where your organization sits on this diversity spectrum.

Diversity is much more than the color of one’s skin. It involves cultural backgrounds, lived experiences, skillsets, and viewpoints that an individual can bring to an organization. But one unifying tenet that should always remain constant in your search for board members is finding individuals who are aligned with your organization’s values.

As you take the next step to diversify your board, here are some key questions to consider:

Why is it important to your organization to build board diversity?
Does your current board composition show the community your commitment to understanding their needs?
Identify any gaps: what skillsets, perspectives, and identities are you missing on your current board?
Determine the key traits or characteristics of those in the community you serve. Compare these traits to the traits of your current board. What is missing?
How are you expanding your reach and recruiting candidates from diverse backgrounds and experiences? Are you choosing new diversity-focused websites or organizations to promote the opportunity?
How are you describing the organization’s focus on diversity with potential board candidates?

Final Thoughts

These three focus areas and key questions are a starting point to engage in thoughtful conversations with leadership, key volunteers, and board members on how DEI can and should be prioritized within your board. Take the time to be intentional in building a board culture where everyone’s perspective matters, where the diversity of your board reflects the communities you serve, and in which your approach to diversity aligns with your organization’s values. Understanding why diversity matters to your organization, board, and community is the foundation to becoming more diverse, equitable, and inclusive.

Your organization may find these additional resources helpful on your journey:

BoardSource – Leading with Intent: BoardSource Index of Nonprofit Practices
BoardSource – Taking Action on Board Diversity: Five Questions to Get You Started
Equity in the Center – Awake to Woke to Work: Building a Race Equity Culture
National Council of Nonprofits – Diversity on Nonprofit Boards

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Mergers and acquisitions are widespread across the healthcare sector and have a direct impact on philanthropy. Whether it is a health system acquiring a community hospital as part of a larger growth plan or two health systems merging to improve healthcare services across a region, such significant institutional changes require foundations and development teams to adapt thoughtfully and efficiently in a fast-changing environment.

Based on decades of experience in the healthcare sector and witnessing firsthand countless mergers and acquisitions across the country, CCS offers the following lessons learned to help healthcare leaders in philanthropy seize new opportunities and navigate unforeseen challenges during this process.

Look Inward & Prioritize Communication

Moving forward with the new, shared corporate identity from the start is important, as changes are easier to make when the merger is first announced rather than many months or even years afterward. Initial steps to accomplish this include:

Define a unified brand and marketing strategy that highlights the benefits of coming together.
Do your due diligence and take inventory of what communication and messaging assets exist across institutions. Be prepared to answer the question: how will the newly merged entity better help our patients, their families, and our staff?
Ensure that digital content, website(s), and materials between the two entities are aligned from the start.
Plan for the appropriate, unified constituent outreach, starting with internal stakeholders, such as your Board and staff, and then including external stakeholders like major donors, grateful patients, and third-party event leaders.

Prioritizing communications and refining the message to your audience is imperative, but remember, one message does not fit all. Internal audiences will want to know more about the structure and mechanics of the merger, but it is best to keep these communications at a high level. With external audiences, focus on the benefits of the merger to patients, their families, physicians, and staff.

Define Leadership Structure & Clarify Roles

Merging leadership to form a single operation can be tricky and difficult, especially when the leaders and staff of each institution are popular among their constituents and donors. However, trying to preserve separate cultures across entities can leave a team vulnerable to a fragmented and disorganized environment.

Creating a single combined organizational structure to support the new institution is essential to success. Clear decisions about leadership and staff structure allow merged teams to understand their respective roles and to work collaboratively as their institutions come together. Institutional leadership should be clearly defined at the top and designed to be collaborative, not competitive. Remember, everyone is on the same team now. The new organization chart should encourage teamwork and communication. Additional considerations for establishing a healthy, unified team include:

Begin the alignment of operations, policies, Board responsibilities, donor societies, etc. as soon as possible to prevent any imbalances between the two organizations. Clever philanthropic leaders will take advantage of the impending merger to revise outdated policies, transition ineffective leaders and volunteers, eliminate inefficient legacy projects, and create new philanthropic initiatives.
In one case study, CCS worked with a health system in Boston following a community hospital acquisition to slowly dissolve the hospital foundation Board and integrate key Board members into the main foundation Board of Trustees for the entire system. To maintain local trust and a smooth transition, the system updated its foundation Board bylaws to require a specific number of representatives to sit on the local hospital Board. This revision also generated greater connectedness and philanthropic opportunity at the local level.
Prioritize performance metrics and volunteer committee operations in the newly established structure to ensure expectation setting, continued growth, and professional development. Leadership should continuously measure success and be open to needed changes throughout the first year.
In another case study, CCS worked with an academic healthcare institution in the Central U.S. region to support the merging of two separate development teams into one. Three key questions asked early on to inform the appropriate transition timing and approach included: What staffing structure do we need to support a unified effort?; Does the team have the necessary tools for success?; Do we have the right talent?

