The Thrill & Terror of Closing Your First 10M+ gift

Facing the prospect of cultivating and soliciting your first transformative gift of $10,000,000 or more can be both thrilling and terrifying.

There will new approaches and applications you’ll need to undertake for the first-time, but also aspects that feel comfortingly familiar as just good fundraising practice.

Fundraising consultant Lori Willcox will walk the group through two summary case studies, describing her first experiences with contributions of this size from a philanthropic extended family and a major corporation. Lori will share what she learned as new practices that needed to be applied with gifts of this size and will identify things we already know as good fundraising practice -- no matter the gift size -- that will also underpin your transformational donor strategies. Through the two case studies we will consider how we can work towards gifts of an unprecedented size for our organizations as well as how we think about these opportunities outside of traditional capital “assets” to direct the conversation towards transformational giving levels when the key outcomes are not necessarily bricks and mortar.

Participants will learn twelve key characteristics of Transformational Gift fundraising to support relationship-building and solicitation of unprecedented gifts for your organization. You can gain confidence around what you may not realize you already know about giving at this level, and understand what new practices and approaches your organization may need to adopt to be successful.

Full participation is applicable for 1 points in Category 1.B -Education of the CFRE International application for initial certification and/or recertification.

About our presenter: Lori Willcox is a management professional with over 25 years of not-for-profit leadership experience in the areas of organizational strategy, financial planning, revenue development, project management, performance measurement, and leadership training and skills development. Through her company, 3 Guineas, Lori works with not-for-profits on long-range planning and resource development to support revenue growth and diversification. She also works with private sector corporations and associations on their giving strategies.

Prior to forming 3 Guineas in 2008, Lori was Vice-President of Marketing & Sponsorship at the Toronto International Film Festival, where she led five operational teams -- Sponsorship, Philanthropy, Marketing, Digital and Customer Service. She oversaw revenue initiatives and strategic partnerships to generate over $50 million in earned and contributed revenue over her five-year period as VP. She simultaneously raised $100 million in capital project funding for TIFF Bell Lightbox in co-operation with Board and TIFF leadership. Lori also served as a member of the organization’s five-person Executive Management team that oversaw long-range strategy and growth. Prior to joining TIFF, Lori worked as a fundraiser for the Canadian Opera Company, the Guelph Spring Festival and the KW Symphony.