You want to raise more money, have deeper relationships with donors and be happier in your job. This is how you do it.

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. Retaining your fundraising staff longer also means 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

Online 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.

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

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. And in 2020 when most other organizations were way down due to COVID our fundraising was up 30%. That is thanks to the systems and messaging we developed going through their programs.”

-Greg Jensen, Executive Director

Program Details:

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

They doubled their gift revenue in the first year 

Saw a 30% increase in donations during Covid.

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

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

Schedule Your Free Discovery Call

A free, discovery call to see where you are at and how we can help.
No high-pressure sales, no cheezy salesmen.
Talk directly with Clark or Monica to assess your current situation and help determine a path forward, with or without us.

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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 #136: The Best Days Exercise

What were your BEST DAYS from 2022? If you want to set the right goals for 2023, the first thing you need to do is think about what your BEST DAYS were from 2022 -- becausae what you say were your BEST DAYS say something about what you value -- and you want your goals...

From the Podcast #135: Mission, Project, Year-End

Don't ask people to give because it's year-end! What's your big, audacious goal? How are you accomplishing it? Then, year-end is the forcing function to give. But year-end is not the case for support. It's the forcing function, but that's all it is. Questions? Or want...

From the Podcast #134: Major Donor Giving Secrets PART 3

Part 3 of a 3 Part Series. We interviewed donors who have given 5, 6, and 7 figure gifts. We asked them what motivates them to give, what organization's do that works (and what doesn't) and talked with them about what they like (and don't like) in fundraisers. This 3...

From the Podcast #133: Major Donor Giving Secrets PART 2

Part 2 of a 3 Part Series. We interviewed donors who have given 5, 6, and 7 figure gifts. We asked them what motivates them to give, what organization's do that works (and what doesn't) and talked with them about what they like (and don't like) in fundraisers. This 3...

From the Podcast #132: Major Donor Giving Secrets PART 1

Part 1 of a 3 Part Series. We interviewed donors who have given 5, 6, and 7 figure gifts. We asked them what motivates them to give, what organization's do that works (and what doesn't) and talked with them about what they like (and don't like) in fundraisers. This 3...

From the Podcast #131: Hot Chocolate, Aristotle, and 3 Types of Friendship

In this episode Clark talks about Aristotle's 3 types of friendships and the experience he gave his customers selling hot chocolate at a University of Alabama Football game. You can email Clark at clark@majorgiftsfundraiser.com and follow Major Gifts Fundrasier on...

From the Podcast #130: Potpourri of topics

Wikipedia says that "Potpourri" is a mixture of dried, naturally fragrant plant materials, used to provide a gentle natural scent, commonly in residential settings. That's at least partly true of this episode. It's a mix of topics, gently presented. Gratitude. Who...

From the Podcast #129: Thanksgiving to Giving Tuesday to Year-End

In this episode Clark talks about how the gratitude we express during Thanksgiving month puts us in a great position for Giving Tuesday -- and then, what to do after Giving Tuesday with those who still have not given yet this year. Also, Giving Tuesday is NOT a case...

From the Podcast #128: How to make names magically disappear off your LYBUNT List

At the end of October it's time to run your LYBUNT List. That's people who gave last year but unfortunately not this year. In the month of November we then express gratitude -- and get names to "magically" drop off the list. Also, when a donor doesn't give -- or they...

From the Podcast #127: Your Thanksgiving Strategy

The podcast is back. In this episode Clark talks about a simple strategy for expressing gratitude to your donors during the Thanksgiving season. Questions, comments? Email Clark at clark@majorgiftsfundraiser.com --- Send in a voice message:...

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Contact Us

Major Gifts Fundraiser

409 Woodridge Drive
Tuscaloosa, AL 35406

(805)453-1978

Monica@MajorGiftsFundraiser.com