Building and Cultivating Major Donors for Small- to Mid-Size Nonprofits Series
September 15 @ 9:30 am – October 13 @ 11:00 am CST
Virtual Workshop – Live/Online
Series Fee: $175 for MCN members / $255 for nonmembers
Many nonprofit leaders know they need to diversify funding, but major donor fundraising can feel out of reach, especially in small- to mid-size nonprofits without large development teams. The good news is that your next major donor is likely already connected to your organization or within your existing network. The key is knowing where to look, how to build the relationship, and how to confidently invite deeper investment in your mission.
In this 3-session virtual series, we will help you build the confidence, clarity, and practical systems needed to identify, cultivate, and engage major donors in ways that feel genuine, strategic, and aligned with your mission.
Across three live online sessions, we will reframe fundraising as relationship-building, map the people already surrounding your mission, prioritize the right donor prospects, and strengthen your ability to lead donor conversations with greater clarity and confidence. Through practical tools, guided exercises, and real-time application, this series is designed to help you move from uncertainty and overwhelm to a more focused, strategic, and repeatable approach to major donor fundraising.
You will leave with practical frameworks and tools you can use immediately to strengthen donor relationships, build a more intentional donor portfolio, and create momentum toward long-term fundraising sustainability. Past participants have shared that this course increased their confidence, strengthened their donor conversations, and gave them practical tools they could apply right away.
By the end of this 3-session series, you will be able to:
- Reframe major donor fundraising as an opportunity to build meaningful donor partnerships rather than simply ask for money.
- Identify potential major donors, connectors, and advisors already within your organization’s existing network.
- Prioritize the right donor prospects based on alignment, engagement, readiness, and funding goals.
- Develop tailored engagement strategies that deepen trust and move donor relationships forward.
- Lead donor conversations with greater clarity, confidence, and purpose.
- Use practical tools and frameworks to build a more structured, strategic, and repeatable major donor process that supports more diversified funding.
Session Details
Session 1: Mindset and Cultivate Mapping – September 15 @ 9:30am – 11:00am CT
In this session, we begin by exploring the psychology of generosity and dismantling the “begging” narrative that often creates fear or hesitation around fundraising. Together, we will shift the mindset from asking for money to inviting partnership in meaningful work.
We will then map 30–50 relationship pathways within your existing network to help you identify the hidden donor potential already surrounding your mission, including supporters, connectors, and advisors.
By the end of Session 1, you will be able to:
- Reframe fundraising as an invitation to partnership rather than a transactional ask.
- Describe how generosity, shared purpose, and donor motivation can shape stronger fundraising conversations.
- Identify supporters, connectors, and advisors already within your organization’s network.
- Create a Cultivate Map of 30–50 relationship pathways connected to your mission.
- Recognize where major donor potential may already exist within your current community and relationships.
Session 2: Building the Right Portfolio – September 29 @ 9:30am – 11:00am CT
In this session, we will help you move from a broad or cluttered database to a prioritized portfolio of qualified donor prospects. Using the Engagement Scorecard and related tools, we will evaluate prospects based on engagement, alignment, influence, readiness, and relationship strength.
You will begin building a focused Power 10 Portfolio and develop customized engagement designs that help move priority donors from contact to committed partner.
By the end of Session 2, you will be able to:
- Evaluate donor prospects using practical criteria such as alignment, engagement, influence, and readiness.
- Distinguish between a broad contact list and a focused donor portfolio built for meaningful cultivation.
- Prioritize a Power 10 Portfolio based on real funding goals and relationship potential.
- Develop customized engagement designs for your top prospects.
- Build a more strategic and repeatable process for major donor cultivation over time.
Session 3: Designing Confident Conversations – October 13 @ 9:30am – 11:00am CT
In this session, we will build the messaging and structure you need to lead donor conversations with greater clarity and confidence. Building on the work from the first two sessions, we will help you define impact, communicate need, and make the ask in a way that feels grounded, relational, and clear.
We will also strengthen your approach to stewardship so donors become more than a source of funding. They become meaningful partners in your mission.
