Major gift fundraising, when done well, has the power to transform your organization. It consistently delivers one of the best returns on investment among fundraising activities. Approximately 80% of all charitable giving comes from individuals, and 80% of individual giving comes from gifts of $5,000 or more.

Individual donors tend to give unrestricted dollars, make giving decisions more quickly than institutional funders, volunteer for the organizations they support, recruit others, and carry influence in their communities.

A loyal donor with the capacity to give more who is currently contributing $500 annually can become a $5,000, $10,000, or even $25,000+ donor if engaged in an intentional, meaningful, and personalized manner over time.

There's no universal threshold for what qualifies as a major gift. The appropriate levels depend on your organization's fundraising capacity and donor base. A simple way to start is to create three tiers (high, mid, low) that reflect your current donor capacity.

Begin by calculating the average gift of your 8-10 largest annual individual donors over the past two consecutive fiscal years. Use that average as your lowest major gift level. For example, if your largest 10 individual donors each gave $5,000 during that period, your lowest level is $5,000, medium is $15,000, and high is $25,000.

Establishing clear giving levels in this way helps you recognize, prioritize, and manage major gift donors and your program activities.

Every donor moves through four main phases on the path to making a gift: identification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship. In general, the larger the gift, the more personalized the process and the longer the relationship-building timeline.

Major gift fundraising is the practice of intentionally guiding donors through each phase, delivering the highest level of engagement and personalization to your most capable and loyal supporters.

Start by setting a realistic target for the number of donors you have the time and capacity to actively manage over a one-year period. Whether you are an Executive Director, Development Director, Major Gift Officer, Development Associate, or Board Member, the target number will most likely be between 10 and 100 donors. Consider organizing your prospects into an A-list and a B-list. This gives you the flexibility to move major gift prospects between these high- and low-priority segments as you learn more about each donor’s interest, engagement, and giving potential.

1. Run an RFM (Recency, Frequency, Monetary) analysis of individual donors who have given in the past two full fiscal years. This helps identify your most loyal and generous donors based on how recently they gave, how often they give, and how much they have contributed.  These types of donors are most likely to give a major gift in the future, and are your strongest candidates for cultivation.

2. Narrow your list down to your top 50 to 2000 donors using an ABC (Access, Belief, Capacity) filter:

Access assesses the level of access you have to the person. Will they respond after a reasonable number of attempts?

Belief is your understanding of the extent of a person's belief in your organization beyond the data in your database. Does the prospect believe in your mission?

Capacity evaluates an individual’s philanthropic capacity. Does the prospect have the financial capacity to make the size gift you need? You can learn about capacity through a combination of wealth research, giving research, word-of-mouth, and one-on-one discussions with the individual.

Nonprofit staff and volunteers have limited time and resources. Identifying the right major gift prospects helps your team focus its efforts where they are most likely to have the greatest impact, while respecting the 90/10 (or 80/20) rule of fundraising.

In virtually every fundraising campaign, from a $10,000 annual fund to a $100 million capital campaign, roughly 10% of donors account for 90% of the revenue (the 80/20 rule). This is why thoughtful prospect identification matters so much: investing engagement time with the right people yields dramatically higher returns than spreading effort broadly.

There's no fixed timeline, but a reasonable expectation is that it will take anywhere from 6 to 24 months of meaningful engagement before a major gift solicitation is appropriate. Rushing the solicitation or, more commonly, not soliciting at all, are the most common reasons major gift asks fall short.

Item descriptionThere are too many variables and situational factors to give you a specific answer, but one useful indicator is your solicitation success rate. If nearly every donor says yes, 90%-100% of the time, you may be asking for less than they are capable of giving. If fewer than 50% of your asks are successful, your ask amounts may be too ambitious. This indicator assumes you are properly identifying and cultivating the relationship before the ask.

Asking someone to make a significant gift is a nuanced conversation that email or a letter simply can't accommodate. A face-to-face meeting, whether in person, over video, or by phone, demonstrates that you value the donor enough to invest your time and energy. It allows you to convey the right message and impact in a personal way, listen carefully to the prospect's interests and concerns, and respond in real time.