Engage Top Donors in the Process

Having previously made significant investments in the merging organizations, top donors will appreciate getting information in advance of any public announcements. Let the donor pyramid guide the sequencing of your communications – start with top donors first!

To ensure better coordination of top donors, the integration of (or collaboration between) the two institutional database systems is important to implement as soon as possible. Have a plan to reach out to key stakeholders as the merger is being announced and provide periodic updates afterward. Create a schedule for periodic communication but be careful not to over-communicate. Drawing constant attention to the merger may make it appear that difficulties exist. Periodic updates are welcome and assure donors that the process is going smoothly. Finally, the merger may present an opportunity to engage your top donors in a new way.

In another case study, CCS worked with a health system in New Jersey following the acquisition of a community hospital to help local hospital leaders inspire local donors to think bigger about their impact at the system level. In addition to supporting their community hospital directly, donors learned how their gift could have an elevated impact across the system.

Anticipate Pitfalls

Moving too quickly or too slowly can cause challenges. Rushing the merger of philanthropic efforts can cause confusion and frustration among donors and staff alike. Waiting too long can cause the entrenchment of leaders, the continuation of inefficient foundation workflows, the duplication of efforts, and help to perpetuate separate philanthropic cultures within the merging institutions. What’s the right speed? Of course, it depends on the size and scale of the organizations. That said, CCS offers the following sequence and general practice for consideration:

Time Period	Considerations
Pre-Merger	– Communicate with internal stakeholders – Audit each foundation’s strengths and opportunities – Create branding and marketing materials
Early Merger	– Integrate the database – Align foundation and Board policies – Create new organizational structure with clear and collaborative responsibilities – Prioritize communications with external stakeholders
Mid-Merger	– Consider sharing services for efficiency and enhanced coordination (gift processing, communications, human resources, planned giving, annual fund appeals, etc.)

CCS has experience helping healthcare organizations navigate mergers and acquisitions and a host of other challenges. If you are undergoing a merger or acquisition, email us to discuss how to apply the concepts in this article to your individual case.

Woven into CCS’s mission is our commitment to foster transformational change. We strive to ensure that our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion is reflected in the organizations and communities with which we partner. Most importantly, we are devoted to ensuring our approach and work is grounded in the realities and unique capacities of our partners. We therefore aim to share our learnings from primarily Hispanic parishes across the U.S. to elevate fundraising and operations as it pertains to sustaining the faith across these communities.

Hispanics make up a growing portion of practicing Catholics in the United States. Scott Whitaker, Director of Stewardship & Development at the Diocese of Austin, shared that in the Diocese of Austin, more and more young brothers and sisters of Hispanic origin are involved in the church and make up the vast majority of Catholics under 18 years old. As Scott expressed: “Hispanic families believe in community, gathering, and being with each other. They love their faith and have rich traditions and cultures that they bring to the church.” There are several ways parish and diocesan leaders can strive to ensure stability and growth in fundraising and stewardship at Hispanic parishes.

Recognize the deep and diverse history within each parish.

Beyond recognizing the need to engage Hispanic communities and tailor our approach to these parishes, CCS Executive Director José Rodriguez notes the diversity within the Hispanic community itself: “Hispanic parishes are very diverse. Hispanics come from a variety of countries with distinct histories and cultures. In addition, within a certain national cultural identity, communities from distinct regions can differ greatly in their ways of living, speaking, and approaching their environment.” Catherine V. Fraser, Interim Chief Development Officer at the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, also calls out the diversity of experiences in Hispanic communities: “Parishioners may have distinct cultural experiences depending on their country of origin and their immigration experience. They may have arrived in the United States fleeing civil war and genocide, or they may have come for more economic opportunity. They may have deep ties to their former homes, or they may have lost those connections. What unites the Hispanic communities is their commitment to the parish and their devotion to their faith.”

Importantly, the distribution of immigration is often community-driven, creating different Hispanic communities in different places. As Catherine highlights, “Some parishes have people from South America, others from Central American countries, like Honduras or El Salvador. Many are from Mexico, but even within Mexico, we see deep diversity of experience.” Thus, it is important to take into consideration the varied cultural and language traditions of different Hispanic communities when developing programs and communications.

Let donors guide their own giving decisions.

According to a study done at Stanford, Hispanic Americans are experiencing greater income development than their previous generations. However, when first approaching a Hispanic parish, a phrase that José heard many times is “everyone here is poor.” In fact, through her many years of experience fundraising for the Catholic Church, Gaby Nuñez, Vice President at CCS, learned that it is detrimental to a church’s own financial wellness to make such assumptions, because it reduces the likelihood to ask for charitable support.

