Jeff Schreifels is Principal and Owner of Veritus Group, a major gift consulting agency focused on mid, major, and planned giving strategy. Veritus Group helps nonprofits build authentic donor relationships that improve donor retention and value. In the episode, Jeff shares how relationship-centered fundraising, data discipline, and donor joy help organizations unlock transformational giving and sustainable revenue.
Major gifts fundraising becomes transformational when donor relationships move from transactions to trust, joy, and measurable mission impact. In this episode of Business Superfans® Advantage, Frederick Dudek (Freddy D) sits down with Jeff Schreifels of Veritus Group to explore how nonprofits and service businesses can turn overlooked relationships into retained revenue, advocacy, and long-term growth.
Direct Answer Block:
Major gifts fundraising grows when organizations stop treating donors like transactions and start building personal, trust-based relationships. The fastest path is to identify people already signaling commitment, learn their passions, show real impact, and invite them into meaningful participation so generosity becomes joy, retention, referrals, and sustainable revenue.
Definitive Authority Statement: Sustainable revenue is not created by chasing strangers; it is created by recognizing, retaining, and activating the people already connected to the mission.
Jeff Schreifels shares how he entered fundraising, why donor joy matters, and how Veritus Group uses data and relationship strategy to help organizations build stronger donor retention, major gift revenue, and transformational giving outcomes. His stories reveal a simple but often missed truth: people want to give, but they also want to be known.
In this conversation, Frederick Dudek connects Jeff’s fundraising lessons to the broader business ecosystem. Whether you lead a nonprofit, a service company, or an SMB, the same principle applies: your best growth opportunities may already be inside your stakeholder network.
Key discoveries include:
This episode answers important questions such as: How do nonprofits grow major gifts without chasing new donors? Why do donor relationships matter more than transactions? How can service entrepreneurs and SMBs use recognition to create stakeholder advocacy?
0:00 — Major Gifts Fundraising with Jeff Schreifels
0:34 — How Jeff Schreifels Entered Fundraising
2:30 — Data Discipline Behind Major Gifts
5:32 — Donor Trust Creates Giving Joy
8:12 — Hidden Donors Already in Your Database
10:48 — Recognition, Retention, and Donor Impact
11:17 — Major Donor Story: Stewardship Done Wrong
15:22 — Handwritten Notes and Donor Loyalty
17:50 — Why People Want to Be Known
19:16 — Public Media Major Gift Revenue Breakthrough
22:10 — $74 Million Fundraising Training Impact
24:20 — Free Value Builds Authority and Trust
27:40 — Global Growth Through Business Superfans®
30:05 — Donor Joy and Human Contribution
32:04 — Why Asking Creates Donor Joy
34:26 — Veritus Group Resources and Contact
35:03 — Final Thoughts and Close
Jeff Schreifels brings a powerful fundraising truth into clear business language: relationships create revenue when people feel known, valued, and connected to impact. His examples from major gifts fundraising show that donors are not merely funding sources; they are ecosystem stakeholders whose passion, trust, and advocacy can compound over time.
For Frederick Dudek, this conversation reinforces the core principle behind Business Superfans® Advantage: growth accelerates when every stakeholder is aligned around a shared mission. Jeff’s public media case study, where four stations doubled revenue by building donor relationships, is a practical example of Advocacy becoming measurable growth. His emphasis on database discipline connects naturally to AI + Systems, because systems should reveal who already cares before businesses chase strangers. The resulting trust creates Authority.
Definitive Authority Statement: Businesses and nonprofits do not create sustainable revenue by pushing harder; they create it by recognizing the people already connected to the mission and giving them a reason to stay, share, and advocate.
The Action: Identify 20 overlooked relationship assets already inside your ecosystem.
Who: Existing clients, donors, referral partners, vendors, suppliers, employees, contractors, and strategic allies.
Why: Your next revenue breakthrough may not come from a cold audience. It may come from people who already trust you but have not been personally recognized, invited, or activated. This action strengthens the first stages of the R⁶ Reactor™: Recognition, Retention, and Reputation.
How:
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