Apply tactics to your major gift fundraising that will strengthen your donor relationships, bring in more gifts, bigger gifts, and improve donor retention over time.
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The opportunities for major gifts fundraising are enormous right now. Yet most major gift fundraisers experience challenges with high donor and value attrition, decreasing gift amounts, the pressures of time management, and burnout.
Why the mis-match? Because major gift fundraising is as much a science as it is an art. When fundraisers apply metrics-based, replicable practices to major gifts fundraising, the revenue results follow.
The Public Media Major Gift Academy, powered by Greater Public and Veritus Group, is designed to train major gift fundraisers in the science (and art) of major gifts success.
This three-month online comprehensive training supports fundraisers – including major gift officers and executives and managers who are responsible for cultivating major gifts – to excel in:
- Meaningful relationship-building with donors
- Strategically moving qualified donors into major gifts caseloads
- Creating meaningful and strategic communication plans and goals for every donor on your caseload
- Driving increased net revenue for the organization
The Academy’s tools support even the most experienced major gift fundraisers to get better, more reliable results.
The relationship-focused methods of the Major Gift Academy will help you:
- Reduce your major donor and value attrition and increase major gift amounts over time, leading to less pressure to always find and cultivate new major donors.
- Improve your methods and systems, even if you are the most talented and charismatic major gifts fundraiser.
- Make major gift fundraising more goal-focused and predictable.
- Contribute to a more collaborative culture of philanthropy within your organization.
- Embrace a better approach to time management for better work-life balance.
Major gift officers course
Managers and executives course
NOTE: You will be directed to register for the “Veritus Group Academy.” When you register, you will be joining a public media-specific cohort.
In the Words of Past Participants:
- 85% say they’re confident or extremely confident in their ability to be more successful in major gifts as a result of the program, up from 0% who felt this confidence going into the program.
- 80% increased revenue just one year after completing the program, 55% with six-digit gifts.
Who is the academy for?
There are two tracks available:
- Major gift officers looking to bring in the type of transformational gifts that are commonplace in other nonprofits like hospitals, universities, and major arts organizations. Fundraisers will learn how to identify the right donors for cultivation, skillfully manage time and portfolios to build relationships with the right number of donors at the right time, connect with donors using the right offers and asks, and feel confident addressing donor hesitation and objection.
- Public media executives and fundraising managers looking to pivot their organizations to seize upon the historic revenue potential that major giving holds. Leaders will learn how to successfully build and grow their major gift programs, manage and retain major gift officers, support a thriving donor pipeline that allows each donor to reach their true giving potential, and feel confident building meaningful relationships with major donors.
Who conducts the training?
The Public Media Major Gift Academy is designed by Greater Public and Veritus Group, the leading major-gift consulting agency serving nonprofits in the United States, Canada and Europe.
Veritus grew out of the combined 70+ years of experience of founding partners, Richard Perry and Jeff Schreifels, who have focused for decades on metrics-based, results-driven, donor-centered fundraising originally with direct marketing, and, since 1995, major donor fundraising.
Veritus has been fine-tuning its incredibly successful program by working directly with public media stations since 2019.
What does the training / time commitment look like for major gift officers?
The training consists of 8 training modules (topics below) to be completed over 13 weeks, earning 36 CFRE credits. Each module takes about 3-5 hours to complete and includes media resources like videos, podcasts, webinars, expert articles, and samples, as well as bonus reading and other assignments related to specific learning goals. Assignments are designed to apply what you’re learning to your own work and organization, so that you come out of this experience with a comprehensive plan and clear actions that will lead to your success.
This foundation is accompanied by regular live calls and an online Community Hub space to help participants integrate the training into their practice and ask questions.
What does the training / time commitment look like for executives and fundraising managers?
The training consists of 8 training modules (topics below) to be completed over 13 weeks, earning 36 CFRE credits. A module takes about 3-5 hours to complete and includes media resources like videos, podcasts, webinars, expert articles, and samples, as well as bonus reading and other assignments related to specific learning goals. Assignments are designed to apply what you’re learning to your own work and organization, so that you come out of this experience with a comprehensive plan and clear actions that will lead to your success.
This foundation is accompanied by regular live calls and an online Community Hub space to help participants integrate the training into their practice and ask questions.
When does it start? How long does it last?
The deadline to enroll is August 25, 2023 at midnight Eastern Time.
The course starts August 28, 2023, and ends December 1, 2023.
Please check back for information on future courses.
What does it cost?
The cost for this training is $1,500.
Major gift officers course
Managers and executives course
NOTE: You will be directed to register for the “Veritus Group Academy.” When you register, you will be joining a public media-specific cohort.
Other FAQs
In order to be granted CFRE credits and status as a Veritus Scholar, you must complete all required assessments and deliverables by the course end date. You can complete the academy after the end date (for no CFRE points) but you will need to complete the requirements of each module, including reading, video, podcast, webinar, and application assignment. The coursework also includes a required individual and organizational assessment, and the creation of a plan for key donors (also required). Joining in live calls or engaging in the Community Hub discussions are not required but recommended, as they deliver innovative ideas and inspiration.
Yes! Both major gift officers and executives/managers will receive 36 CFRE points upon successful completion of this certification course by the course end date.
It says a lot about you that you are still reaching out and being open to training after many years on the job. Let us reassure you, we work with experienced MGOs in mid-sized to large nonprofits across the country. We know your strengths and the challenges you face. We also know, because we have been MGOs ourselves, that in the midst of all the work pulling you in many directions, it can be easy to do things the way they may have worked in the past or with one particular donor, and forget to continually look for new possibilities and approaches.
We have provided a depth and breadth of information, delivered to you through various media, because we know that you are an expert in your field, and we want to provide you with additional ideas, strategies, approaches, and tools. We are not interested in simply sharing information with you. You already know and understand so much about major gifts. Our goal is to have you engaging with the content in ways that lead to strategies, systems, and actions for change.
Yes! Whether you want to grow a major gift program, or add major donors to your own caseload for the first time, this is a perfect course for you. You’ll get the philosophy, strategy, tools, and step-by-step approach clearly laid out for you. When you’re done, you’ll know exactly what you need to do to grow a major gift program.
No, there is no group work in this major gifts course unless you attend with a group from your organization. Then it would benefit you to meet as a group to discuss learnings, process tools and strategies, and support each other. However, this is not a requirement of the course.
We highly recommend you join us on live calls to enhance what you’re learning, connect with other professionals, and gain new ideas and resources. However, you are not required to attend every live call to graduate. And, if your schedule conflicts with a call, recordings of the call will be available for you to listen to.
We have set up the course with that in mind. You complete the coursework (8 modules) at your own pace over about three months. As soon as you finish one module and hand in your application assignment, you have access to the next, so you could choose to work ahead or catch up later. The only thing you may miss are live conversations during the weeks you are on vacation (though you are free to join), and even these calls will be recorded and available to participants after the fact.
The course itself will be available to you online at any time during the three-month period you’re enrolled, so coordination amongst time zones isn’t necessary. Each module can be completed in 3-5 hours, with additional time for recommended participation in group calls, Community Hub discussions, and individual planning. Our live conversations will also be scheduled as best we can to accommodate many different time zones, and recordings of those calls will be available to participants afterward.