Advancing Your Skills:
Major Gifts
Friday, October 11, 2019
Are you taking the right steps, allocating the appropriate resources and using the most effective strategies to get the best results from your major gift program? Learn how to identify the right prospects and get the visit, how to build relationships with integrity and how to make an ask that leads to a “yes.” This full-day, interactive session will help you build confidence in your approach to major gift fundraising.
This course is designed for fundraisers with at least some current responsibility for major gifts. Developed as an introduction to the basics of major gift fundraising, this course can be beneficial to those newer to major gifts as well as a refresher for more experienced gift officers.
Participants will explore:
- The six steps to major gifts
- Overcoming the roadblocks to success
- Building your case
- Developing specific strategies
- Handling objections
- The arc of the ask
- Moving donors up the giving ladder
Register now! Class size limited to 25, so please register early.
Friday, October 11, 2019
9:00 am – 3:30 pm
CoLab 18
Nova Place
100 South Commons, Suite 100
Pittsburgh, PA 15212
Cost: $125
Working lunch and beverages provided
Course Faculty
Maureen Mahoney Hill, CFRE
Principal, Advancement Advisors
With strategy, creativity and integrity, Maureen Mahoney Hill, CFRE, counsels nonprofit clients to help them meet – and often exceed – their fundraising goals. Since starting her consulting practice in 2006, she has helped clients raise $16 million, bringing her career fundraising total to more than $40 million.
As a Principal with Advancement Advisors, Maureen builds fundraising, communications and marketing capacity in nonprofit organizations. Her practice focuses on board training and development; coaching; planning and strategy development for major and planned gifts; fundraising plans; and audits and feasibility studies.
A long-time Certified Fund Raising Executive, Maureen recently added to her credentials by achieving the status of Master Trainer with the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP). Her vast knowledge and dynamic style make her a sought-after speaker. She was one of the featured speakers at the Big 12 Development Conference in 2017 and has given presentations at numerous nonprofit and philanthropy conferences in the region. Among the topics she is most frequently asked to address are fundraising trends, major and planned gifts, individual giving and development audits.
Michael Grzesiak, Vice President for Development & Alumni Relations
Washington & Jefferson College
A self-proclaimed philanthropy nerd, Michael Grzesiak began his career in the nonprofit sector in 1991 and has served a variety of organizations including education, health care, and community foundations. His background includes work as a generalist development officer, in major and planned gifts, and in program management and leadership, and he possesses a fervent belief in the transformational power of giving.
Currently, Michael is the Vice President for Development & Alumni Relations at Washington & Jefferson College, a position he has held for over 10 years. He earned a Master of Arts in Philanthropic Studies from Indiana University in 2008 and is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, CASE, and the National Association of Charitable Gift Planners.
Michael is a frequent speaker on fundraising issues and topics related to leadership and management. He is a member of the Friends of the Youngstown (Ohio) Historical Center of Industry and Labor and the Community Advisory Board of WQED.