Engage volunteers and community knowledge to ensure families are stewarded at the right level.

Among predominantly Hispanic parishes, there is a significant amount of cash giving. This means that fundraisers cannot necessarily rely on giving records. As Gaby puts it: “It’s important to take the time to review and engage leading parishioners and pastors about who should be approached and what giving request levels are appropriate. On more than one occasion, after assigning a request level based on limited previous giving history for a donor, a volunteer leader advised the team to put forth a larger request, which turned out to be successful.”

Stay digitally connected, regardless of location, demographic, and circumstance.

Likewise, with 24 years of experience working with the Catholic Church, Martin Camacho, Corporate Vice President at CCS, highlights the importance of staying digitally connected even at small community parishes. In his experience in rural Texas during the initial phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was first thought that the parishioners would not have easy access to the internet and that the parish would not be able to complete its campaign using virtual methods. However, these assumptions were quickly dismantled, as Martin shares, “It was remarkable how parishioners invested in fundraising. I don’t recall a single person not being able to join online meetings. One woman was helped by her young grandchildren to get her on Zoom; we could see the children peeking from over her shoulder. In the same way that Hispanic communities can gather three or more generations at Mass, parishioners made fundraising a family affair, and it was successful — they reached 300% of their goal.”

Establish deep relationships between pastor and parishioner.

While Hispanic parishes developed innovative ways to use technology and stay connected through online gatherings, drive-through events, and more, it is important to acknowledge that these communities, along with other communities of color, were disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Scott Whitaker observed that Hispanic communities in the Diocese of Austin experienced higher rates of virus transmission and loss of employment. Parishes also saw a greater decline in offertory and longer, sometimes still ongoing, recovery of the financial loss. In these contexts, Martin and Gaby both observe that parishes where pastors knew churchgoers on a personal level were able to reach out to parishioners and express pastoral care, thus enriching a sense of community. “This is not new, we’ve known about this for years, but the pastor is absolutely critical. If you have a pastor that embraces the Hispanic culture and is able to inspire them, all we can do to work with these pastors directly and help them grow is absolutely key,” said Scott.

Looking forward, as the Hispanic Catholic community continues to grow, it will be important for pastoral leaders, staff, and volunteers to recognize the particular context of each community, focus on gathering data to optimize communications, and adjust fundraising and programmatic strategies to the needs of the parish. Given the growing Hispanic population coupled with the threat of disengaged participation, “We need to understand the needs better and ensure that our parishes are engaging Hispanic communities with effective ministerial outreach,” concludes Catherine, “We also must recognize this need is urgent.”

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SEE ALL IN: Primary and Secondary Education

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If you have any questions about this publication or about CCS in general, please contact marketing@ccsfundraising.com.

More Insights

Publication

2025 Philanthropic Landscape, 14th Edition

September 9, 2025

Publication

Philanthropic Landscape Report Library

September 9, 2025

Explore CCS’s library of Philanthropic Landscape reports, going back to our first edition in 2012.

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With increased enrollment challenges and constraints on tuition revenue, continued pressure to have competitive programs and facilities, and the growing need for endowment and financial aid, Heads of School are increasingly called upon to play an active role in securing philanthropic dollars. While new Heads of School are often prepared for the academic and administrative aspects of the job, CCS has found that first-time Heads are often surprised by the demands on their time posed by the school’s fundraising program.

With ample time between appointment and the first day on the job, CCS has recommendations for how new Heads can prepare themselves to be comfortable and confident in the role of “fundraiser-in-chief.”

Step 1: Foster a Culture of Philanthropy

A Head of School builds a culture of giving whether they realize it or not; each positive parent or alumni interaction, back-to-school night, soccer game, or science fair contributes to an invested and engaged community. As fundraiser-in-chief, a Head of School is responsible for the added work of articulating the need for continued support and making asks of the larger community.

The role of Head of School is an act of balancing both the internal and the external. Heads must manage internal priorities, including students, faculty, staff, finances, facilities, programs, DEI, and COVID-19 responses, along with external priorities, including communications, parents, and alumni. In addition to day-to-day administration, the Head serves as the voice and face of the school and its values. The Head is responsible for communicating the school’s vision and plan to all of the constituencies that make up an independent school community. While a Head’s time is limited and priorities are constantly shifting, fundraising touches almost every aspect of independent school life and merits dedicated time from the start to foster a strong culture of philanthropy.

Step 2: Chart Your Course

With many schools selecting new Heads a year in advance, newly appointed Heads have ample time to begin developing ideas for what they would like to accomplish during each year of their tenure. Any ideation around the big picture must also consider fundraising strategy, which can and should be different with each successive year of a Head’s time at a school.

