Thomas Claffey

A campaign that begins when the nonprofit is ready can arrive after the money has already been allocated.

In the corporate sponsorship post, Claffey writes, "Don't fundraise according to your calendar.

• Fundraise according to your donor's calendar."
• The same logic shapes the year-end major-gift plan, which starts conversations in October because December deadlines exist, and the donor-advised fund material, where October matters because DAF Day falls on October 8 and year-end giving follows.

The argument stays constant but shifts with the seasons.

• Corporate sponsorship advice points to fall; donor-advised fund and year-end advice points to October through December.
• The body of work is seasonal.

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They call the belief that companies keep flexible charitable pools available year-round a myth that costs nonprofits significant sponsorships: large sponsorships often need advance planning and approval.

• Companies, in this account, want more than a logo on an event banner.
• They want brand visibility, employee engagement, community impact, and measurable results, and can meaningfully support only a limited number of organizations.

The three-step plan: audit past corporate partners and reconnect with an impact update; build a 2027 partnership menu with several ways to partner across the year instead of selling one event; and align the proposal with what the company says matters, such as workforce development, education, health, or environmental impact.

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Major gifts depend on relationships, clean data, and disciplined follow-up, so preparation has to start before the giving season is underway. Not every conversation needs an ask.

October tasks include scrubbing the CRM for duplicate and outdated records, pulling the LYBUNT list of donors who gave last year but have not given this year, identifying mid-level donors who could increase their support, flagging lapsed loyal donors and assigning follow-up, and selecting a top 25 to 100 prospects with a named owner and next step. Claffey also urges fundraisers to make their legal name, EIN, and donor-advised fund and stock gift instructions easy to find, and to make time for thank-you calls with no ask attached.

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The best DAF prospects may already be in the organization's database; the task is to make giving easy to act on. The posts pair that argument with a readiness checklist for DAF Day on October 8.

The checklist includes verifying the Candid/GuideStar profile, publishing the legal name and EIN where donors can find them, creating a DAF-specific giving page explaining how to recommend a grant, registering for the official DAF Day initiative, making DAF giving visible alongside other options in emails and year-end materials, and recording DAF gifts correctly in the CRM.

• The sponsoring organization generally receives the legal gift credit, while the individual who recommended the grant is recognized and stewarded.
• Claffey frames DAF Day as a chance to educate existing donors about another way to support a mission they already care about.

The same checklist appears in near-identical form across three posts published around DAF Day, signaling a scheduled campaign and a recurring push on the topic.

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The premise is that nonprofit leaders miss opportunities that are otherwise available; Claffey filters and passes them on. The posts end with a call to share or tag an organization that might fit.

One roundup covers Humanity AI's $10 million open call for community-led work on how artificial intelligence is built, governed, and used, with a deadline of October 21, 2026; NBA Foundation grants for workforce development and job training for young people aged 14 to 24 in NBA team markets, with an application window of October 1 to 31, 2026; and Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation social impact funding of up to $300,000 over three years plus capacity-building support, on a rolling deadline. Single-funder posts follow the same pattern, including General Motors' Stars, Stripes & Skilled Trades initiative at $100,000 to $500,000 for up to 12 organizations serving transitioning service members, veterans, and military-connected families, and Visa Foundation's small business growth and innovation program at $100,000 to $250,000 in 12-month grants for nonprofit entrepreneurial support organizations, administered by Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.

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These posts describe other people's work, not Claffey's arguments, and close with an invitation to join the membership community. They recognize members rather than clients, so ask whether the people profiled are endorsed before treating the posts as endorsements.

One post introduces Christi Ginn, founder of Ginn & Grit Advisory, describing work in strategic communications, community engagement, fundraising and development, partnerships, grant prospecting, and stakeholder strategy, and citing 150-plus community partnerships and roughly $566 million in capital and bond initiatives.

• Another introduces Stacy Stube, founder of SEW IMPACT and SEW BROMO, describing more than 25 years across luxury fashion and garment manufacturing, teaching and innovation roles, and a doctorate in public administration focused on fashion entrepreneurship and social innovation.
• Each post closes with an invitation to join the professional membership community.

These are the only posts that profile a person rather than a technique or funding opportunity.

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This post offers a concrete calendar and a short list of tasks to assign. It answers: 'What should we be doing right now for year-end gifts?'

They outline a practical timeline for year-end major gift fundraising.

• October is for cleaning donor data, pulling the LYBUNT list (donors who gave last year but not this year), identifying mid-level donors ready to increase support, and prioritizing a caseload of 25 to 100 prospects.
• November is for personalized asks tied to donor interests; December is for follow-through, including help with DAF and stock gifts.
• One key line: 'You do not need to ask for a gift in every conversation.'

For brands planning a campaign

Turn this into a one-page timeline template nonprofit clients can complete during the workshop, making the training immediately actionable.

