Finding Money and Raising Funds 81 even transformational gifts. These areas include: • Annual Giving or Annual Appeals–relatively broad appeals for gifts ideally unrestricted in nature that can be expended on any project deemed worthwhile or necessary. New donors can pop up in the routine annual appeals. At one institu- tion, seemingly out of the blue, an alumnus made a first gift of $1,000 in response to an annual appeal. Follow-up by the major gifts officer and the dean led to annual gifts of $25,000 in unre- stricted funds from this donor within a year of receiving the first gift. It’s important to realize that this is far from the norm, but without an annual appeal, neither the first $1,000 nor the much larger $25,000 gifts would have been made. • Major Gifts–depending on your institution, these dollar amounts will vary from minimums of $5,000 on the lower end, to $100,000 at the higher end. If your institution does not have a robust history of significant giving from donors, your initial definition of “major” will be at the lower end of the spectrum. Moving a donor from providing a semi-regular annual gift to a major gift represents a significant step. A first gift is rarely a major gift, so the stepping stone of the Annual Appeal is critical. • Planned giving–This category overlaps with major gifts and bequests.Priortosolicitingplannedgifts,yourinstitutionshould have policies and procedures in place that have been reviewed by your institution’s lawyer or a trusts and estates attorney. Donors considering a planned gift also should be encouraged to consult with their attorneys or accountant. Among many reasons for reviewing your procedures with lawyers is that federal tax rules governing such gifts change. Planned gifts include Charitable Remainder Trusts, bequests made in a will (see below), annui- ties, or other legal instruments. Depending upon the instrument they choose, donors, and possibly their offspring, may main- tain varying levels of control over the money throughout their