To start, it is helpful to look at the first three years, the typical length of a new Head’s initial contract, to develop a better understanding of the types of fundraising activities a Head will participate in and the amount of time fundraising will require.

A Head’s first year should be spent getting to know the school community. Meetings with Board members, alumni, and parents will help a new Head gain a sense of where a school is and where it can go. These interactions will foster meaningful relationships with the school’s key stakeholders, which will lay a groundwork of trust that can only ease any future solicitations. A new Head will also need to rely heavily on the school’s advancement or development team to build a thorough understanding of fundraising development and culture. The development team will also play an integral role in helping a Head determine who to solicit and how to solicit them, in addition to arranging important cultivation and stewardship events that strengthen the school’s culture of philanthropy.

In our experience, a Head’s second year shifts away from year one’s focus on community building towards the development of a clear vision and strategy. A new Head will often begin a strategic planning or strategic initiatives process, during which he or she will work with their leadership team, the Board, and community committees to define and articulate a vision for the school’s future. This process should include a carefully coordinated fundraising plan to develop the resources that will likely be necessary to implement and to fund initiatives of the strategic plan. Many schools include fundraising considerations and encounter challenges when mapping their strategic plan to the fundraising potential after the fact. Getting ahead of the game and including fundraising from the start will smooth the transition from planning to implementation and execution. The time spent participating in fundraising activity will increase from year one, but the majority of time will likely be spent in stewardship and cultivation conversations, rather than direct solicitations.

For many Heads, year three will mean the preparatory and planning phase of a major gift campaign to resource the strategic plan. A Head of School may find that the community needs more time for feasibility and planning work to understand the donor base and capacity. This is also the time to define the specific case elements for the campaign. A Head will likely experience increased committee work and travel as he or she begins the important early work of securing leadership gifts toward the campaign goals. By the third year, particularly if the school is entering a campaign or major gift effort, a Head can expect that upwards of 50% of his or her time will be consumed by some type of fundraising activity, possibly more.

Step 3: Build Your Team

Though the Head of School is the fundraiser-in-chief, his or her responsibilities are too numerous and too demanding for all fundraising activity to fall on the Head’s plate. The Head is part of a larger fundraising team that includes the Board of Trustees and the development office. Each group plays a vital role in ensuring fundraising success at an independent school.

Ideally, every member of the Board will be a participant in the fundraising process, actively soliciting donors on behalf of the school. In reality, however, many Board members may not be comfortable asking for money. The good news is that there are numerous roles a Board can play to help advance the school’s fundraising initiatives. A Head of School can expect Board members to:

Serve as advocates in the community, promoting the school’s mission and values
Understand and execute fundraising best practices
And, most importantly, participate with money, time, and connections

Many schools have a development or advancement committee which helps to create big-picture strategy around fundraising, is deeply involved in solicitation, and provides critical support to the school’s development team. Members of the development committee can act as a sounding board for the development team and provide feedback on what will resonate with the school community. They play a critical role in identifying prospects and encourage community-wide giving, strengthened by their own personally significant giving. Finally, they should work as ambassadors, warming up prospects for cultivation and solicitation, and thanking them for their support.

Just as a new Head will have expectations of the Board, so too will the Board have expectations for the Head and the development office. A Head should work closely with the development team to ensure that Board members feel well equipped to complete the fundraising tasks associated with their role. Development teams, in conjunction with the Head, should provide clearly defined responsibilities and expectations, along with short and long-term strategies and plans, access to fundraising training, and, most importantly, direct lines of communication. Board members are not just volunteers, but major stakeholders in an institution, and it is essential that they receive the resources they need to fundraise successfully.

Critical to the success of every school’s fundraising program is the development team. Members of the development team will provide essential support to the Head of School and the Board of trustees by setting strategy, preparing for and participating in solicitations, maintaining donor records, and often developing donor communications. The director of development should be a trusted partner to the Head of School, a skilled communicator who has a deep passion for the institution and its mission.

The director of development will need to be a strong manager, overseeing the fundraising staff, which should include frontline fundraisers (those who ask for money), and support staff (those who maintain the donor database, conduct research, and plan events). Though most of the development staff may not be in regular contact with the Head of School, they will need to advocate for the Head’s vision and earn donors’ trust. It is essential that this team receive the resources they need to do their jobs; a well-resourced development office will not only convey professionalism to donors but will also minimize staff turnover.

New Heads are often interested in their profession because of their passion to educate young people. Fundraising is the key that unlocks the school’s ability to provide an outstanding education, cutting-edge resources, a supportive community, and opportunities that transform students and the community at large. By fostering a community of philanthropy, charting your course, and building your team, a new Head can meet their philanthropic goals and exceed at delivering their mission.

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