Schools sometimes identify a wealthy parent, grandparent, alumnus, or business owner and immediately ask, ‘How much should we request?’ That is usually the wrong first question.
Major giving generally grows from confidence: confidence in leadership, mission, financial stewardship, the proposed priority, and the relationship between the donor and the institution.
Know the person before the proposal
Development staff and school leadership should understand what a potential major supporter cares about. Scholarships? Faculty? Athletics? Fine arts? Campus improvement? Student formation? Career readiness? Church partnership?
The objective is not to manipulate personal interests. It is to discover whether a genuine intersection exists between a donor's interests and a legitimate school priority.
Leadership matters in major gifts
The head of school, board members, development leadership, and other trusted institutional representatives often play different roles in cultivating major support. Major gifts should not be delegated entirely to a database or mass appeal.
Board members can be particularly valuable as connectors, ambassadors, and fellow investors when their role is clear and properly governed.
Stewardship begins before the gift arrives
A credible proposal should explain purpose, cost, timeline, governance, expected impact, recognition where appropriate, and how the donor will be informed after the commitment. Major donors should not have to wonder whether leadership knows what it will do with the money.
The question for leadership
Before making the next major request, can leadership explain the relationship history, the donor's interests, the institutional priority, the proposed stewardship plan, and why this is the right time for the conversation?
LEADERSHIP ACTIONS
Put the insight to work.
- Document the relationship history and mission interests of each potential major supporter.
- Confirm a genuine fit between the supporter, the institutional priority, and the proposed timing.
- Involve the school leader appropriately in cultivation and the eventual conversation.
- Define acknowledgement, reporting, restrictions, and long-term stewardship before asking.
This field note reflects Arete Advisory Group's advisory perspective. External sources are listed when research or public guidance materially informs the note.