Cliff's Notes Cliff's Notes on Bill Levis Below are summaries of the essays Bill Levis has contributed to the Fundraising Productivity Series. Levis argues that average cost per gift is a much superior indicator. The average cost per gift is the total amount spent on fundraising divided by the number of gifts received. As a general rule, the cost to acquire a gift varies depending on the size of the gift.
Larger gifts cost more per gift, but much less per amount raised.
Hence, organizations that receive large gifts will have lower fundraising ratios than organizations that depend on many gifts of smaller size. This study reports on the experiences of foundations in funding capacity building, i.e., fund raising. The study concludes that funding capacity building was a clear aim of many foundation grants and that there should be greater investment in capacity building, chiefly by enhancing an organization's human resources and by taking advantage of proven fundraising techniques such as matching gift campaigns and planned giving programs. Increased Giving Bill Levis argues for an increased investment in fund raising. Just as companies grow by increasing their productive capacity, nonprofits should grow by increasing their investment in fund raising.