KITTIWAKE ACADEMY
Major Gift Intensive
Next Cohort Starts January 2027
A 6-month Major Gift Fundraising program designed for nonprofit professionals ready to strengthen donor relationships, build a healthier pipeline, and grow their fundraising confidence.
Build the skills, confidence, and fundraising pipeline needed to secure transformational gifts and lead sustainable growth.
Key Highlights
Fully Virtual
Program
Participate from anywhere, with all training, coaching, and peer sessions delivered online for maximum flexibility.
Open to organizations across Canada
Join a national cohort of nonprofit professionals and fundraisers from communities across the country.
Cohort-Based
Learning
Learn alongside a small group of peers who provide accountability, shared insights, and valuable networking opportunities.
Maximum 10 Participants
An intentionally small cohort size ensures personalized attention, meaningful discussion, and individualized coaching support
Why Kittiwake Academy's Major Gift Intensive?
Fundraising success doesn't come from training alone—it comes from applying what you learn to real donor relationships and real fundraising opportunities. Kittiwake Academy combines expert-led education, personalized coaching, and peer learning to help nonprofit professionals strengthen their fundraising practice, build a healthier donor pipeline, and create lasting impact for their organizations.
Education
Monthly 2.5-hour training sessions
Learn the frameworks, systems, and strategies behind major gift fundraising.
Coaching
Bi-weekly one-on-one coaching
Personalized support to apply concepts directly to your donor portfolio and fundraising goals.
Peer Learning
Monthly peer mastermind groups
Share challenges, celebrate wins, and learn from nonprofit leaders facing similar opportunities.
By the End of the Program You'll Have
A stronger major gift pipeline. Build a qualified pipeline of prospects and develop a clear strategy for moving donors toward deeper engagement and investment.
Increased confidence in donor conversations. Strengthen your ability to initiate meaningful donor conversations, communicate impact, and make asks with confidence.
A clear cultivation and stewardship strategy. Learn how to create intentional donor journeys that deepen relationships, strengthen loyalty, and inspire long-term support.
A practical moves management system. Implement a structured approach to tracking donor activity, managing opportunities, and prioritizing next steps.
Greater fundraising leadership capacity. Develop the strategic thinking, fundraising mindset, and leadership skills needed to drive growth within your organization.
An actionable fundraising plan. Leave with a customized roadmap that translates learning into action, with clear priorities you can implement immediately.
Program Curriculum
Each session combines practical instruction, discussion, and application to your organization's fundraising priorities.
Module 1: Orientation and the Major Gift Framework
The foundation everything else is built on
By the end of this module, you will be able to:
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Map the full major gifts cycle and understand how every stage connects
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Distinguish between donor types and gift vehicles and why it changes your approach
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Set and track appropriate KPI’s that tell you whether your portfolio is healthy and your pipeline is moving
What this means for you and your organization:
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You'll start with clarity instead of being overwhelmed.
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Your team gains a fundraiser who can speak the language of major gifts with confidence.
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You will understand performance metrics and work from a standard and replicable process framework, clarifying accountability and coaching focus.
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Module 2: Prospect Identification and Qualification
Who belongs in your major gift portfolio and how to prioritize
By the end of this module, you will be able to:
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Mine your database and leverage your volunteer network to surface your best major gift prospects
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Build donor profiles and rate prospects by capacity, affinity, and readiness
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Construct a balanced, prioritized portfolio that reflects real opportunity
What this means for you and your organization:
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You'll spend your time on the people most likely to make a transformational gift
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Your pipeline is built on data and strategy rather than instinct and short term opportunity
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Volunteers become active and effective partners in finding your next major donors
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Module 3: The Art of Discovery and Donor Alignment
Listening your way to alignment
By the end of this module, you will be able to:
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Secure and prepare for discovery meetings, including delivering a compelling 60-second organizational story
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Ask the right questions and listen for what matters most: values, motivation, alignment and giving potential
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Document what you learn, assess alignment, and navigate complexity
What this means for you and your organization:
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You'll discover that listening is your most powerful fundraising tool
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Your organization gains donor intelligence that shapes stronger asks and deeper lasting relationships
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You'll walk into every discovery conversation with purpose and leave with a clear path forward
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Module 4: Purposeful Cultivation and Engagement Strategy
Designing intentional steps that bring donors closer to your mission
By the end of this module, you will be able to:
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Work effectively across all three stages of donor cultivation — with the right pace for each
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Ask strategic questions that deepen the relationship and tell you when to move forward
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Build a tailored cultivation plan that blends the right mix of passive and active engagement
What this means for you and your organization:
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You'll stop rushing to the ask, and see better results because of it
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Every step and touchpoint in cultivation is purposeful, and donors will appreciate it.
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Your organization develops a cultivation culture that produces larger, more committed gifts
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Module 5: Elevated Cultivation, and the Donor Perspective
Conducting effective meetings, engaging volunteers in your strategy, and learning from the real donor experience
By the end of this module, you will be able to:
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Design a meeting strategy for any cultivation stage, with clear goals, effective questions, and a defined next step
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Know when to bring in a volunteer or expert, and how to prepare them to show up well and enhance the meeting outcomes.
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Write effective briefing notes and apply real donor insights to sharpen your own practice
What this means for you and your organization:
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Every meeting becomes intentional, with a strategy behind it and an outcome to work toward
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Your volunteers become confident partners in cultivation rather than nervous and hesitant particants
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Truly understanding what motivates and inspires your donors will optimize giving likelihood and potential level
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Module 6: The Confident Ask
From readiness to results
By the end of this module, you will be able to:
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Confidently know when a donor is ready to be asked
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Plan the ask with precision: the right people, the right framing, the right moment
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Execute with confidence and handle any response, including a no, with skill and integrity
What this means for you and your organization:
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You'll make more frequent, and effective asks, because you'll have a strong process, not just nerve
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Your organization closes more gifts at higher amounts as preparation replaces anxiety
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Donors experience an ask that feels like an invitation to partnership rather than a transaction
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Module 7: Beyond the Gift: Closing, Stewardship and Lifetime Value
Turning a single gift into a lifelong relationship
By the end of this module, you will be able to:
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Close gifts successfully and navigate pledges, gift acceptance, and recognition with confidence
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Deliver stewardship that genuinely honours the donor's trust, from gift agreements to impact reporting to deepening engagement
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Use stewardship as the launchpad for the next gift, building loyalty, volunteer capacity, and lifetime value
What this means for you and your organization:
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Donors feel valued and connected to their impact, and inspired to give again
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Your organization builds a stewardship culture that drives long-term growth, not just one-time “wins”
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You'll understand that the first gift is not the finish line, but instead the potential beginning of lifelong journey
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Designed for Immediate Application
Unlike traditional professional development programs, Kittiwake Academy's Major Gift Intensive is built around your real fundraising work.
Throughout the program, participants apply strategies directly to their donor portfolios, fundraising plans, and active prospects. As a result, many organizations begin seeing stronger donor engagement, more meaningful conversations, and increased fundraising momentum while still participating in the Academy.
While individual results will vary, participants leave with practical systems, stronger donor pipelines, and skills that continue generating value long after the program concludes.
Investment
$12,000 CAD per participant
+ HST per participant
Potential Return
A stronger fundraising pipeline, more qualified donor relationships, and sustainable revenue growth.
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