Comments on: Financing Not Fundraising: Find and Keep a Great Fundraiser

By: Nell Edgington

Nell Edgington — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 21:04:33 +0000

Ken,

The origin of that rule of thumb is my experience in and research on the sector. You will find when you look at the most successful nonprofit organizations that that ratio holds true.

By: Ken Grunke

Ken Grunke — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 02:48:29 +0000

I was wondering if someone would send me a link or the info related to the full time fundraiser raising 500k – I’ve never heard that before and I’m having a challenging time finding more about the origin of the fact through online resources. Thanks!

By: Nell Edgington

Nell Edgington — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 14:45:00 +0000

Yvan, I actually think that rate for a prospect and donor portfolio is pretty low. I think a full time major gifts person can handle a portfolio of 120-150 people in a year. And if you are an executive director or a development director who can only spend part of your time on major gift donors and prospects, you can multiply that portfolio by the percent of time you can devote to major gifts. So, for example if an executive director can devote 25% of her time to major gifts, she could handle a portfolio of about 34 people (135 x 25%).

By: Yvan Castro

Yvan Castro — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 06:44:08 +0000

Thank you for sharing, I didn’t know about that the rule of thumb is that it takes one full time person to raise $500K. It is really quite interesting. I know that a development officer in a Major Gift Program should work with 30 to 50 donors. What is your opinion about that rate?

By: Nell Edgington

Nell Edgington — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 20:16:05 +0000

I’m glad to hear that, Janette! Let me know if you have questions as you implement some of these ideas.

By: Janette Dean

Janette Dean — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 18:07:05 +0000

Thanks for those excellent ideas! I have done fundraising for animal organizations and these ideas will help. – Author Janette of In Defense of Cats!