It also shows how to move beyond a single event sponsorship.

They argue that nonprofits seeking corporate sponsorships for 2027 should start conversations in fall 2026, when companies set their budgets.

• They counter the idea of a 'rolling budget' and note that companies want partnerships supporting brand visibility, employee engagement, and measurable results.
• Their three-step action plan: audit past corporate partners, build a partnership menu with multiple ways to engage across the year, and align the pitch with the company's priorities, such as workforce development or community impact.

For brands planning a campaign

Use the timing argument as a wake-up call and the partnership menu as a framework for clients designing multi-touch proposals in a corporate sponsorship workshop.

It answers: 'What practical steps make a nonprofit ready for DAF giving?' without jargon.

They provide a seven-point checklist for DAF Day on October 8: verify your Candid/GuideStar profile, make your legal name and EIN easy to find, create a DAF-specific giving page, register for the official DAF Day initiative, make DAF giving visible across communications, record DAF gifts correctly in your CRM, and identify DAF donors already in your database. They stress that the best DAF prospects are often existing donors.

For brands planning a campaign

Use this checklist as a self-assessment or handout in a DAF giving workshop. Its focus on existing donors also opens the door to a discussion about donor segmentation.

It answers 'Where can I find current grants that match different missions?' and demonstrates a repeatable format.

They regularly round up grant opportunities.

• In this post, they highlight three: a $10 million Humanity AI open call for community-led AI projects, NBA Foundation grants for youth workforce development in NBA markets, and Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation social impact funding up to $300,000 over three years.
• For each, they give focus areas, deadlines, award amounts, and eligibility notes, then invite readers to share the post with organizations that might fit.

For brands planning a campaign

Adapt this format into a monthly grant alert for workshop participants, positioning the consultancy as an ongoing resource rather than a one-time trainer.

It answers 'What details should I check before deciding whether a grant is worth pursuing?' by showing the exact fields that matter.

They break down a General Motors grant for workforce development programs serving veterans.

• They list the award range ($100,000 to $500,000), number of awards (up to 12), deadline (September 30, 2026), geography (nationwide), and priority criteria such as industry-recognized training, job placement, employer partnerships, and alignment with GM facility communities.
• They close with a clear call to review the guidelines and apply.

For brands planning a campaign

Use this as a teaching example in a grants workshop: participants can compare it with their own draft summaries and identify missing eligibility or outcome details.

It answers 'What information do I need to evaluate fit quickly?'

They outline a Visa Foundation program for small business support.

• They cover grant size ($100,000–$250,000), what funding can support (capacity, training, technical assistance, technology), eligibility (U.S.
• 501(c)(3)s serving small businesses, budget between $1 million and $10 million, two years of audited financials), the administering body (Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors), and the deadline (October 21, 2026).

For brands planning a campaign

Use this in a workshop exercise where participants practice extracting key criteria from a request for proposals and matching them to their organizations.

It offers a quick look at their network and collaborative style.

Claffey regularly welcomes new members to Philanthropy Solutions Group with substantive profiles.

• In this post, they introduce Christi Ginn, founder of Ginn & Grit Advisory, highlighting her experience developing 150+ community partnerships, supporting $566 million in capital initiatives, and securing grants and sponsorships.
• The welcome emphasizes strategy and execution: 'Building the systems, partnerships and strategies that move organizations forward.'

For brands planning a campaign

For a consultancy considering a partnership, this shows an existing professional community that could serve as a channel for workshops. The detailed welcome format could also guide introductions among workshop participants.

October is for cleaning and segmenting CRM data: removing duplicates and outdated records, pulling the LYBUNT list of donors who gave last year but not this year, identifying mid-level donors whose engagement suggests they could increase, flagging lapsed loyal donors and assigning someone to follow up.

• It is also time to narrow the caseload to 25 to 100 prospects, each with a named owner and a next step.
• Conversations start in October, and they’re explicit that not every conversation needs an ask.
• November is for personalized asks that connect a specific funding opportunity to a donor's stated interests.
• December is for following through on open proposals and helping donors complete gifts that need extra processing time.
• They also tell fundraisers to make their legal name, EIN, and donor-advised fund and stock gift instructions easy to find, and to make time for thank-you calls with no ask attached.

A dated checklist that assigns each preparation step to a month, using action verbs rather than general advice.

For brands planning a campaign

A major-gifts workshop can put this sequence to work, turning caseload prioritization into an exercise. The October data-cleanup list is concrete enough to assign as pre-work.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2

They call the assumption that companies keep flexible charitable pools available year-round a myth that costs nonprofits significant sponsorships, which often need to be planned and approved well in advance.

