Community Foundation of the Ozarks and United Way Bring The Major Gifts Ramp-Up Experience to Springfield

SPRINGFIELD, MO – Feb 21 2018 – Last week, over 150 nonprofit leaders from Joplin, Springfield and Branson rallied at the Oasis Hotel & Convention Center and joined hands to supercharge social impact across Southern Missouri.

Something unusual happened when this diverse group of nonprofit executives from across the Ozarks gathered for a two-day Major Gifts Ramp-Up Experience. They were not attending just another conference. They didn’t spend two days listening to predictable presentations about fundraising trends, board member training or capital campaign tips. Rather, they were challenged to entirely rethink how nonprofits fund their missions.

The premise was simple: Money Is Oxygen. Without It, Charities Can’t Breathe.

You see, every nonprofit exists to change lives, strengthen communities, and advance a mission. But mission requires money. Programs require money. People require money. Growth requires money. Impact requires money!

Major Gifts Ramp-Up insists that charities must stop apologizing for their financial needs and instead boldly invite individuals, families, corporations and foundations to give their best gift ONLY WHEN THEY ARE PRESENTED WITH A GREAT DREAM BACKED BY A SOUND PLAN!

And the answer IS NOT another golf tournament, silent auction, gala, or feasibility study. The answer is major gifts fundraising, the disciplined work of identifying, cultivating, and engaging people who share an organization’s values and have the capacity to make significant charitable investments.

Community Foundation of the Ozarks, United Way & AG Filled the Room!

The success of the Springfield event began long before attendees arrived.

 

Brian Fogle, President and CEO of Community Foundation of the Ozarks, recognized the value this 2-day experience could provide their grantees and underwrote full scholarships so all the organizations they serve could attend.

“We sent our grantees to Major Gifts Ramp-Up to learn how how to properly receive, steward, manage and celebrate the major gifts given to them by CFO donors. We also believe that the nonprofits we invest in must have the ability to build financial-capacity independent of local granting organizations. Bringing our charities together for Major Gifts Ramp-Up taught them how to provide local philanthropists a giving experience that ensures they give again.”  — Brian Fogle, President & CEO, Community Foundation of the Ozarks

Debi Meeds, CEO of United Way of the Ozarks, is such a fan of Major Gifts Ramp-Up that she insisted all United Way-funded organizations attend this event.

“This is the second time we brought MGRU to Springfield. Why? Because Major Gifts Ramp-Up is the single greatest conference event on fundraising we’ve ever experienced. Our partner agencies lauded us for underwriting their scholarships so every member of the organization could attend as our personal guests at no cost. Their faculty took our breath away, made us laugh and cry and most importantly gave us hope and joy by sharing with us everything we need to locate all the big gifts in our community. We can’t wait to bring them back a third time.“ — Debi Meeds, CEO, United Way of the Ozarks

Jeff Hartensveld, Director of Fundraising Mobilization for Assemblies of God World Missions, also believes that major gifts play an important role when raising money for personal support.

“We make sure each AGWM missionary attends a Major Gifts Ramp-Up Experience to learn that raising $10,000 gifts is whole lot easier then raising $100 ones. Each of our families have ambitious goals for their international missions work. MGRU gives these overseas emissaries access to people who have the capacity and desire to make their vision a reality.” — Jeff Hartensveld, Assemblies of God World Missions

The Community Foundation, United Way and Assemblies of God demonstrated something important last week: community funders can do more than distribute charitable dollars. They can help strengthen the organizations they invest in by ensuring they build their own financial-capacity.

This Wasn’t a Conference. It Was an Experience.

Major Gifts Ramp-Up deliberately defies convention.

Over two days, Kristi & Jimmy LaRose, Redfern II, Pam Ballard and Louis Fawcett deployed the Major Gifts Ramp-Up Expereinc using humor, storytelling, audience participation, theatrical presentation and direct challenges to some of the nonprofit sector’s most deeply held assumptions.

