During a session on “The Future of Philanthropy: Increasing Your Financial Resources,” panelists Douglas Mason, a partner in Gonser Gerber Tinker Stuhr, and Jerold Panas, president and partner in Jerold Panas, Linzy & Partners, summarized recent developments in fundraising:

     “Today’s giving psyche,” Panas noted, “is improving with the more favorable economic news.” He pointed out that campaigns are more dependent these days on major gifts. He recalled that “20 years ago the rule was 80 percent of your total campaign donations came from 20 percent of your donors. Then the rates changed to 90 percent/10 percent.” He said his firm recently analyzed 23 campaigns of more than $100 million and found that “97.4 percent of the money came from 1.7 percent of the donors.”
     Panas and Mason agreed that today major gifts are more likely to account for 95 percent of a campaign and advised presidents to focus their own personal solicitation efforts on 25-50 prospects or fewer. It is imperative, both experts admonished, that presidents personally involve themselves in the cultivation and solicitation of major gifts.