10 Fundraising Activities to Generate More Revenue in 2027
Whether your fundraising goal is an annual campaign of $1M or you’re a more established nonprofit charitable organization needing to raise $10M+ -- check out a variety of ways to raise more revenue for your cause. We like to find ‘low effort/high return’ tactics which result in impactful and impressive ROI.
1) CULTIVATE RELATIONSHIPS WITH MAJOR DONORS
Major donors contribute some of the largest gifts to your nonprofit, and as a result, require the most involved relationship-building efforts. Remember: 78 percent of giving comes from traditional (pure philanthropic) contributions. Get to know your major donors through one-on-one meetings, intimate events, shared values and tailor your cultivation and stewardship efforts to their specific interests in your organization.
Genius Point: Know that individuals are by far the largest source of philanthropy in the United States, ($600 billion annual giving) accounting for 64% of all charitable giving. When combined with bequests (charitable gifts left in wills and estates), individual living and deceased human donors drive 74% of all U.S. philanthropy.
2) ENCOURAGE RECURRING GIVING
Recurring giving can help your nonprofit establish a reliable donation pipeline year-round. Add a monthly giving option to your donation form and advertise your recurring program on your website, social media and email newsletter. Call attention to the specific benefits of monthly giving, like the convenience of only submitting billing information once and the opportunity to play a greater role in your mission.
Pro Tip: If you have an army of passionate volunteers (e.g. docents at a museum; volunteer educators at a learning institution), use them to make outbound calls to your donor base and ask if they would want to be part of a ‘recurring giving’ initiative. Make sure to give them a script and conduct a small training session.
Donors of all sizes enjoy a personal touch and can be especially kind, cooperative to a volunteer who gives up time, talent and treasure for a worthy organization.
3) HOST A 24-HOUR GIVING CHALLENGE
A giving day is a great opportunity to earn a lot of funds in a short period of time. By limiting your campaign to 24 hours, you can create a sense of urgency and spur action among your supporters to meet your goal.
Consider leveraging an existing giving day, like Giving Tuesday, or creating your own giving day. Either way, make sure you take plenty of time to market your upcoming campaign so supporters will know about it in advance and can donate before your giving challenge ends.
Genius Point: Today’s ecosystem of social media platforms gives us a VERY affordable platform to reach current and new contributors. Pick a timely theme (e.g. Michael J. Fox’s birthday to support a cure for Parkinson’s Disease) and give prospective audiences a reason to a) learn more; b) give; and c) become an advocate.
4) DON'T FORGET ABOUT LEGACY GIFTS
A legacy gift, also known as a planned gift, is a donation that is typically given after a donor has passed. This is often a large-scale gift that can make a serious impact on your nonprofit’s revenue generation.
There are many types of legacy giving, including bequests and the accumulated value from life insurance policies.
Pro Tip: To add legacy gifts to your nonprofit’s fundraising strategy, build a mini-campaign to educate all stakeholders – like your Board of Directors, Committees, Volunteers, Annual Donors, Staff - about this opportunity and explain the benefits, including the ability to leave a long-lasting impact with significant tax benefits.
5) PROMOTE MATCHING GIFTS
If you’re not familiar with the concept of matching gifts, they’re donations that companies make to match their employees’ contributions to your cause. Although over 26 million people work for companies with matching gift programs, over 78% of them are unaware of this opportunity to maximize their impact and raise more for your organization.
That’s why it’s so important to promote matching gifts to your supporters. By doing so, you can encourage them to check their matching gift eligibility and submit matching gift requests to their employers so they can boost your fundraising efforts.
Genius Point: While you can promote matching gifts via channels like email, social media, text messages, and direct mail, you can upgrade your matching gift marketing strategy by investing in a matching gift search tool. This type of software integrates with your donation page so donors can check their eligibility and submit the appropriate forms right after contributing. For best results, look for a corporate giving tool that offers auto-submission, a feature that streamlines the matching gift process and drives more matches through to completion.
6) RUN A MATCHING GIFT CHALLENGE
The Clemons-Associates team LOVES a matching gift challenge.
One of our favorite campaigns was a simple design: Philanthropist Robert A. Funk, Sr. (founder of Express Employment Professionals) pledged $5M to his favorite nonprofit organization. We built a campaign called ONWARD to secure the other $5M via matching gift challenge.
The $10M is now held in an endowment at the local community foundation and distributes 5% of the fund’s corpus+interest each year.
