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, now in its fifth printing.
How institutions work with us
Focused counsel for institutions pursuing campaign-defining gifts.
Principal Gift System
Campaign Optimization
Build the system behind repeatable $5M+ gifts.
A focused review of the principal gift system behind 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.
Explore the 4 x 90 LensTransformational Gifts
Top 5 Strategy Review
Deep strategy for the biggest opportunities that could change everything.
A transformational gift has the power to transform the program, the institution — 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 FivePrincipal 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.
Powered by data. Grounded in practice.
The 4 x 90 Lens™
A sharper way to see which opportunities are real.
The 4 x 90 Lens™ helps identify where wealth may be in motion — and whether it could move toward your institution. Derived from the strongest signals of the 26-University Study, this is the starting point for Campaign Optimization.
We couple this with the experience of working inside nine- and ten-figure campaigns, and being in the room for many of the largest asks, to examine every aspect of your principal gift program.
We examine the full arc — from identification and relationship strategy through leadership engagement, proposal development, follow-up, and stewardship. We identify where slowdowns occur — and where money, momentum, and opportunity may be left on the table.
We focus just as much on your pipeline of ideas as your pipeline of donors. Is the scale of the ambition and transformation equal to what we are asking for? Can we make adjustments to positioning that make your strongest ideas more compelling in a competitive marketplace?
The work is analytical, but the purpose is human: to help the system support trust, timing, judgment, leadership, and the relationship itself. It results in raising more, bigger, better gifts faster – and that your donors should love.
This work is typically structured over three weeks. Week 1: deploying surveys and getting data on your specific context. Week 2: on-site interviews and review of materials. Week 3: detailed reporting and recommendations. If your principal gift program isn’t operating as a system, we can give you one.
Request a Confidential ConversationTransformational Gifts
Even strong teams benefit from an outside check.
Your five 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 five relationships that matter most, drawing out your team's full creativity without the usual distractions. Leave with five 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.
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.”
Build the principal gift system behind your largest campaign.
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