Stop Selling Programs: How to Position Offers and Outcomes So Donors Understand Them

If your major gift opportunities sound like a menu of programs, you may be unintentionally teaching donors to restrict their giving. In this episode of Hey Fundraiser!, Mary goes deeper on Offers & Outcomes and shows how to position your work around the change a donor can make instead of your internal program structure. You’ll learn the difference between a program and an offer, why specificity does not have to mean restriction, how to package cross-program work into a compelling major gift opportunity, and why donors should be investing in outcomes, not accounting codes. Mary also explains how to stop asking donors to design your strategy, how to price an outcome so it becomes an investable opportunity, and how flexible funding can actually make stewardship stronger because you can report back on the result the donor helped create. She shares examples from housing, healthcare, higher education, and the arts, plus a simple exercise to help you rework your own language: “With an investment of X, you can help us Y.” The goal is to stop selling programs and start inviting donors into meaningful, measurable change. 🎓 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: @...