The seventh cohort of INN’s Major Gifts Cohort Program will begin training this month in cultivating and securing major gifts – $5,000 or more – for their newsrooms. These 10 newsrooms will spend the next three months in training sessions, followed by four months of coaching from INN’s Network Philanthropy Director Stephanie Schenkel and MajorDonors.com President Diane Remin.
The Major Gifts Cohort Program is geared toward mid-sized nonprofit newsrooms that have some fundraising experience but may not have the knowledge or resources to take their fundraising to the next level. To be eligible, INN members had to demonstrate through a wealth screening that they had 20 major donors or major donor prospects in their donor file.
These newsrooms will learn everything necessary to cultivate and build deeper personal relationships with major donors, said Schenkel.
“We’ll be working with these newsrooms to develop processes and workflows for using wealth screenings to prospect for large gifts, specifically using DonorSearch, which they receive a subscription to as part of this program,” she said. “We’ll also help them with developing language and tools to make an ask to high net worth donors, like segmenting donor files to deliver tailored touch points.”
News organizations participating in the seventh cohort are:
- Bay Nature Institute
- Cardinal News
- MLK50: Justice Through Journalism
- PolitiFact
- Embarcadero Media Foundation
- The Sick Times
- Mission Local
- Growing Community Media
- KAXE
- Mississippi Free Press
Since 2018, INN has trained 42 newsrooms in the Major Gifts Cohort Program. Most have seen significant increases in their major gift donations. Across the INN Network, individual giving comprises about 30% of members’ revenue, with nearly two-thirds of that coming from major gifts.
“Without the support and coaching I had received through this program, it’s unlikely I would’ve confidently asked for so much, or moved as quickly through the earlier stages of the giving conversation,” said Andrew Wallmeyer, former CEO of MinnPost.
“The curiosity and persistence that journalists bring to their investigative work are exactly the skills required for major gift work,” said Remin, who serves as the lead trainer of the program. “What is missing are the tools and training that journalists need in order to have the confidence to go talk with their donors — and ask for a gift.“
The Major Gifts Cohort Program is part of INN’s year-round support to help members attract investments from their audiences, and that support is yielding results: during the year-end NewsMatch 2024 fundraising campaign, 234 organizations attracted local matches from their communities, a 21% increase over the previous year.