Pro Tip: You can always ‘drop in’ a 1:1 matching gift challenge as a mini-campaign within a larger campaign. Consider a $1M capital campaign where a bank contributes $5,000. You can lend the bank’s name/brand to a timebound matching gift challenge and let audiences know that their gift will take total gift impact to $10,000.
This is a great way to inspire your donors to give more so they can increase their impact and play a more rewarding role in your mission.
7) LEVERAGE PEER-TO-PEER FUNDRAISING
Peer-to-peer fundraising hands over the fundraising reins to your loyal supporters. With the help of your fundraising platform, you can enable supporters to create their own personal fundraising pages that they can easily share with their personal networks. Then, watch their donations take off as they spread the word about your nonprofit and drive brand-new supporters toward your giving opportunities.
8) SEEK NEW GIFTS WITH FAMILY FOUNDATIONS
Consider that the percentage of family foundations with assets of $10 million or more nearly doubled from 26% to 47%between 2020 and 2025, according to the National Center for Family Philanthropy's Trends 2025 study. [1]
We find that securing gifts from family foundations requires a more personal, relational approach than applying to large corporate or community foundations. Because family members or close advisors typically manage these funds, your strategy should focus on building trust and aligning with their personal values.
Pro Tip: Here are our three simple and effective strategies to secure funding from family foundations:
1. Research the Family’s Legacy and "Giving Footprint". Review their Form 990 and find a connection.
2. Leverage Existing Connections. Map your network and look for connections by way of foundation’s board members and trustees with your own board of directors, staff, and key volunteers.
3. Focus on Relationships Over Transactions. Leaders want to know the people behind the nonprofit they are supporting. Request a brief conversation and involve trusted friend/colleagues early in the process.
9) SEEK NEW GRANT OPPORTUNITIES
Government agencies, corporations and foundations often offer grants to nonprofits to help them pursue their missions. Most grants, however, are restricted, meaning that the awarding organization sets limits for how the money can be used. Do your research to find grant opportunities that will meet your needs in your local community and beyond.
Leveraging a variety of different strategies can help diversify your revenue sources and give your nonprofit the financial stability it needs to advance its cause. Meet with your team and an expert fundraising consultant to determine the fundraising activities that align most closely with your fundraising strategy goals and will help your nonprofit ramp up giving.
10) PLAN AND EXECUTE MICRO EVENTS
Micro-events to help tell your story, build mission awareness and educate, inspire new donors.
Micro-events are small, targeted, and highly intentional gatherings—typically for 10 to 50 people—designed to build deep relationships, share your organization's mission, and cultivate prospective donors without the massive overhead of a traditional gala.
And we know from experience Micro-events are impactful when they are brief, respectful of time, and punchy. Avoid long, drawn-out schedules.
See timeline example:
Pro Tip: What is often overlooked is the strategic follow up. Before you execute micro-events, develop a solid 48-Hour Follow-Up (Procuring the Donor) plan. The follow-up is where the rubber meets the road.
Step 1: The Thank You (Within 24 Hours)
Send a personalized email or text thanking them for their time within 24 hours.
Step 2: The "Coffee Meeting" Invite (Within 48 Hours)
Reach out (schedule a coffee meeting) to the attendees who showed the most engagement.
Step 3: The Discovery & Ask (The Coffee Meeting)
Use this one-on-one meeting to uncover their philanthropic goals and ‘match organizational needs with donors’ passions’.
The Clemons-Associates team has a host of talented members to serve you. Heck, our team members helped design the plan, write the copy, develop the impact stories, and build the graphics for the state of Oklahoma's first successful ONE BILLION dollar campaign (kudos to visionary Burn Hargis!)
And if you are considering a major gift campaign in 2026, the Clemons-Associates team is happy to ‘talk turkey’ with you relative to your SWOT analysis, capital/endowment needs, impact stories, campaign's case for support and NEXT STEPS planning serving your mission and working with key Board, Committee Members and staff.
Pictured: Craig Clemons with his close friend; the late Philanthropist and President/Founder/Board Chairman of Express Employment Professionals, Bob Funk, Sr.
Seeking expert assistance from seasoned professionals?
Contact Craig Clemons at craig@clemons-associates.com or one of our rock star associates for more details. Clemons & Associates is on standby to help you with brand identity, strategic messaging, campaigns, digital assets and programs/projects. See more blog articles at clemons-associates.com.
