Principal gifts aren’t random.
They require a system.
Even the strongest institutions do not automatically have a principal gift engine.
They may have extraordinary donors, ambitious leaders, and notable gifts — but still lack the conditions that produce $5M–$100M gifts consistently.
Principal Gift Strategies LLC helps institutions build those conditions.
Led by Ben Porter, author of CASE’s The Principal Gift Checklist, gearing up for its fifth printing.
Principal gift fundraising is human-to-human trust.
And the best relationship wins.
Eight-figure fundraising requires two aligned pipelines:
Where 8-figure gifts are lost
Failure points
The result is not always a failed ask. Sometimes it is a smaller gift on a longer pledge — meaning you can’t go back.
How institutions work with us
Focused counsel for institutions pursuing campaign-defining gifts.
Building the Engine
Repeatable $5M and $10M Gifts
A focused review of the principal gift system powering your largest campaign — from research and assignment to relationship strategy, proposal development, gift closure, and stewardship.
Using the 4 x 90 Lens™, data, and confidential interviews, we identify where important donors are being left out, as well as impediments to closing the largest gifts.
If principal gifts are feeling random and episodic, or your donors are giving larger gifts elsewhere, we can give you a path for repeatable success.
If you can close one principal gift, we can help you close many more.
Optimize Your ProgramCampaign-Defining Gifts
Transformational $50M and $100M Gifts
Deep strategy for the opportunities that could change everything.
A transformational gift has the power to transform the problem, the institution, the community — and even the donor.
Using The Turn™, we clarify what is real, what is missing, and how the institution can support the trust, timing, and meaning behind the largest gift possible.
If you are working toward the largest gift in your program’s history — or have not yet closed a gift at the level your institution seeks — we help define what is possible and the steps required to get there.
Review Your Top ThreeTrainings and coaching
Development Officer and Academic Leader Trainings and Coaching
These can be built into the focused engagements above once we understand your institutional context, giving history, campus setting, and prospect data.
Discuss Training and CoachingPowered by data. Grounded in practice.
It starts with the 4 x 90 Lens
Identifying philanthropic capital in search of meaning.
The 4 x 90 Lens is the opening to The Turn — our proprietary framework for moving from philanthropic potential to transformational commitment.
It helps identify the conditions most often present around the largest gifts: new wealth creation, proximity, life stage 55+, and demonstrated generosity.
The rest of The Turn is about how to make a transformational proposition. Every aspect of it is rooted in data and direct knowledge of eight- and nine-figure gifts to higher education and mission-driven institutions.
Click the image for more about the lens.
Campaign Optimization
Optimize your principal gift program.
Principal gifts are rarely lost because an institution lacks good donors. They are lost when the institution cannot sustain focus at the scale required to produce repeatable results.
Full program optimization is a focused review of your principal gift program — from research and assignment to relationship strategy, leadership engagement, proposal development, gift closure, and stewardship.
We use the 4 x 90 Lens, institutional data, confidential interviews, and direct experience inside nine- and ten-figure campaigns to identify where important donors may be underdeveloped, where opportunities are slowing down, and where money is being left on the table.
We focus just as much on your pipeline of ideas as your pipeline of donors. Is the scale of institutional ambition equal to the scale of the gift you seek? Are your strongest ideas positioned clearly enough to compete in a competitive philanthropic marketplace? Are your best relationship-builders on the field or on the sidelines?
The work is analytical, but the purpose is human: to help the system support trust, timing, judgment, leadership, and the relationship itself. The ultimate goal is to produce more principal gifts — better, faster, more predictably, and which your donors and president will love.
This work is typically structured over three weeks. Week 1: surveys, exhaustive data review, and understanding of your specific context. Week 2: on-site interviews and materials review. An officer training and a deans' session is usually built in. Week 3: detailed reporting, recommendations, and a practical path toward a stronger principal gift system.
Request a Confidential ConversationTransformational Gifts
Even strong teams benefit from an outside check.
Your three most important donor families will set the bar for your entire campaign. They are irreplaceable, and require your highest and best work.
Donors ultimately have a lot of choice. Have you built the strongest relationship possible, and provided the most differentiated offering? Using data, field experience, and judgement, we help answer these questions and strengthen whatever is missing.
We work with you and your team to focus on the three relationships that matter most, drawing out your team's full creativity without the usual distractions. Leave with pressure-tested family strategies and confidence that you are doing everything in your power.
Whether you are working toward an ask in the next three months, or at the end of the donor's current pledge, we help map all the steps required to get there.
This work is typically done over one week. The first day (remote) is materials review, followed by three days on campus where we leave no stone unturned. Lastly, one day of detailed prospect mapping and follow-up.
Request a Confidential Conversation
Research-driven. Field-tested.
Ben Porter, Author of The Principal Gift Checklist
Published by CASE
Ben Porter is the founder of Principal Gift Strategies LLC. His advisory work is independent of CASE and draws on broader research, institutional experience, and direct work with principal gift teams.
Over 23 years in higher education, he has held senior advancement roles at Northwestern University, Kellogg, and Dartmouth College, and began his advancement career at the Harvard Kennedy School. He received his A.B. from Princeton University.
His work focuses on principal gift strategy, campaign readiness, and the institutional conditions behind the largest gifts.
What advancement leaders say
"Ben’s research study is essential reading for fundraising professionals, and his recent visit is already beginning to influence and reshape our own approach."
“Ben Porter is one of the most creative fundraisers in our field.”
“Ben’s research presentation on transformational gifts gained wide traction across UNICEF’s global major gift officer network.”
“Ben Porter’s insights and teachings are foundational to our principal gifts work.”
Best.Relationship.Wins.™
Build the principal gift system behind your largest campaign.
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