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Charities are flooding wealthy individuals with donation requests as the country confronts numerous crises. Many big donors want to help, but the extraordinary need has left some wondering how best to make a difference.

To attract gifts from these supporters, fundraisers need to understand what’s on their minds when deciding how to direct their resources, experts say. “What they’re concerned with is twofold: They want to give to immediate needs and to rebuilding from the disasters of the multiple pandemics we’re facing,” says Kate Guedj, chief philanthropy officer at the Boston Foundation. They also have a real clear devotion to the organizations they’ve been giving to already, so I counsel nonprofits to deepen their relationships with their existing donors.”

You’ll have the best odds of getting to “yes” with major donors if you connect your work to the crises, clearly define what your nonprofit needs to advance its mission, and convey this information to donors quickly and well, experts say.

For example, create messages that feel genuine, not overly curated or polished. And don’t overdo outreach to donors. Remember that many of them may be facing health, economic, or other challenges of their own.

Read more in 3 Big Donors Talk About Giving in the Time of Covid, Racial Unrest, and Recession, and watch our recent webinar, Major-Gift Fundraisers: Learn From Your Peers.

Take care,
Lisa Schohl
Editor, Online Learning

Tip of the Week

To stay healthy during this crisis, create pockets of calm and build rhythms into your day. Stop to pay attention to the lunch you are eating or take a break for a couple of hours in the middle of the day, suggests Teresa Mateus, co-founder of Trauma Response & Crisis Care for Movements, which offers training and support for activists. Try not to succumb to the push to be productive all the time, she advises. Commit to a schedule, and close your laptop at a set time each day, for example.

“When you’re working from home, it can be very tempting to not set healthy work boundaries, but it’s really important that people to set up a schedule for the day,” says Darcy Gruttadaro, director of the Center for Workplace Mental Health at the American Psychiatric Association Foundation. “Set up your schedule in a way that everyone in your home is clear on what’s happening when,” she says. Schedule breaks and designate blocks of “no screen time” to ensure you get a break from the news and social media.

Get more advice in ‘Be Gentle’: How to Stay Healthy Emotionally During Social Isolation, and consult Philanthropy.com for more than 1,150 advice articles and tools for nonprofits.

Attract Corporate Support for Your Next Virtual Event

Join Our Webinar — Savvy fundraisers and event planners have reinvented galas and other in-person fundraising events in recent months, creating engaging virtual affairs in response to the Covid-19 crisis. One puzzle some groups have solved: How to attract corporate support for online gatherings and recognize these donors before, during, and after a virtual event.

Join the Chronicle and three expert guests for a 75-minute webinar in which we’ll share proven advice and real-world examples of tactics that are working now. You’ll learn from two nonprofit fundraising executives and a veteran event planner who has helped dozens of organizations adapt their events to a digital format since the pandemic began.

Sign up today to join us on Thursday, September 24, at 2 p.m. Eastern. Can’t make it then? Watch it on demand at your convenience.

One-on-One: A Giving-Pledge Donor Calls for Change in a Time of Tumult

Join Our Free Briefing — As the nation continues to grapple with the pandemic and its economic fallout, and calls for racial justice grow louder, one Giving Pledge donor is urging other wealthy people to get more involved.

Join us on September 30 at 2 p.m. Eastern for a one-on-one conversation with Melanie Lundquist, who has appeared, along with her husband, four times on the Philanthropy 50 list of top donors in America. She’ll explain why she supports public schools and good health care and why she:

• Urges fellow big donors to support solutions that can be copied across the nation and around the globe.
• Believes philanthropy must advance equity by focusing on and fixing the ways society fails those who are denied these basic human rights.
• Pursues advocacy and wants other donors to know that dollars alone do not accomplish what is needed today.

This conversation will help nonprofit leaders understand how to encourage other donors to give generously and wisely — and offers an opportunity for donors, board members, and others to deepen their understanding of how to respond in these tumultuous days.

Individual Chronicle subscribers are automatically pre-registered. Reminder emails will be sent out in advance; just click on the link to join.

For a limited time, this free briefing is open to everyone, but non-subscribers must register to secure a spot.

New Grant Opportunities

Your Chronicle subscription includes free access to GrantStation’s database of grant opportunities. Among the latest listings:

Environment. The Cornell Douglas Foundation provides grants of $15,000 to $50,000 to nonprofits that address environmental health and justice, land conservation, sustainability of resources, mountaintop removal mining, watershed protection, and K-12 financial literacy. Grant requests are reviewed throughout the year.

Grassroots organizing. Resist supports grassroots groups that are building movements for justice and liberation and resisting systemic oppression through grassroots organizing, art-making, and resilience building. Grants of up to $4,000 are provided to groups working on anti-racism projects, economic justice, environmental protection, LGBTQ rights, labor organizing, and Native American organizing, and more. Requests are reviewed four times a year; the upcoming deadline is December 4.