• Companies, they write, want more than a logo on an event banner: they want brand visibility, employee engagement, community impact, and measurable results, and there is limited room for the organizations a company can meaningfully support.
• Their three-step plan: audit past corporate partners and reconnect with an impact update; build a 2027 partnership menu offering several ways to partner over the year rather than selling one event; and align the proposal with what the company says matters to it, such as employee engagement, community visibility, workforce development, education, health, and environmental impact.
• The closing line: "Don't fundraise according to your calendar.
• Fundraise according to your donor's calendar."

Myth-then-correction framing, followed by a numbered action plan and a quotable takeaway.

For brands planning a campaign

This is the closest of Claffey's topics to the consulting reader's corporate sponsorship brief. The partnership menu and goal-alignment exercises work as workshop segments, while the budget-timing argument gives the session a reason to happen before a client's fiscal year turns.

Examples: Source 1

Their readiness checklist covers verifying the Candid/GuideStar profile; publishing the legal name and EIN where donors can find them; building a DAF-specific giving page that explains how to recommend a grant; registering for the national DAF Day initiative so participating donors can find the organization; surfacing DAF giving alongside other giving options in emails and year-end materials; and recording gifts correctly in the CRM, where the sponsoring organization generally receives the legal gift credit while the individual who recommended the grant is recognized and stewarded. They point out that October positions this work just ahead of year-end giving, and frame DAF Day as a chance to educate existing donors about another way to support a mission they already care about.

A numbered checklist of discrete, low-cost operational tasks that a small nonprofit could complete without outside help.

The same checklist appears in near-identical form across three posts published around DAF Day. That repetition signals a scheduled campaign and a topic suited to recurring promotion.

For brands planning a campaign

The checklist can anchor a DAF giving workshop, with the CRM credit distinction as a discussion point for development and finance staff. For a session on DAF policy, tax, or sponsor comparisons, ask for material covering those topics.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2 · Source 3

Each entry follows the same shape: funder, award range, priority areas or eligibility, and an explicit deadline.

• The October edition covers Humanity AI's $10 million open call for community-led work on how artificial intelligence is built, governed, and used (education; labor and economy; humanities, arts and culture; deadline October 21, 2026), NBA Foundation grants for workforce development and job training for young people aged 14 to 24 in NBA team markets (application window October 1 to 31, 2026), and Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation social impact funding of up to $300,000 over three years plus capacity-building support (rolling deadline).
• Single-funder posts follow the same pattern: General Motors' Stars, Stripes & Skilled Trades initiative, at $100,000 to $500,000 for up to 12 organizations serving transitioning service members, veterans, and military-connected families; and Visa Foundation's small business growth and innovation program, at $100,000 to $250,000 in 12-month grants for nonprofit entrepreneurial support organizations with operating budgets of $1 million to $10 million, administered by Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.

Deadline-forward listings with consistent fields, plus a repost-and-tag call to action inviting readers to pass opportunities to organizations that fit.

For brands planning a campaign

This is the most frequent type of post here and a natural place for a funder or corporate giving program to appear, provided the opportunity is real, current, and accurately described. It also suggests that the audience reads these posts for funding leads as well as fundraising technique.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2 · Source 3 · Source 4 · Source 5 · Source 6

The sponsorship post states it outright, and the idea drives the year-end major-gift plan, where October conversations happen because December deadlines do.

• In the donor-advised fund posts, October matters because DAF Day falls on October 8 and year-end giving follows.
• The underlying point is that philanthropy is not only about making giving easy, but also about making it easy for people to act on what matters to them.

For brands planning a campaign

This is the strongest framing device in these posts and a natural hook for a session built around a client's own calendar. The material is seasonal: the corporate sponsorship argument is most relevant in fall, while the DAF and year-end material lands between October and December.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2 · Source 3

One introduces Christi Ginn, founder of a Houston consulting firm, describing work in strategic communications, community engagement, fundraising and development, partnerships, grant prospecting, and stakeholder strategy, and citing 150-plus community partnerships, roughly $566 million in capital and bond initiatives, and grant, sponsorship, in-kind, and partnership results.

• Another introduces Stacy Stube, founder of SEW IMPACT and SEW BROMO, describing more than 25 years across luxury fashion and garment manufacturing, teaching and innovation roles, and a doctorate in public administration focused on fashion entrepreneurship and social innovation.
• Each post closes with an invitation to join the professional membership community.

Profile-based introductions that let the subject's own record carry the post, followed by a community invitation.

These are the only posts here that profile a person rather than a technique or funding opportunity.

For brands planning a campaign

These posts show that Claffey's publishing supports a membership community, offering a second possible brand placement beyond the grant roundups: sponsorship or support framed around community value. They recognize members, not clients, and are not endorsements of the people profiled.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2

The posts describe it as a professional membership community and, in one case, a global consulting firm.

