As the Benevon Model has become more widely used, we are often asked:

• "What if everyone in our community starts using this model?"
• "Isn't there a saturation point for how many of these events a community can tolerate?"
• "We were the first ones in our community to adopt this model. Now everyone's using it. Won't that decrease our success?"
• "We just don't have that many big donors in our town."

Rather than regarding the model as a new gimmick to meet your short-term needs, I encourage you to think of the model as a framework for eventually building or growing a major gifts program. Most groups are already using their best efforts to increase the number of major donors without any systematic approach. Who is to say that there is a limit on the number of organizations in a community that are permitted to have such programs versus those that have to remain on the treadmill of year-to-year fundraising events, grant writing, and annual campaigns?

Keep in mind that the Benevon Model is not about a new, faddish fundraising event, stealing other groups' donors, or having every organization in town go after the same big-name donors. This model is about expanding the size of the giving "pie," not about slicing it into smaller and smaller pieces. It is based on the premise that there is huge, untapped individual giving potential in every community in America.

This model is mission-based. Most donors have a short list of issues and organizations they care about and support year after year. Those donors who are interested in your work may not be as interested in the work of other organizations. Our model is designed to have each group connect with those donors who are most passionate about the organization's mission and then increase those donors' giving over time. Most likely, these people will not be the biggest names in town, but they will have a true passion for the organization's work and the ability to give.

If you recall that 84% of the $240 billion given annually to charitable organizations in the United States comes from individual donors, and that over 90% of American households give each year, you will realize that this vast number includes nearly everyone, even the people in smaller communities or of modest means who are often overlooked. We call these the "Donors Next Door," and they are quietly giving—often in smaller amounts—to several of their favorite organizations, usually with remarkably little contact or recognition. Odds are, your organization has many such donors—people you regard as merely a name and a postal code or telephone number. What if someone from your organization were to talk to them personally and thank them for their support and then ask them why they chose to support your organization? What is it about your mission that they most care about or believe in? What advice might they have to offer you?

Ideally, these would be the donors most organizations would focus on—those who already give and are saying in their own way that they believe in your work. Many of these people are capable of giving much more if someone were to take the time to cultivate them personally over time. We believe that most organizations do not need to attract new donors. Rather, they need to get to know their current donors better.

Having said that, our model is more often used, at least initially, to attract new donors. Our alumni groups report that 60-70% of the donors at their Ask Events^™ are first-time donors to the organization.

Whether used to cultivate existing donors or to attract new ones (or both), this abundance-based model presupposes people's natural propensity to give to organizations they care about. It runs directly counter to the old-reality fundraising approaches which presumed limited resources and a finite or shrinking "pie" which had to be divided among an increasing number of organizations. The old-reality approaches perpetuated the culture of scarcity and suffering. For all of the talk and incentives encouraging collaboration and partnerships, we still find that many groups naturally default to their fear that if another group wins, they will lose.

According to David Odahowski, President of the Edyth Bush Charitable Foundation, one of a consortium of funders that came together to fund one of our Benevon 101 Community Workshops in Orlando, "Since attending the Benevon Workshop, twenty nonprofits in Orlando, Florida have had astonishing success! In a non-corporate headquarters town, over $3 million has been raised and we're still counting!" There is much to be said for the positive impact on all nonprofits if a culture of giving is developed in a community of any size. If donors are educated and inspired, they will increase their overall giving to those groups whose missions resonate with their values.

The capacity for giving more is certainly there, as Claude Rosenberg demonstrated in his book Wealthy and Wise. According to Rosenberg, "By my conservative estimates, if we Americans were to make charitable donations closer to our 'comfortable capacities,' even in bear markets, we could invest at least a hundred billion dollars more each year in solving societal ills." He explains that this huge increase could occur without affecting the lifestyle or financial plan of any of these donors.

This untapped giving potential exists in all communities, large and small. Our aging Baby Boomer donors are realizing that their hard-earned assets will eventually be going to taxes or to their heirs, and many of these donors would be greatly satisfied to leave much of their estate to a nonprofit organization with which they have been involved over the years—one which has treated them well and honored their commitment to its work.

Ultimately, our work at Benevon is about providing organizations with a "bridge" system for building sustainable funding for their work, moving them from the old-reality, scarcity-based treadmill approach for annual funding into the world of long-term personal relationships with committed major donors. Our model is designed to be used in a spirit of abundance, to grow the culture of giving in a community, and to expand the size of the pie.