Capital Campaign and Major Gift Fundraising for Nonprofits
Successfully Fundraise.
Secure Bigger Gifts.
Build a Resilient Organization.
This can make the job of an ED, DOD, and even the BOD stressful and overwhelming. Without a comfortable way to ask for money, the relationships that can bear fruit over time will likely be neglected and left unnurtured.
Many nonprofits lack an effective fundraising
plan and structure
We help you meet your financial
goals without the stress
Capital Campaigns
Raise significant funds beyond your regular budget with step-by-step guidance tailored to your goals. With expertise in advising, facilitation, and coaching, I’m comfortable “meeting you where you are” to get the results you need.
Major Gifts
Develop strong donor relationships for significant gifts in a one-on-one setting, in-person or virtual. I teach the gold standard in major gifts success—identifying, cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding prospects through a relationship cycle that results in a higher success rate of getting major gifts.
FYI- These bring among the highest ROI in fundraising today!
Results I’ve helped my clients achieve
Music Education Nonprofit Shares Big Wins
“Your message must have been good luck! I just renewed two major donors this week—one at $20,000 and another at...$100,000! [The latter] has been giving $25,000 the past few years, so this was a significant increase and a total surprise to me.”
The Result:
ED secured a $1 million transformational gift from one of its top individual donors.
Huge Win for DC Human Services Nonprofit
“I continue to reference things you shared with me; it is the foundation for the strategies we continue to implement.”
The Result:
A $250,000 deficit last year to a $20,000 surplus to end FY 2025 is a huge win!
City University Campaign Success
"The energy and investment on all sides are carrying our momentum into the next phase."
The Result:
Focus: Major Gifts ($2.2M Goal)
Timeline: 2025 – 2028
Progress: 70% of Goal Reached (Early Momentum)
The Strategy: Small, high-impact team of alumni & donors.
The Result: Deep engagement that goes beyond the "ask."
Speaking Engagements
Febraury 2026
Panel: Scaling Early Career Pathways
Kaptivate | Virginia Tech Innovation Campus
November 2025
Supercharge Your Annual Fund with Major Gifts Fundraising
DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities
January 2025
Supercharge Your Annual Fund with Major Gifts Fundraising
Anat Gerstein, Inc.
June 2025
Supercharge Your Annual Fund with Major Gifts Fundraising
El Systema USA Regional Gathering 2025
20 Years Experience in Nonprofit Fundraising
Why work with Deringer Consulting?
Derry Deringer
Principal
Team Members
Abra Frankel
Writer
Your organization is doing great work, and I believe you deserve the financial support to continue your mission.
To make that possible, I help you carry out intentional conversations with donors. I help you understand the principles and mechanics of fundraising so you can achieve a higher success rate in securing larger gifts. I help you find relief from uncertainty, fear, and risk.
I understand that you may feel hesitant to invest in a consultant, especially if you’ve seen poor results in the past or feel this will require a lot of you. As a veteran guide to nonprofits, I provide the structure and tools to make this process as enjoyable and productive as possible.
To avoid simply developing plans that sit on the shelf, I work alongside clients so they “learn how to fish”. This happens through a combination of consulting, coaching, and facilitation.
My goal is for you to feel relieved that you’re meeting fundraising goals and confident in your ability to sustain your organization.
Abra is an experienced communications professional with more than 13 years of senior in-house leadership at the National MS Society and nearly a decade providing freelance communications support to Washington, D.C.–area nonprofits.
She specializes in strategic messaging, donor and year-end communications, content creation, campaign planning, and event storytelling across print, digital, and social platforms.
Abra has supported organizations through transitions, major fundraising campaigns, and milestone events, helping them connect authentically with donors and stakeholders.
She is also a certified yoga instructor with 16 years of teaching experience.
Hear from our clients:
“Our fundraising campaign client has stuck with us through difficult times because they trusted us and Derry. Derry has produced several vital work documents for our client’s use, including a strategic plan. He’s dependable, flexible, and easy to work with. I trust him to move projects forward because he understands what needs to be done.”
- Peter Heller, Founder, Heller Fundraising Group
“ASAM contacted Derry Deringer to launch a major gifts campaign. Derry’s expertise and dedication were evident from the start. His compelling job description helped us secure an Associate Director of Philanthropic Fundraising. Through well-prepared workshops, Derry instilled confidence and provided our staff with their first-ever solicitation training. With Derry’s guidance, we set out to raise $500,000 by the end of 2024. We have raised $280,000 as of July 1. We are thrilled with our success.”
- Julia L. Chang, Executive Director, American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM)
“Two challenges for us were diversifying revenue and filling a funding gap. We hired Derry Deringer to coach us on how to win more individual major gifts. He helped us create practical strategies and tools for successful solicitation, and his case for support model has been extremely helpful for the board members and me. As an organization that works with a lot of nonprofit vendors, we greatly appreciated Derry’s scheduling flexibility and responsiveness as well.”
- Alorie Clark, Executive Director, DC Collaborative
“Derry actively coached us on how to make the big asks to jump-start our capacity capital campaign. He walked us through how to start those conversations with our donors and prospects and was willing to go deep in the weeds to answer our questions and address our unique context. Even with the pandemic, we’ve been able to bring in several major gifts, several of which are much larger than we’d planned for. We actually increased our goal from $750,000 to $1 million and exceeded the goal!”
- Kathy Hedge, Executive Director, Parent Encouragement Program (PEP)
