Center for Major Gifts

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1)

Viken Mikaelian January 1, 2026

This sweeping tax reform reshapes charitable giving starting in 2026. It offers a permanent above-the-line deduction ($1,000/$2,000) for small donors but imposes a 0.5% AGI floor and Pease cap on high-income filers, reducing their tax savings. A new $1,700 K–12 scholarship credit favors gifts to education. Corporate gifts below 1% of income lose deductibility, and elite university endowments face steep new taxes. Nonprofits must now reassess executive pay, gift timing, and appeal strategies to adapt.

Grand Canyon at sunset — vast scale representing the transformational impact of major gift fundraising

Major Gifts: The Complete Guide to Building, Growing, and Closing Transformational Donor Relationships

Joe Garecht April 9, 2026

Most nonprofits say they want major gifts. What they actually have is a list of donors and a quiet hope. That’s not a strategy. Major gifts are built through a disciplined five-stage pipeline — identification, qualification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship. This guide walks through every stage in depth, with real frameworks, hard truths, and no filler. Twenty-five years of major gift fundraising, distilled into one complete resource.

Nonprofit fundraiser meeting donor with tablet showing data insights and relationship mapping for major and planned giving

Your Donors Have a Story. Your Tools Are Only Giving You a Score.

Will Schrepferman March 23, 2026

Most gift officers walk into meetings armed with scores—and leave money on the table. Capacity ratings and wealth estimates don’t reveal why a donor would say yes. Today’s AI-driven research uncovers the story behind the wealth: motivations, relationships, and long-term intent. When you stop relying on scores and start understanding stories, you don’t just ask better—you identify the donors ready for major and planned gifts.

Hourglass illustrating the risk of bequest revocations when donor relationships are not actively maintained.

Bequest Revocations: Where the Money Goes When Donors Walk Away

Inside Contributor February 8, 2026

Bequest revocations are a metric almost no advancement office tracks. As legacy intentions become easier to generate through low-friction, self-service tools, they also become easier to abandon. Institutions report growth while relationships thin. The numbers remain intact. The donor’s commitment does not.

Center for Major Gifts

Strategy, research, and real-world practice.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1)

Major Gifts: The Complete Guide to Building, Growing, and Closing Transformational Donor Relationships

Your Donors Have a Story. Your Tools Are Only Giving You a Score.

Bequest Revocations: Where the Money Goes When Donors Walk Away

Major Gifts Boot Camp

Planned Giving Boot Camp