By the end of Session 3, you will be able to:
- Use a clear framework to structure major donor conversations with greater confidence.
- Communicate shared values, need, impact, and invitation in a compelling and mission-centered way.
- Prepare for donor asks with messaging that feels clear, relational, and strategic.
- Approach the ask as a natural part of relationship-building rather than a disconnected fundraising task.
- Strengthen stewardship and next-step planning to support long-term donor partnership.
Optional Implementation Labs: From Strategy to Action – September 22, October 6, & October 20 @ 9:30am – 10:30am CT
These optional one-hour working sessions are designed to help you move from theory to execution without the overwhelm. Through peer discussion, hands-on application, and focused group coaching, we will bridge the gap between “knowing” and “doing.”
Rather than introducing new content, these sessions give you space to apply the course tools directly to your own donor portfolio, messaging, outreach strategies, and upcoming conversations. Together, we will troubleshoot challenges, refine next steps, and build momentum so you can walk into your next donor meeting with greater clarity, confidence, and a practical 90-day action plan.
By participating in the optional implementation labs, you will be able to:
- Apply course tools and frameworks directly to your own donor relationships and fundraising priorities.
- Refine engagement strategies, donor messaging, and next steps through peer discussion and group coaching.
- Strengthen your readiness for upcoming donor meetings and conversations.
- Build a practical 90-day activation plan for cultivation, asks, follow-up, and stewardship.
- Increase your confidence in moving from planning to real-world donor action.
These three Implementation Labs sessions are included with the “Building and Cultivating Major Donors for Small- to Mid-Size Nonprofits Series” registration.
What You Will Walk Away With
By the end of the series, you will leave with more than notes. You will leave with a practical fundraising engine built for immediate execution and long-term sustainability, including:
- The Cultivate Map: a strategic visualization of 30–50 relationship pathways and connectors within your existing network
- The Power 10 Portfolio: a prioritized list of qualified donors connected to real funding goals and revenue needs
- Custom Engagement Designs: tailored plans for moving top prospects from contact to committed investor
- The Ask Framework: a structured, confidence-building guide for donor conversations
- A 90-Day Activation Plan: a sequenced rhythm for outreach, follow-up, and stewardship that helps maintain momentum long after the first gift is made
Event Details
This event is a series with three dates and three optional Implementation Labs. The series registration price includes all six sessions.
Series Sessions:
- September 15 from 9:30am – 11:00am CT
- September 29 from 9:30am – 11:00am CT
- October 13 from 9:30am – 11:00am CT
Optional Implementation Labs:
- September 22 from 9:30am – 10:30am CT
- October 6 from 9:30am – 10:30am CT
- October 20 from 9:30am – 10:30am CT
This virtual event will take place on the Zoom platform. Your access link will be emailed to you the day before the event after 12 p.m.
This sessions will be recorded available to registrants after the live event.
Captioning is provided automatically through Zoom. For information on requesting CART, ASL, or another accommodation, please visit our Registration Policies page.
To learn more about events, registration, and payment, visit our Event & Registration FAQ page.
We offer partial scholarships for all of our educational workshops. Visit our Scholarships page for more information.
Speaker Information
Ellen Christine is a nonprofit strategist and fundraising strategist who helps small to mid-size nonprofits diversify funding, build meaningful donor partnerships, and create stronger, more sustainable fundraising systems. With more than 20 years of experience in nonprofit leadership and fundraising, she has helped organizations raise over $1 billion to expand mission impact.
Her work began on the ground in South Africa, where she founded a grassroots nonprofit that served 15,000 students and mobilized hundreds of volunteers. That experience shaped her practical, relationship-centered approach to fundraising, leadership, and organizational growth. None of it started with theory. It started in the trenches.
Today, Ellen is known for making major donor fundraising feel more human, strategic, and accessible to leaders who may not have large development teams or formal fundraising training. She believes that for nonprofits to truly thrive, their leaders must thrive too, and she brings both strategy and heart to helping leaders build joy-filled, sustainable approaches to fundraising and growth.
