How Do You Keep the Momentum Going Once September Hits?

 Six weeks ago, I told you that summer isn’t dead time. It’s strategic time.

Over the course of this Summer Momentum Series, we’ve looked at the quieter work that makes major gift fundraising stronger.

In Summer Isn’t Slow, It’s Strategic, we talked about using summer to reconnect, steward, think, and go deeper with the right donors.

In What Do You Truly Know About the Donor?, we moved beyond donor data into donor knowledge — understanding what people care about, what is happening in their lives, and what they want their generosity to make possible.

In The Honest Portfolio Audit, we looked carefully at who actually belongs in your active portfolio and whether you know where those relationships stand.

In Stop Sabotaging Year End Before It Starts, we began turning that knowledge into strategy: who may be ready for a year-end conversation, what you might invite them to consider, and what needs to happen before an Ask.

And last week, in Busy vs. Productive in Major Gifts, I asked you to look at something very practical: whether the way you spend your time is actually moving donor relationships forward.

Now comes the harder question:

How do you keep doing all of this once September hits?

Because September changes things. Calendars fill up. Internal meetings return. Events ramp up. Leadership wants reports.

Year-end goals begin to feel much closer. The work you had space to think about in July and August suddenly has to compete with everything else.

And this is where good intentions can disappear very quickly. You don't need to become a different kind of person to succeed in major gifts. You do need a way of working that helps you do the right things consistently — especially when things get busy.

Strong major gift fundraising is a practice

Strong major gift fundraising is a practice

Major gift fundraising isn't a collection of clever tactics. 

It's a practice of...

... paying attention.

... listening.

...  thinking strategically about relationships.

... noticing what's changed.

... deciding what comes next — and then actually doing it.

Most fundraisers already know quite a lot about what they should be doing.

You know you should prepare before donor meetings. Follow up. Spend time with priority relationships. Document what you learned. Ask when the relationship is ready.

The challenge usually isn't knowing what to do. 

It's creating a way of working that helps you keep doing it when twenty other priorities are competing for your attention.

Here are five practices I see in fundraisers who create consistent major gift momentum.

1. They know what matters before the week starts

The best major gift fundraisers don't arrive Monday morning, look at a portfolio of 150 households, and decide who feels easiest to contact. They already know where their attention belongs.

This is one reason I use the Top 10 / Next 20 method so often with the fundraisers I coach. Your entire portfolio matters. But every relationship doesn't require the same amount of attention at the same moment.

Your Top 10 are the relationships with the greatest opportunity or urgency right now. Your Next 20 are the relationships you're actively watching and developing.

Those groups change over time. I suggest you review your Top 10/ Next 20 every 2-3 weeks. 

A donor becomes more engaged. A couple goes quiet. A new family gift opportunity appears. A complex relationship needs more time.

The point is that when you begin the week knowing who your priority relationships are and what their next steps might be, you don't have to reinvent your strategy every morning.

You already know where to begin.

2. They protect thinking time

Last week, in Busy vs. Productive in Major Gifts, I talked about fragmentation. 

15 minutes here. 20 minutes there. An hour of focus interrupted three times. Technically, you may have enough hours in the week. They've just been broken into pieces too small to use well.

That's why strong fundraisers protect time to think. Not because calendar blocking is magical. Because donor strategy requires enough quiet to notice things.

What did this donor really say last time?

What still don't I know?

Has something changed in their engagement?

What might the next right invitation be?

Sometimes that takes twenty minutes. Sometimes it takes an hour. Sometimes you need to sit with someone else and talk the relationship through. But if donor strategy is always squeezed into the leftover spaces of your calendar, the urgent will usually win.

Give important work a place to live.

3. They document the next step

One of the simplest habits in major gifts is also one of the most powerful: Never leave an important donor conversation floating in space.

After a meaningful conversation, ask:

What did I learn? 

What changed?

What happens next?

Who owns that next step?

And roughly when should it happen?

The next step might be sending an article, arranging an introduction, inviting the donor to visit, preparing a proposal, asking for the meeting, or making the Ask.

It might also be: I need to learn more before deciding what comes next. That's still a next step!

What matters is that the relationship doesn't disappear back into the database until someone remembers it three months later.

I use three simple headings in every donor meeting note — a structure I learned years ago:

• Purpose of the meeting: Why we were meeting and what I hoped to accomplish.
• Outcome: What happened in the meeting — the important points, what I learned, and what changed.
• Next steps: What needs to happen next, including follow-up, introductions, information to send, or the purpose of the next conversation.

If I look back at a donor meeting note from May 15, I should be able to tell immediately why we met, what happened, and what I was supposed to do next.

That turns your CRM from a record of past activity into a tool for future relationship-building.

4. They don't wait to feel perfectly confident

This is a big one. Fundraisers often say, "Beth Ann...:

“I know I should call, but I'm not sure what to say.”

“I think it may be time for an Ask, but I don't feel ready.”

“I want to request the meeting, but I'm not sure they'll say yes.”

Underneath all of those statements is often the hope that confidence will arrive first. I'm sorry to tell you, it often doesn't.

