Peak Performance Fundraising

Complete Online Training for Development Professionals

If you want to:
Become among the best in your field.
Have direction and a clear path forward.
Know you are spending your time on the right things.
Get the most out of your relationships.
Feel invigorated, and not burnt out…

This is how

You have an important mission to accomplish with limited staff and resources.

You need every staff member to reach their full potential, and you need to give them the tools and the training to do that. 

As your fundraising staff finds success and fulfillment in their work, you’ll also retain them longer. This leads to more consistent and profitable relationships with your donors.

Getting the proper training, having a consistent system with measurable benchmarks, and empowering your staff will take your organization to new heights.

in person training

Custom Workshops Campus Visit Training Donor Meeting Training Development Assesment

major gifts elements

Messaging
donor acquisition mini-campaigns stewardship basics development 356

Virtual Training

Beautiful, engaging fundraising training that covers all aspects of Major Gifts. 

Coaching

1 on 1 coaching to take your organization, or you personally to the next level.

Our Specialties

We have a roadmap for wherever you need to go.

Major gifts startup

stewardship basics setup & checkup

Development 365

fundraising calendar

in-person workshops

1-on-1 coaching

development assessment

complete major gifts training

mindset & board training

From Clark

Make Your Own Opportunities

Hi, I’m Clark Vandeventer. I’m here to help move your organization forward so that you can accomplish your mission. To do that, you need to raise money. There’s a fallacy that I need to address, though, and that’s that the strength of your program will drive good fundraising. Good programs don’t equal good fundraising. Good fundraising equals good fundraising. I’m here to help your organization put together a major donor program and navigate the process of working with major donors. I can train your entire team and get everyone working from the same playbook. Together, we can ensure you have the funds necessary to accomplish your important mission.

Cultiva International

“Major Gifts Fundraiser’s programs transformed the way we thought about donors. Fundraising used to scare us, but now donors are like our best friends. In 2020 when most other organizations were way down due to COVID, our fundraising revenue doubled. That is thanks to the systems and messaging we developed going through their programs. Our organization would not exist today without Clark and Monica. Our relationship was transformative.”

-Greg Jensen, Executive Director

Program Details:

In addition to the mini-campaign, Cultiva implemented the entire Development 365.

Doubled their gift revenue in the first year 

Doubled their gift revenue during Covid

Increased their total monthly donors from 30 to 130 in 1 year.  

Creative Grounds Community Theatre

“They (Clark and Monica) are great people and their program helped get us set up and ready to go. They helped us set up our stewardship and run a kickoff campaign for that stewardship.

We still use all of the tools they prepared us with. The tools they use helped streamline our onboarding process and helped make our donors feel thanked personally. We saw an immediate return on the investment with the campaign, and continue to see folks giving regularly.

It was a great use of our funds. I would do it again and again if need be.”

-Mark Landis, Executive Director

Program Details:                                                                                                           

-Major Gifts Startup                –Campaign Goal: $15,000

-Stewardship Basics                –Raised: $19,500

Fairmont Christian Camp

“They (Clark and Monica) are great people and their program helped get us set up and ready to go. They helped us set up our stewardship and run a kickoff campaign for that stewardship.

We still use all of the tools they prepared us with. The tools they use helped streamline our onboarding process and helped make our donors feel thanked personally. We saw an immediate return on the investment with the campaign, and continue to see folks giving regularly.

It was a great use of our funds. I would do it again and again if need be.”

-Angela Spranger, Executive Director

Program Details:                                                                                                           

-Major Gifts Startup                –Campaign Goal: $40,000

-Stewardship Basics                –Raised: $42,500

Grace Christian University

Clark Vandeventer and his organization Major Gifts Fundraiser have been a great assistance to me personally and our Advancement Team. His personal coaching, and Master Class in which he encourages and teaches best principles for doing, and tracking donor development towards long-term results are so valuable. The ability to identify and keep score of the priorities of fundraising has been so helpful to us. I would recommend this program to any Advancement Department. 

Ken B. Kemper, PhD.
President of Grace Christian University

Program Details:

The entire development department took Peak Performance Fundraising

Major Gifts Fundraiser Podcast

Practical fundraising advice in bite-size pieces.

If you want to get to know us, our philosophy, style, and methods, the best way is by listening to the Major Gifts Fundraiser Podcast. We have a lot of episodes and tons of great free advice there. It is available on all major podcast platforms, or listen here.

From the Podcast #179: LeVar Burton on Relationships and Storytelling

It's another Masterclass inspired episode. In this episode, Clark Vandeventer shares some of his notes from Levar Burton's MasterClass on Storytelling. You may know LeVar Burton from his years as host of Reading Rainbow. LeVar talks about how to tell a great story,...

From the Podcast #178: How much should you ask for?

Host Clark Vandeventer talks about figuring out the right amount to ask for. Fundraisers! Do you have a hard time knowing the right amount to ask for? Can you ask for too much? What if you "leave money on the table"? Clark gives some guidance on figuring out the right...

From the Podcast #177: SMART Goals

Host Clark Vandeventer talks about SMART Goals: SMART goals are a goal-setting technique that uses five benchmarks to help create concise goals and action steps:  S is for Specific: Clearly define what you want to accomplish M is for Measurable: Quantify your goals...

From the Podcast #176: Slow is smooth and smooth is fast

In the past, you may have heard Clark Vandeventer talk about adding steps to the process. The more you elongate the major gift process and slowly bring your donors along, the safer you'll be. Clark recently heard Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos share the same idea with the...

From the Podcast #175: Robin Arzón on Mental Strength

It's another Masterclass inspired episode. In this episode, Clark Vandeventer shares some of his notes from Robin Arzón's MasterClass on Mental Strength. Robin Arzón is an exercise instructor and author, best known as an instructor at Peloton, for which she is also...

From the Podcast #174: Basic script for every donor meeting you’ll ever have

In this episode, Chief Fundraising Coach Clark Vandeventer goes through the basic script for the four types of donor meetings Discovery Cultivation Solicitation Stewardship What are the go-to questions for each of these different type of meetings? How are the goals...

From the Podcast #173: Michael Lewis on How to Tell a Great Story

Michael Lewis is the author of more than 20 books, including 3 that have become major motion pictures (Moneyball, The Blind Side, The Big Short). Host Clark Vandeventer shares highlights for fundraisers from his Masterclass on How to Tell a Great Story. Link:...

From the Podcast #172: What’s the right amount to ask for?

Host Clark Vandeventer answers a listener email and addresses the question, "What's the right amount to ask for?" email Clark at clark@majorgiftsfundraiser.com Major Gifts Fundraiser on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/majorgiftsfundraiser/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠...

From the Podcast #171: Purposeful Communication with George Stephanopoulos

Host Clark Vandeventer shares highlights for fundraisers from the MasterClass on Purposeful Communication with George Stephanopoulos. Focus of this podcast episode: Doing your preparation Time Management Using body language in donor meetings Utilizing silence (not...

From the Podcast #170: Add steps to the process

What is your next right thing with your donor? Getting a visit? Making an ask? Closing a gift? Whatever the next thing is that you need to do, BEFORE you do that, think about 2-3 steps you can add to the process. email Clark at clark@majorgiftsfundraiser.com Major...

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Contact Us

Major Gifts Fundraiser

(805)453-1978

Clark@MajorGiftsFundraiser.com

Monica@MajorGiftsFundraiser.com