The two most common mistakes are assuming a prospect will give less than they're capable of and never making the ask at all. Both often stem from fundraisers failing to really listen to what the donor cares about or from being overly cautious when determining the ask amount. Successful major gift fundraising happens when you do the necessary engagement and relationship work, trust the process, and ask for an amount that reflects your understanding of the donor's capacity and affinity.

Thanking donors promptly and sincerely is essential, but effective stewardship must go further. One of the most underused and effective tools is an impact report. It can be as simple as a personalized one- or two-page letter, delivered 6 to 9 months after a gift, that shows how the donor’s generosity made a difference for the clients or the community you serve. Personalize the first paragraph for each donor and deliver it in their preferred format. Stewardship like this is the most effective relationship-building tool you have, and it lays the groundwork for the next gift.

Your community of supporters expects your executive leadership to demonstrate its commitment to the organization by making an annual gift. That collective participation sends a powerful message to current and prospective supporters alike.

One of the most effective ways to increase board giving is to establish a shared fundraising goal for the board. Collaborate with the board chair to facilitate a meeting to discuss a meaningful and significant funding need, and establish a team goal. Avoid setting minimum individual gift requirements, which can be uncomfortable for those who don’t usually give at that level and can under-ask those who have the capacity to give more.

Reach out to us if you want a detailed approach to creating a board giving goal that has full board buy-in and inspires participation.

The best time to build an engaged board member is before they join the board. Clear expectations during recruitment and onboarding help board members understand their role as ambassadors, advocates, and donors from the very beginning.

For current board members, treat them like a VIP major gift donor, regardless of their giving level. When they are effectively engaged, much like your top donors, board members will do wonders for your organization.

I recommend asking board members to sign a job description and/or an annual commitment form each year. Meet individually with each board member once or twice a year as part of the stewardship process. This combination of clear expectations, personal engagement, and consistent accountability is what transforms a passive board into an active fundraising asset.

An effective board commitment form typically includes a clear job description covering attendance expectations, committee participation, and a range of meaningful fundraising opportunities. It should also ask each board member to pledge an annual gift at a personally meaningful level.

Having board members sign this annually (rather than only during onboarding) keeps expectations fresh and creates a natural opportunity to check in on how each member is doing.

Reach out to us if you want a detailed sample of a board member commitment form template.

Aim for a major gift donor retention rate of 60% to 80%. The national average is around 45%. Strong retention is one of the clearest signs that your cultivation and stewardship activities and policies are working. Consistently retaining your major donors is typically more valuable and cost-effective than continually recruiting new donors.

The head of development and the staff involved in major gift fundraising should review results against performance target metrics twice a year. Review written results against targets, using thoughtful inquiry to have a focused conversation. Consider questions like:

- What are you observing about the program right now?

- What's working well and what challenges or barriers are you facing?

- What barriers do the frontline fundraisers need removed to be successful?

- Is there anything else to discuss that hasn’t been covered?

Build these foundational pieces before launching a major gifts program:

1. A compelling major gifts case-for-support document in final draft form.

2. Clearly defined giving levels and meaningful engagement opportunities for donors.

3. A top prospect list and realistic portfolio for frontline major gift fundraisers.

4. A process and platform to track and manage donor information, moves, and performance goals.

Major gift donors give for a variety of reasons, but the overarching motivators are a strong belief in the mission and an emotional connection to the organization’s work.

A case for support makes a clear and compelling case for giving to the organization. At the core of a case for support is “Why” the work (or campaign) matters, “What” you are seeking to accomplish, and “How” the investment will make an impact. The Why includes your mission, vision, the challenge you are addressing, and the impact your organization can have. The What should outline your project objectives and budget. The How should explain your fundraising goal and how you plan to reach it.

Creating a concise, two-page case for support in draft form is an effective way to engage your top major gift prospects and gather their advice and perspectives on your fundraising initiative, helping cultivate deeper relationships.