When I first saw the word “cultivate” used to describe building relationships with major donors, it annoyed me. To me, the word “cultivate” sounded like something you do with tomatoes or beans, not something you do to real human beings.<\/p>\n
The more I thought about it, though, the more the word “cultivate” seemed to describe perfectly the relationship between donor and nonprofit, not just the relationship between a gardener and her latest crop of carrots.<\/p>\n
The best gardens produce crops when they’re cultivated by an attentive gardener. Carelessly sown and un-weeded plants don’t produce as well as well-tended ones. It’s the same with major donors. Haphazard relationship-building rarely results in large donations, but careful cultivation of those relationships can. Building relationships with potential major-gifts donors is an art in and of itself (there’s a whole industry of fundraisers dedicated entirely to major gifts!), but there are a few key strategies one should keep in mind:<\/p>\n