Welcome to SOFII’s major donors showcase!

This showcase is produced in partnership with I.G. Advisors.

We have a wealth of case studies that travel through time and around the world, from Germany to Turkey via the USA and Canada, to share great examples of inspirational major donor campaigns. We also provide insight and expertise from some of the greatest fundraisers in the world via articles and thought pieces. And to cap it off, there's project 9 of the Commission on the Donor Experience, which focused on this very area of fundraising.

Of course, we will constantly be adding to this showcase with more great content, and feel free to contact joe@sofii.org if you think you have similar great case studies or articles you would like to contribute.

This showcase is a gold mine - feel free to dig away!

Inspirational content to improve your major donor fundraising strategy

CDE project 9

Where better to start than with the findings on major donor fundraising by the Commission on the Donor Experience? Check out their 21 actions to improve the major donor experience.

Case studies: great examples of successful major donor fundraising campaigns

• Nature Conservancy: launch of their Science Council
  
• Nature Conservancy of Canada: legacy mailing
• Common Cause Citizen’s Committee: major donor upgrade
• RNLI: the legacy letter
• African National Congress: the emergency pre-election fundraising, from 1992
• Make–A–Wish Foundation: high value direct mail appeal
  
• Fund for a Free South Africa: high value mailing
• Deerfield Academy: the Bruce Barton classic long copy letter from 1925 that pulled a 100 per cent response
• Grassroots International: their distinctive annual report
• Harvard University: how Harvard got its name. Major gift fundraising in the seventeenth century.
• The Städel Museum, Frankfurt: inspiring a city to fundraise
• Battersea Dogs & Cats Home: ‘secret suppers’
• SOS Children’s Villages Belgium: a corporate partnership aimed at six people
• The Darüşşafaka Society: a unique offer for special donors
• The NSPCC’s legacy-themed Garden of Magical Childhood

Thoughts and ideas: great articles from experts in major donor fundraising

• Give that gift back! by Donna Caputo
• The donor pyramid is dead… Long live the donor pyramid! by Sarah Clifton
• Is Asian charity different from Western charity? by Mitchell Hinz
• Confessions of an unethical nine-year-old fundraiser by Norma Cameron
• William Quarrier – the most determined fundraiser of all time? by Simon Burne
• The Foundling Hospital appeal, 1728-1745 by Tobin Aldrich
• Are you asking for gifts personally, face-to-face? by Simone Joyaux
• How thank-you letters can help you achieve your major giving potential by Ikhlaq Hussain

Podcasts

• What donors want: a crucial podcast for major donor fundraisers. Episode one.
• What donors want: a crucial podcast for major donor fundraisers. Episode two.
• What donors want: a crucial podcast for major donor fundraisers. Episode three.