At Aspire we hope you’re going crazy this December with an overwhelming response to Giving Tuesday, fielding major donors that want to give before December 31, and weaving big fundraising dreams for 2026. That’s why we’ve put together our top five most popular blogs for you as quick, clickable reads you can squeeze in when you take a well-deserved break.
The number of family offices and their investable wealth has exploded over the past few years, but that isn’t the most exciting trend for fundraising. The exciting trend is the level of sophistication and intention behind their investing, which continues to evolve in ways that creates a tremendous opportunity for the organizations who can build successful, authentic relationships with these families.
Why Your Next Major Donor Won’t Look Like Your Last: We’re standing at the edge of the largest wealth transfer in history—and most organizations aren’t ready.
Your board chair just cornered you after the meeting. “We need to focus on major gifts,” she declares. “We don’t want to waste time on $25 donations. Find us some real money!”
You need $1.5 million for your new program. The board meeting is next month. The president is breathing down your neck, and someone just suggested hiring a researcher to find wealthy prospects in the community.
Just in case you missed the memo from your air conditioning bill, it’s officially summer 2025. And while others are busy curating beach reads and poolside mysteries, we’re here with something far more thrilling: a summer reading list that’ll make your fundraising neurons do the happy dance.
In the most recent Giving USA report, corporations only gave a 4%, compared to 67% from individuals, 19% from foundations, and 9% from bequests in 2023. And Giving USA includes corporate foundations in corporate giving too.
We’ve likely heard the phrase “prospect management” before in meetings and conferences. But what exactly is it? And what is it not? It can go by several names including relationship management, or donor cultivation.
We’ve talked about why we should care about company insiders, and we’ve talked about why those news reports about CEO compensation might not be entirely accurate. Now Aspire Research Group is looking at some of the popular misconceptions about company insiders (and their compensation).
In 2025, Hollywood Reporter’s headline reported “Apple CEO Tim Cook’s Pay Rises to $74.6M.” That’s an impressive amount for anyone to make, much less in one year. But did he really take home that much money? It’s not that simple. That $74.6M is not in cash nor necessarily stocks or even available right now.