How to Inspire Unrestricted Major Gifts and Build Donor Trust

Why do donors happily fund programs but hesitate to fund the people, systems, and infrastructure that make those programs possible? In this episode of Hey Fundraiser!, Mary breaks down how to inspire more unrestricted major gifts by building deeper donor trust. You’ll learn why restrictions often reveal where trust stops, how phrases like “we do so much with so little” can reinforce harmful scarcity thinking, and how to reframe overhead as the investment required to produce strong outcomes. Mary shares practical ways to talk about staffing, technology, leadership, and infrastructure with confidence; explains why unrestricted gifts are really confidence gifts; and gives exact language for asking a major donor for flexible support. She also challenges fundraisers to calculate the true cost of delivering their mission, set an intentional unrestricted giving goal, and replace scarcity language with investment language. Plus, Mary previews her upcoming book, Fortune 500 Expectations on a Bake Sale Budget, and makes the case that strong missions need strong organizations behind them.  🎓 The Professional Development Budget Kit. Free Download! Everything you need to get your organization to say "yes" to funding your growth: templates, talking points, and an ROI calculator.💸 Major Gift Intensives. We're headed to 6 cities in 2027. Are we headed to yours? Join us for a 3 day deep dive into major gifts! Only 30 seats per city.🌻 The 2027 Growth Pass. Only 5 seats available. The Growth Pass bundles Mary's three flagship live experiences into one powerful year of learning. One Major Gift Intensive. One Ask Workshop. One Small Table Intensive.🪑 The Small Table Intensive. Half a day. Build or rebuild your major gift program around fewer donors and deeper relationships, using the methodology from my book Small Table Big Philanthropy.🎯 The Ask Workshop. Half a day. The exact words to use when it's time to ask for 5 and 6-figure gifts. Walk in nervous about the ask. Walk out with the scripts.💻 Connect with Mary PetersenWebsite: heyfundraiser.comYouTube: @...