Building a Major Donor Program from the Ground Up

Know Your Purpose

So many of us in the social impact business focus on our need to raise money to operate – to exist so we can deliver social change. A great way to raise money for these efforts is through people who care about our mission - individuals who are willing and able to invest in social change. But if we take a step back for a moment and think about our fund development efforts, we’ll realize that it’s about fulfilling donors’ passions and interests. Our ability to raise money from those efforts is really the by-product.

How does this help us when thinking about a major gifts program? It helps us strategize our time and focus our efforts on what’s truly important – meeting the needs of people. Once we’re clear on our foundation and purpose - mapping out an execution plan to get us there gets much easier.

First – remember that fund development is about helping fulfill donors’ passions and interests. Since this is the primary purpose, it’s where we should be focusing 75-80% of our time – helping people. This means focusing on individuals, building relationships with donors, and initiating mutually satisfying transactions at agreed upon ROI.

Then – since we represent an organization, with a mission and vision for social change – we spend the remaining 20 – 25% of our time minding our organization’s brand. We do this by creating positive and memorable impressions about our organization with different stakeholder and community groups. This strengthens our relationships by giving and sharing voice to our impact. It builds trust. It builds credibility. It generates positive momentum that people want to be part of.

And those people…they become the inaugural group of your major gifts program!

Map a Path to Your Purpose

90% of your donations will come from the top 10% of your donors. So, figure out who they are – whether they are giving $1M or $1 – identify and list out the top 10% of your donors. These are your major donors and they’re who you’re going to concentrate on first.

Once you know who your major donors are, building a major gifts program only takes 5-10 steps (depending on where you are in the process already). Here we break it into 8 steps from start to finish:

1. Get leadership on board. If you’re a sole operation, this is you and your advisors. If you lead a department within an organization, it means getting your CEO or Executive Director on board with you.

2. Recruit a fundraising team. Maybe you have a team of paid staff or maybe you need to recruit volunteers – either way – you’re going to need some help. You’re going to want people on your team who represent the board, people who can act as fundraisers or are at least willing to ask for money. You’ll want help researching prospects. And you’ll want someone with the knowledge, skills, or time to help you learn how to market your major gifts program.

3. Determine what qualifies as a major gift. Look at your donation history and calculate the averages (average gift size, average number of times a donor gives to you, average length of time between donations, etc.) – this will help you set your targets and timelines.

4. Do prospect research. Screen your current donors and potential donors so you can generate a list of candidates for your major giving program. Remember what was said above – that 90% of your donations will come from 10% of your people? That’s a great place to start! If you want to dig deeper - look at your loyal donors who have given repeatedly or look at donors who give significant amounts to other organizations.

5. Establish tangible outcomes. Remember – fund development is about helping donors achieve their goals/interests. They want to affect change. So – what will happen with their major gift? What change/impact will it help create?

6. Create a solicitation strategy and launch your major gifts program! Your solicitation strategy should determine who the best person is to make the ask; how much that person should ask for (target); and how he/she will make the ask (over coffee? Alone or with a program participant or partner? As part of an exclusive group or unique project, etc.)

7. Implement a stewardship plan. Again – going back to your primary purpose about helping donors achieve their goals – take time to really get to know your donor, find creative ways to recognize them, schedule regular check-ins, share success stories, thank them, etc.

8. Assess your results. As you build your major gifts program, you’ll want to learn and improve so your program thrives and grows over time. This means taking the time to identify areas of improvement and considering what activities you’ll take when starting your next major gifts campaign. By doing this, you’ll jump over hurdles you’ve already mastered, bypass roadblocks, and get better with each major gifts campaign.

Now that you understand the primary purpose of fund development, you’ve identified your inaugural group of major donors to work with, and you’ve mapped out the steps to launch and execute your major gifts program – the next step is easy – simply repeat!

We think you’ll be amazed at how your major gifts program grows. And we’d love to hear all about it. Give us a call, post a comment, or send us a message – we’d love to hear from you.