• The affiliation is clear, but ownership and employment status are not; ask Claffey to clarify their role.
• The organization is behind nearly all of their published posts on major gifts, DAF giving, corporate sponsorship, and grant opportunities.

View example

Small Business Growth and Innovation Program, listing the $100,000–$250,000 grant range, eligibility rules, and October 21, 2026 deadline, and noting that Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors administers the program. The post relays the opportunity to Claffey’s nonprofit audience; it shows no sponsorship, client, or partnership tie between them and Visa Foundation.

View example

The post lists the $100,000–$500,000 range, up to 12 awards, and a September 30, 2026 deadline, and links to the guidelines. It describes no commercial relationship with GM.

View example

Wu's posts show him using CauseVox's MCP to let fundraisers use AI for donor pipeline management, contact enrichment, email campaigns, and data queries—work that overlaps with Claffey's focus on CRM hygiene, donor segmentation, and follow-through.

Wu's material centers on fundraising software and AI-assisted operations: connected systems, CauseVox MCP, and product philosophy.

• Claffey's work focuses on channel strategy: corporate sponsorship timing, DAF readiness, year-end major gifts, and grant opportunity roundups.
• Wu writes about tools and integration; Claffey writes about when and how to ask.

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Allen's posts walk through value mapping, identifying payers, pricing outcomes, and designing revenue models—an operational, framework-driven approach that parallels Claffey's checklists for major gifts and DAF giving.

Allen focuses on broader revenue-model design and earned income—fee-for-service, government contracts, employer partnerships, shared savings, and licensing—and markets FundWisr™, an organization intelligence system.

• Claffey focuses on specific funding channels (corporate sponsorship, DAFs, and grants) and seasonal timing.
• Allen asks what mix of revenue can support the mission; Claffey asks when to have the conversation.

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Kanston's posts promote an AI Grant Strategy Sprint and a SMART Grant Success System™ for using AI to write grants and win $5K–$15K awards, connecting with Claffey's recurring grant-opportunity roundups and deadline-forward listings.

Kanston's work centers on grant-writing training and coaching, teaching a system for producing applications with a focus on hiring and training grants.

• Claffey's grant posts curate and filter open opportunities, listing award ranges, eligibility, and deadlines alongside broader fundraising strategy.
• Kanston sells a training method; Claffey provides an editorial service.

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Wu's posts describe using CauseVox and Claude to create pipelines and cards, enrich contacts with outside data, write custom fields across many contacts at once, clone and rebuild email campaigns, and ask questions such as who should be followed up with—all without exporting a spreadsheet.

• The same work applies to donor moves management, stewardship updates and reporting.
• A workshop built around that material would end with a working CRM and AI routine rather than a sponsorship calendar or DAF checklist.

The workshop would lose the October corporate sponsorship pitch and the seven-point DAF readiness checklist.

• Wu's posts are product-led: they explain what CauseVox and its MCP can do and argue that disconnected fundraising systems create operational drag.
• A consultancy would need separate material on corporate budget timing, sponsorship menus, DAF Day registration and DAF gift recording.
• Wu's posts do not show them delivering a live workshop.
• Ask about availability and commercial terms.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2

Allen is the better choice if the goal is helping nonprofits design a sustainable revenue mix rather than run a seasonal sponsorship or DAF campaign.

• Allen's posts offer a structured exercise: map every outcome and every party who benefits, identify who receives enough financial or mission value to pay, price the outcome, and choose a model such as fee-for-service, government contracts, employer partnerships, shared savings, licensing or membership.
• A second post argues that workforce, arts, advocacy and community organizations can all be financially sustainable with different revenue mixes.
• That gives a strategy session a stronger foundation for clients who rely too heavily on grants.

The session would not cover the October corporate sponsorship pitch or the DAF readiness checklist.

• Allen's posts focus on payer mapping, earned revenue and revenue diversification, with FundWisr and IMPCTRS named as vehicles for that work.
• A consultancy would need new examples on sponsorship timing and DAF administration.
• Allen's posts do not show a workshop format.
• Ask about delivery format and commercial terms.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2

Kanston's post advertises a 120-minute AI Grant Strategy Sprint on 26 September 2026.

• Promised outputs include a breakdown of AI tools that can write a large share of a grant, applying for one grant during the session, real grant examples, a three-step SMART Grant Success System, and a focus on hiring and training grants.
• The session also promises to cut research and writing time using AI.
• That is a concrete live format, unlike the other alternatives for this narrow task.

The subject is grant writing and AI research, not corporate sponsorship or DAF giving.

• Replacing the Claffey clinic with this session would mean rebuilding the workshop around grant applications, and the focus on hiring and training grants may not match clients working on sponsorship and DAF readiness.
• The post promotes a specific paid event.
• Ask about the event format, delivery quality, attendance and current availability.
• It does not cover corporate budget timing, DAF Day or DAF gift recording.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2