Gaining Major Gift Momentum: The Future of Fundraising

Recently, I was invited to give the keynote address at the AFP Advancement Northwest annual conference. The talk was called, The Future of Fundraising: Top Trends Impacting Nonprofit Leaders, Today and Tomorrow.

In the talk, I shared stories and examples of how fundraising will change (as well as how it will remain the same) in the years to come. The statistics show an increase in major gifts and a decrease in numbers of smaller donors.

I’m not saying that you shouldn’t do more to attract and keep new donors, but major gift fundraising is key to your success.

The Future of Fundraising: Building Relationships

Throughout my presentation, I made the case that building relationships with donors will be more important in the future than it is today.

Donors already are (and will continue to be) highly skeptical of fake news and internet trolls. They need assurance that you are who you say you are and that you’re doing the work you claim to be doing.

While the purpose of relationship building (and gaining trust) won’t fundamentally change in the future, the methods we use to build relationships will.

Take Communication, for Example

For example, one hundred years ago, we wrote letters. Then, came telephones, email, and text. But the telephone of fifty years ago is nowhere near the telephones we use today.

When my parents went to college, there was one phone in the hallway of the dorm which was shared by forty students. When I went to college, I had a phone in my room, but it was attached to the wall. My son has a phone in his pocket. Yet, he rarely uses it to make phone calls.

In one hundred years, the methods we use to communicate have completely changed. But the fundamental purpose – communication — has not.

That’s why I’m sharing an AI-powered tool that’s incredibly useful to help fundraisers futurize their fundraising.

Gaining Major Gift Momentum

Momentum is the first tech service for major gift fundraisers and executive directors that I’ve been truly excited about (apart from Calendly, which saves me over a hundred hours per year).

What Can Momentum Do for You?

Momentum uses a mix of AI and behavioral science to make sure that fundraisers know who their highest-priority donors / prospects are, what to say to them, and when to say it.

And Momentum is not your average, everyday fundraising company. It was founded by Nick Fitz, who started out as a researcher. Nick was a senior scientist at Duke’s Center for Advanced Hindsight and was focused on philanthropy and the psychology of giving.

Through his detailed research, Nick saw firsthand that most fundraisers were spending too much time and energy in the wrong places. A few years later, Momentum was developed to help fundraisers manage and build high-value relationships.

How it Works

Every morning, Momentum’s dashboard shows you a short list of high-priority donors, and sends you a pre-drafted email that you can easily edit and send to those donors. Not only that, its AI is working hard behind the scenes so that future emails are in your voice. The more you use it, the better it gets.

By telling fundraisers who to reach out to and when to reach out, Momentum makes building relationships with the right donors a much easier and more fruitful process. Ultimately, these strengthened relationships lead to more dollars for their cause.

Momentum Makes You Better at Your Job

One way Momentum makes your job easier is to ensure that everything you and other users do within the platform automatically syncs to your CRM. This includes:

• contacting a donor
• sending an email
• updating a donor profile

Whatever you do, you won’t need to waste time copying and pasting information from Momentum to your CRM.

The ROI for Momentum is Staggering

Plus, the ROI is incredible. According to Nick:

“The ROI on our AI Inbox is huge. Our average customer makes $17 through our platform for every $1 they spend on it. For example, if an organization spends $10,000 with Momentum, the organization brings in $170,000 in donations.”

Based on what I’ve seen, I believe him. Even if you “only” (note the quotes) make $50,000 or $100,000 in your first year using Momentum, wouldn’t that be a game-changer?

I’ve been so impressed with by what Momentum offers fundraisers from the moment I saw it. So impressed, in fact, that I even invested. I’ve never done that before!

Momentum Gets My Strongest Endorsement

If you’ve followed my work over the course of my career, you know that I rarely endorse or promote products. If you’re responsible for a capital campaign or raising major gifts, I suggest you stop what you’re doing and request a demo to see what Momentum can do for your fundraising results.

Seriously, it’s that good. Click here to get started, learn more, and try a demo — you won’t be sorry.