Major donors often provide the largest gifts to your organization, making them a vital part of your long-term fundraising strategy (especially if you're working toward building or growing an endowment).
While economic conditions may shift, your mission and your community’s support remain steady. According to Fortune, some giving may slow during a recession, but people still give to the causes they care about. Susan Hirschman, Director of Wealth Management for Schwab Wealth Advisory, puts it best: “No matter what the market is, people will always give to charities.”
It’s easy to focus on maintaining relationships with your current major donors—and you should! But if you're thinking about long-term financial sustainability through an endowment, it’s equally important to expand your network of support. There are donors out there who are aligned with your mission and ready to invest in your future—you just need to invite them in.
We’ll help you get started with three of our favorite best practices for identifying, cultivating, and stewarding major donors.
Your major gift officers (MGOs) likely create a donor profile for each of your major donors, but you can also create an ideal major donor persona to guide cultivation efforts. This outline of a hypothetical, composite major donor acts as a guide to help your team understand who is most likely to support your organization at a significant level. As a result, you can save time and resources by identifying and engaging the right prospective donors from the start.
Here are a few key elements you may want to include in your ideal major donor persona:
Remember not to be too rigid when using the ideal major donor persona as a resource. You may find there are great prospects out there who don’t fully “fit” the persona you’ve created but would be valuable additions to your community!
Finding and cultivating new major donors will require you to conduct thorough research. After all, as you prepare to reach out to a potential donor for the first time for an initial donation appeal, knowing a bit about them will be essential for success.
Here are some of the tools you may want to use for your research work:
A constituent relationship management (CRM) system centralizes your organization’s donor and prospect information, from giving histories to communication preferences. This makes it simple for your MGOs to:
A prospect research tool, or wealth screening tool, is designed to help your nonprofit identify, evaluate, and prioritize prospects by providing in-depth insights into individuals’ financial capacity, philanthropic indicators, and affinity indicators.
Here are some examples of the pieces of data prospect research tools can help you find in each category:
Many prospect research tools now offer artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities. AI can analyze your prospects’ data and predict the best ways to engage them in your outreach work.
You can also turn to public data sources to supplement your prospect research findings. Here are a few examples of places you might look for additional details on your prospects:
Once you’re confident that you’ve found several promising major giving prospects, dive into the work of building their trust and forging lasting relationships. To do this, you must design highly personalized engagement strategies for each donor.
Begin by referring to the data you’ve collected on the prospect. Identify areas of alignment between what you know about the prospect and your mission or vision so you can speak to them about your cause in a way that will resonate.
You should also develop a tailored communication plan for each prospect based on their communication preferences. For example, one donor may appreciate frequent phone calls or invitations to lunch with someone from your team, while another donor might prefer quarterly emails with updates on your organization's work. No matter the particulars, prioritize storytelling to connect with your prospects on a deeper level and engage them emotionally.
While you are working toward an initial donation ask, keep in mind that nobody wants their only interactions with your organization to be about money. Invite other forms of involvement that will deepen prospects’ investment in your cause, such as inviting them to exclusive events, having them meet your organization’s leaders, asking them to volunteer, requesting their assistance with a feasibility study for a major campaign, or requesting their expert advice on a challenge you’re experiencing in your organization’s operations.
Also, remember that building strong relationships will take some time. Be patient and do all you can to demonstrate that your organization values every step of the cultivation process, not just the “Yes!” that comes from a successful donation appeal.
Use the best practices above to find and cultivate more major donors for your mission, and remember to continue stewarding your donors even after securing major donations!
Finding the right investment advisor shouldn’t be overwhelming. At Carnegie Investment Counsel, we understand the unique challenges nonprofits face when securing their financial future. We’re here to bring clarity and expertise to the process. Schedule a complimentary consultation today!
Disclaimer: This blog is for informational purposes only and is not meant as financial, legal, or tax advice. Please seek professional advice from qualified tax, legal, and/or financial professionals before making any financial decisions.
Carnegie Investment Counsel (“Carnegie”) is a registered investment adviser under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. Registration as an investment adviser does not imply a certain level of skill or training. For a more detailed discussion about Carnegie’s investment advisory services and fees, please view our Form ADV and Form CRS by visiting: https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/150488.