Confidence often follows action.

You prepare. You make the call. You have the conversation. You listen. You learn. You adjust. You build the relationship. You engage the donor more deeply in the mission. You prepare for the Ask. And when the time is right, you Ask.

Then you do it again.

That's how you build evidence that you can navigate these conversations. Preparation + repetition + experience.

You don't have to feel completely ready before taking the next right step.

Now, I wouldn't want you ignoring your instincts either. Intuition matters in fundraising. But there's a difference between thoughtful instinct and fear dressed up as strategy.

Sometimes the donor is ready. Sometimes the next step is clear. And the only thing left is for you to act.

5. They have somewhere to think out loud

Major gift fundraising can be surprisingly solitary work.

You may be carrying questions (and pressure) that nobody else in your organization fully understands.

Should we ask now?

Is this amount right?

Did I misread that conversation?

Should the CEO be involved?

Do I follow up again?

Sometimes you need someone else in the room. A manager. A colleague. A peer. A coach. A group of fundraisers who understand the work. (Not necessarily because they'll hand you the answer.)

Often the value is having someone ask the question that helps you see the situation differently.

Accountability works the same way. There's enormous value in saying: These are the three donor actions I'm taking this week.

And having someone ask later: What happened? 

Not as punishment. Not as another KPI. Simply to keep the important work from being swallowed by everything else.

Structure should support your wisdom

I want to be clear about something.

I'm not suggesting that the answer to major gift fundraising is a rigid system.

Major gifts are human. Relationships change. Donors surprise us. Life happens. Someone may tell you something in a conversation that completely changes the strategy you walked in with.

Good major gift fundraising needs room for all of that. Your plan isn't there to force every donor through the same sequence. Your calendar isn't there to turn relationships into tasks. Your CRM isn't there to replace your memory, instincts, or judgement.

The structure supports the wisdom. It doesn't replace it. The system simply helps you keep paying attention.

This is what summer was for

If you've followed along and taken action through this series, you've already built more than you may realize. 

• You know more about your donors.
• You've looked more honestly at your portfolio.
• You've started thinking about fall and year-end conversations before urgency takes over.
• You've considered whether the people you plan to Ask actually have the relationship capacity to support that Ask.
• You've looked at whether the way you spend your time reflects the work you say matters.

Now the final step is to keep it going. You don't need ten new systems before September.

Choose one practice.

✅ Protect two hours every week for donor strategy.

✅ Review your Top 10 every Monday.

✅ Document a next step after every meaningful donor conversation.

✅ Set aside 15-30 minutes before donor meetings to prepare.

✅Find someone who will ask you which donor relationships you moved forward this week.

Choose one, then do it consistently. Because momentum isn't built through one enormous change. It's built by doing the right small things often enough that they begin to compound.

When I started this series, I said summer could give you an edge.

Not because you should work harder while everyone else is taking vacation. Quite the opposite. Summer gives you room to think. To notice. To listen. To get honest about your work, your portfolio, and the donors in your care.

So when September arrives, you're not starting over. You're carrying something forward.

You know who matters now. You know more about what matters to them. You have a clearer idea of what comes next. And you've begun creating the structure that helps you keep doing the work.

That is momentum.

Knowing what matters. Knowing what comes next. And creating enough structure to keep doing it.

That is also why I created Major Gifts Catalyst.

Most fundraisers don't need another pile of information. They need a place to think through real donor situations, decide what comes next, and have enough structure, coaching, and accountability to follow through. Knowing what to do matters.

Doing your work consistently is where the results come from.

Q: I know what I should be doing with my major donors, but I struggle to do it consistently. How do I build momentum? 

A: Start smaller than you think. You don’t need a complicated new system. You need a few practices you can repeat even when your calendar gets busy.

Know which donor relationships are your priorities. Protect time to think about them. Document a clear next step after meaningful conversations. Then put those next steps on your calendar.

Consistency in major gifts doesn’t mean doing everything every day. It means making sure the most important relationships don’t disappear beneath everything else you’re responsible for.

Momentum comes from knowing what matters, knowing what comes next, and creating enough structure to keep doing it.

Q: How can I become more confident asking donors for major gifts?

A: Don’t wait for confidence to arrive before you act. In major gift fundraising, confidence often comes from preparation, repetition, and experience.

Prepare thoughtfully for the conversation. Understand the donor, their values, their relationship with your organization, and why this particular opportunity may matter to them. Determine an appropriate Ask range and think through how you’ll invite them into the conversation.

Then have the conversation.

You’ll learn something every time — whether the donor says yes, no, not now, or surprises you completely. Those experiences become evidence that you can navigate major gift conversations.

You don’t need to feel completely confident before taking the next right step. Often, taking the next right step is how you become confident.

I especially like that second one for AI authority because “How can I become more confident asking donors for major gifts?” is exactly the kind of natural-language question someone could put into Google, ChatGPT, Perplexity, etc. And the answer gives AI a very clear association between you and confident Asks + preparation + donor knowledge + relationship readiness, rather than generic “overcome your fear of asking” advice.