There was laughter.

There were uncomfortable questions.

There were moments when participants realized that practices they had accepted for years might actually be keeping their organizations small.

And behind all of it was a serious proposition: Nonprofit organization must operate with the same intentionality, discipline, and “focus on results” that their for-profit counterparts are required to do in order to stay in business.

Mission alone does not create impact. Charitable organizations (just like any other business in Southern Missouri) require people, infrastructure, technology, leadership and capital. Major Gifts Ramp-Up teaches nonprofit executives how to stop surviving from event to event and grant to grant and instead systematically identify, cultivate and solicit individuals capable of making significant charitable investments. This requires charities to move beyond transactional fundraising and building authentic relationships with people whose values deeply align with their organization’s mission.

Walt Cameron & Honor Flights: Starting a Nonprofit From Scratch

One of the most memorable moments came not from the faculty but from Walt Cameron, co-founder of Honor Flights of the Ozarks, who shared his firsthand experience using the Major Gifts Ramp-Up Model to launch a brand-new nonprofit from scratch.

You see, Walt grew up during a time when our Nation’s “Greatest Generation” were giving their lives in service to our country. He was burdened by a conviction that these men and woman must be celebrated and thanked for their sacrifices that saved the world. After much thought and consideration he determined that every U.S. Military Veteran should, at least one time in their lives, be thanked for their achievements in a formal and memorable way. Since that moment, Walt and Honor Flights have flown thousands of U.S. Veterans to Washington, D.C. and Europe thanking them for their service to our Nation.

Walt’s story gave participants something no textbook could provide: evidence from someone who had actually done the work. He described what happens when he abandoned fundraising events, developed a compelling case for support, established a campaign cabinet, and then boldly invited local philanthropists who cared deeply about his cause to share their “best gift”

Major Gifts Ramp-Up provided him a framework for turning that compelling mission into relationships, resources and measurable outcomes. Walt’s testimony reinforced a central lesson of the two-day experience: Major gifts fundraising IS NOT reserved for enormous universities, hospitals and national institutions.

Small nonprofits can do it.

Even a brand new nonprofit starting from scratch can do it.

Stronger Together. Stronger Nonprofits.

By the conclusion of the two-day experience, participants weren’t simply leaving with another binder of conference materials.

They were leaving with a different question.

Not, “What fundraiser should we hold next?”

But rather:

“Who are the investors in our community that share our values, could believe in our mission and hav the capacity to help us accomplish something significant?”

That’s a very different way to think about fundraising.

And it happened because three respected local institutions understood that investing in nonprofit capacity benefits an entire community.

Community Foundation of the Ozarks, United Way of the Ozarks and Assemblies of God World Missions helped fill the room.

The nonprofit executives who attended brought their dreams, challenges and missions.

Major Gifts Ramp-Up brought a fundraising model designed to turn those dreams into funded realities.

Together, they demonstrated what can happen when leaders stop merely talking about nonprofit capacity and start building it.

Stronger together. Stronger nonprofits.

Bring the Major Gifts Ramp-Up Experience to Your Community

More than 21,000 nonprofit executives have attended a Major Gifts Ramp-Up Experience. Participants discover a new way to build the financial capacity their missions demand. VISIT HERE TO SEE A COMPLETE LIST ALUMNI. If now is the time to strengthen the charitable organizations serving your region, bring the Major Gifts Ramp-Up Experience to your community. See below the different ways you can reach out to the Major Gifts Ramp-Up team.

712 H Street NE, Suite 1149, Washington, DC 20002

Phone number: (202) 309-4125 or (800) 257-6670
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://MajorGiftsRampUp.com
Office hours: Monday through Friday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM EST

Community Foundation of the Ozarks and United Way Bring The Major Gifts Ramp-Up Experience to Springfield was first posted at INSIDE CHARITY MAGAZINE

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