The Team
Clark and Monica live in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and also have a home in Lake Tahoe, California. Their long history in the non-profit world coupled with the wide variety of life experiences they have accumulated as entrepreneurs and creatives make them a potent force for their clients. They are also passionate world travelers and spent two years living in Guatemala and working with the international development agency Cultiva International. You can listen to Clark’s podcast by searching “Major Gifts Fundraiser” on your favorite platform for listening to podcasts.
Monica Vandeventer
Chief Executive Officer
Key Words:
Systematic, level-headed, team player, problem solver
Professional Strengths:
Setup and implementation of systems,
Monica Vandeventer is the Chief Executive Officer of Major Gifts Fundraiser, the firm she helped launch in 2008. Under Monica’s leadership, Major Gifts Fundraiser has transformed from a one-man operation providing fundraising council and into a firm that offers a systematic approach to fundraising for all non-profits, ranging from small start-up organizations to the nation’s largest and most prestigious institutions.
Read More about Monica
Monica Vandeventer is the Chief Executive Officer of Major Gifts Fundraiser, the firm she helped launch in 2008. Under Monica’s leadership, Major Gifts Fundraiser has transformed from a one-man operation providing fundraising council and into a firm that offers a systematic approach to fundraising for all non-profits, ranging from small start-up organizations to the nation’s largest and most prestigious institutions.
Monica has the mind of an engineer. A graduate of Woodbury University with a degree in architecture, Monica practiced architecture for several years in Santa Barbara, California where she worked on a range of projects ranging from multi-million dollar custom builds to small remodels. She is passionate about systems and helping organizations build a framework that allows them to develop deeper and more meaningful relationships with their donors – and raise more money – than they ever thought possible.
As someone who is frustrated by inefficiencies and a natural inventor, she is the creator of some of Major Gifts Fundraiser’s most successful programs, including Stewardship Basics and the Major Gifts Startup. Monica is also a trusted advisor to Major Gifts Fundraiser’s clients in all areas of fundraising and non-profit development.
A born entrepreneur, after graduating from college, Monica was the co-founder of the surfboard company, Wayne Rides. With zero inventory, she traveled to Kirkland, Washington and pitched Costco executives the idea of selling Wayne Rides Surfboards in Costco’s stores. Within a month, Wayne Rides Surfboards were being sold in Costcos on the West Coast.
Monica’s start in fundraising occurred around the same time her career in the surf industry was ending. After going on a short-term mission trip to Ireland, she felt called to spend a year living and working as a missionary in Ireland. She began her fundraising efforts and met a fundraiser who offered to help her raise her money.
Not only did Monica successfully raise the money to fund her mission, but the donors who supported her work also became lifelong friends, and most became increasingly invested in missions programs even after Monica returned from Ireland. Shortly after she returned to the United States from Ireland, Monica and the fundraiser she worked with to raise her support were married.
Monica and her husband Clark are avid travelers — including three months in Thailand when their kids were 6, 3, and 1 — and they spent a year and a half living in Guatemala working with the humanitarian organization Cultiva International. In 2022, looking for something different for their family, they moved to Tuscaloosa, Alabama. They also spend time in Lake Tahoe, California where they have a home and enjoy outdoor adventures with their kids who are now 15, 13, and 9.
Clark Vandeventer
Chief Fundraising Coach
Key Words:
Intuitive, relational, energetic, motivator, bold
Professional Strengths:
In-Person meetings and training, writing copy, donor engagement
Clark Vandeventer is the founder and Chief Fundraising Coach of Major Gifts Fundraiser. If he has a superpower, it’s setting audacious goals and seeing them through to their accomplishment. If he has a second superpower, it’s helping his clients do the same thing. He seeks to be a life-giving force that helps people become the best versions of themselves.
Read More about Clark
The former deputy director of the historic home of President Ronald Reagan, Clark has more than two decades of experience in the field of major gifts fundraising and relationship building with major donors. He played a key role in raising the funds to develop the $20 Million Reagan Ranch Center in downtown Santa Barbara where he recruited, trained, and supervised key staff positions and worked closely with the Director of the Reagan Ranch and President of Young America’s Foundation. He contributed to all areas of the Reagan Ranch’s fundraising effort including major gifts, estate planning, direct mail, special events, donor recognition, donor involvement, working with volunteers, board appointments, and board development. He’s an expert in Moves Management and creating experiences that inspire customers, donors, and activist evangelists. He also has an innate ability to connect with individuals on a very personal and intimate level. Clark has personally participated in more than 2,500 individual donor meetings and has successfully solicited hundreds of millions of dollars. His list of “Clark’s Strategic Questions” for donor meetings has been distributed to thousands of fundraisers and he is known as “The King of the House Call.”
One of Clark’s mentors was Jerold Panas, who is considered by many to have been the greatest fundraiser and fundraising coach of the 20th Century. Jerold Panas once wrote to Clark saying, “From the first time I met you, I knew you were a star.” He also said of Clark that, “He [Clark] knows how to manage people, he works effectively with volunteers and board members, he knows every aspect of fundraising and operating a development office and best of all — he loves asking for gifts. He’s a star.”
Clark and Monica enjoy being active outdoors with their three children and Clark is an endurance athlete who is an avid skier, cyclist, and ultra-runner. While he’s known in the non-profit community as a motivator and fundraising coach, he’s most proud of the role he plays in his family as a husband and father.
Systematic
You don’t need to blaze a new trail. There’s a path to successful fundraising. We know that path and can get you on it by implementing the systems of an exemplary fundraising program.
Adaptable
You are unique, and we’re good at meeting our clients where they’re at. If the best route isn’t available, we’ll take the next best route. We’ll get you through these mountains.
Gratitude
You could choose anyone to guide you through these mountains, or you could try to go it alone. We wake up every morning thankful that you’ve chosen us to be your guide.