Gail Perry, MBA, CFRE

Wish you could fire up your volunteer committees with new energy and enthusiasm for fundraising? What if they were all excited about the possibilities for your institution and eager to play a part in making it happen?

Join consultant and author Gail Perry, MBA, CFRE, to learn how to ignite your volunteers' passion and get them actively engaged in fundraising. Whether you are dealing with a campaign committee, a visiting or advisory committee, there are surefire ways to rev them up. You'll discover how to change your volunteers' mindset about fundraising, overcome their fear, and put them to work where you need them. Gail will show you how to make the fundraising process less intimidating, and how to empower your volunteers to make friends for the cause. You'll discover how to tap your volunteers’ fundraising potential and activate their enthusiasm for all aspects of fundraising including finding friends, donors and spreading the good word about their vision for your institution. 

Major gift fundraising really CAN be fun and interesting. You really CAN listen your way to the gift. What are the unwritten rules of fundraising? Join Gail Perry, MBA, CFRE, for a “not politically correct,” frank discussion about subtle issues we don’t usually talk about. How do you deal with the wealthy? How do you overcome the intimidation factor? How to build trust? How important are good manners?

Learn Gail Perry's "soft sell" approach to fundraising that lets the donor lead the way. Learn how to create a relationship with a prospect that's organic, natural and fun.  We’ll discuss how listening skills, small talk and social skills can take your relationship with your donor from transactional to actually transformational.

You'll learn exactly HOW to make a call on a major donor prospect: what to do, what to say, how to be.

• Why social skills matter so much
• The kiss of death for a fundraiser 
• What's the most important quality you need to get ahead in your career
• The 5 interpersonal qualities that will advance your relationships with wealthy donors
• The correct way to use "small talk" with donors
• How to build a donor's trust in you and your cause 
• The little things that matter most to donors 
• How to survive politics 

Gail Perry, MBA, CFRE, is an international fundraising consultant, keynote speaker, trainer and philanthropy leader. She is a leader in the new breed of fundraisers who are on the cutting edge of fundraising today.

Her Fired-Up Fundraising approach, developed over the past 30 years as a nonprofit philanthropy expert, has helped organizations raise hundreds of millions in gifts.

Perry was recently named #10 on the list of America’s Top Fundraising Experts, published by Philanthropy Media.  Her best-selling book, Fired-Up Fundraising: Turn Board Passion into Action (Wiley/AFP) has been called the “gold standard guide to building successful fundraising boards.”  She leads energizing fundraising workshops and board retreats around the globe.  She particularly enjoys working with nonprofit board members, introducing them to a new perspective on fundraising and how they can be successful.

Perry launched her fundraising career at Duke University and then went on to lead fundraising at the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  You can read her weekly blogs at FiredUpFundraising.com, and also find her provocative articles at Fundraising Success, Guidestar and Capital Campaign Masters.