Cultivating Major Gifts

Identify and nurture individuals with potential to be major contributors.

Now that you've established your credibility and have programs in place to get more donors and get your current donors to give you more money, you're ready to tackle major gifts. 

A gift of $1,000 or more is usually defined as major. Your dollar amount may differ based on what your donors are currently giving. Here is a basic blueprint for an ongoing program to keep turning modest givers into major givers.

1. Put together a Major Gifts committee.

Developing a major gifts program is all about building personal relationships. You can't do it alone. Your committee should include board members and existing supporters who are well connected in the community and interested in helping you reach out for significant donations.

All committee members don't have to be comfortable asking for money, but some certainly should be. They should also be major donors themselves. Because you'll be sharing sensitive information with this group, it's important to have them sign a confidentiality agreement.

Denver Dumb Friends League put together a fundraising packet (.doc) for its board members that presents expectations for fundraising and provides resources for doing it successfully.

2. Rank your donors.

Your current donors are your best source for future major gifts, so, to get started:

• print a donor list (without gift amounts) and
• ask the members of your Major Gifts committee to identify people with the capacity and inclination to give at the leadership level.

With this more select list of prospects, ask your committee members to:

• determine the size of gift they feel each prospect should be able to contribute (that is, their capacity to give, based on overall wealth and financial ability to make a significant gift),
• indicate the prospect's inclination to give (because the prospect is excited about or committed to your cause or is an animal lover), and
• provide additional information such as business affiliations, major interests, club memberships, other organizations they support etc.

Add information from your donor records about what has prompted each of these donors to give in the past. All of this will give you a portrait of your prospect that will enable you to design the ideal solicitation.

The best prospects have both high capacity and inclination to give. But a donor with high inclination who is capable of a $5,000 gift is usually much more valuable than the community billionaire who could give $1 million the next day if they wanted but hates animals or who is otherwise not inclined to give.

3. Develop an action plan.

There are many strategies for cultivating major gift prospects including:

• personal letters,
• phone calls,
• visits,
• small-group gatherings (.doc),
• private, behind-the-scenes tours of your facility,
• intimate dinners, and
• VIP invitations to special events.

All are designed to bring the prospect closer to the organization through some degree of one-on-one contact.

• Your committee should match each prospect with the strategy that, in the committee member's judgment, will be most effective for that person.
• Even more important, the committee should identify the solicitor (executive director, board member, committee member) who has the best chance of getting a positive reception from each prospect.

4. Put your plan in writing and review it regularly.

Each committee member should have a copy of the Major Gifts Plan. This includes:

• prospect name and key prospect information,
• the solicitor name (the person who will contact the prospect),
• action to be taken and a target date for the solicitation, and
• the gift amount to requested.

Members should record information about every contact, such as date/time and the prospect's response. You can use forms like these to manage information about contacts with major-gifts prospects:

• Donor Contact form (.pdf)
• Donor Profile form (.pdf)

Regular meetings to review the status of the plan will keep committee members on track, and give opportunities to celebrate victories, share strategies, and make adjustments.

5. Say thank you.

Of course, for each major gift received, you'll send a formal thank you letter, signed by the board president or executive director, and including a receipt or a statement that no goods or services were received by the donor. A phone call from the board president or executive director, telling the donor how the gift will help the animals, will mean even more.

Find more tips for effective thank-yous.

6. Honor your major donors.

Beyond these basic acknowledgements, most organizations host at least one leadership event every year.

• These events generally include cocktails and hors d'oeuvres or dinner and a program that celebrates the successes made possible by leadership gifts.
• If feasible, the event should be held in-house with behind-the-scenes tours and opportunities to interact with animals.
• If that's not possible, getting a board member to host the event or holding it in a nice restaurant are also appropriate. Wherever the event is held, having animals involved is always a plus.

Most major donors don't want you to spend money on them; however, they do like to let others know about their support. Giving a simple but well-designed leadership pin will allow them to display their support and open the door to conversations about why they want to be identified publicly with your work.

7. Be good stewards of your donor relationships.

Stewardship is absolutely the key to donor retention. It is extremely common for organizations to focus on the gift as an end game and not realize the important of ongoing appreciation. Thanking a donor should never end with a thank you letter:

• Remember that major donors are also your agency's strongest supporters and are often in a position to influence others by their example. You want these people to feel great in every way about your organization and its operations. Failing to maintain a strong relationship with a major donor (or any donor) after you receive and acknowledge the gift sends a very poor message to the donor and potentially much further.
• A major donor has literally made a significant investment in your organization. Such donors will be intensely interested in the impact of their gifts on the agency and the animals and people you serve. It's very much in your interest to keep these "investors" engaged with your organization and in the loop on your programs and plans.

Photo courtesy Pune Dracker