Cultivating a major donor is not sending a bigger letter

Aug 29
3 min read

Updated: 5 days ago

Introduction

A supporter gives considerably more than everybody else. They receive the same newsletter as the person who gave ten pounds, the same appeal letter, and the same automated thank-you.

Major donor fundraising is a different activity from mass fundraising, conducted through relationships rather than campaigns, and small charities usually attempt it with the tools they already have. The result is that significant supporters drift away without ever being properly engaged, and nobody records it as a loss.

1. Cultivating a major donor means individual attention

Accept that this does not scale, and that is the point.

A handful of people, each known personally, each communicated with individually. If you are trying to do this for two hundred people you are doing mass fundraising with extra effort, not major donor work.

2. Identify who they are honestly

Start from your own records rather than from ambition.

Largest gifts, longest support, people who increased their giving, volunteers with means, and those who have asked detailed questions about the work. Your best prospects are almost always already connected to you.

3. Find out what they care about

The step that distinguishes this from mass appeals.

Which part of the work interests them, why they support you, what they would like to see achieved. This comes from conversation rather than from data, and it determines everything you subsequently offer them.

4. Give before you ask

Cultivation means providing value first.

A visit, a briefing on the work, an introduction to the team, early sight of a plan, or genuine consultation on something. Supporters at this level frequently want involvement more than they want to be thanked.

5. Ask for something specific and significant

Vagueness fails hardest at this level.

A defined project, a named cost, a clear outcome, and an amount. Asking a major donor to support your general work is asking them to invent the proposition themselves, and most will simply give a modest amount instead.

6. Involve a trustee or the chief executive

Who asks matters more here than in any other fundraising.

Peer-to-peer conversations carry weight, and a trustee with a personal connection is often the right person. This also prevents the relationship resting entirely on one member of staff.

7. Be comfortable with a long timeline

These gifts take much longer to arrive.

Months of conversation before an ask is normal, and pushing for a decision early usually produces a smaller gift than waiting would have. Judge progress by the depth of engagement rather than by elapsed time.

8. Report back personally and promptly

The determinant of whether there is a second gift.

Not the standard supporter update but a direct account of what their money did, ideally in person or by phone. This is the single most neglected step and the one that most reliably produces continued support.

9. Keep proper records and manage the conflicts

Both the practical and the ethical side.

Record conversations, commitments and preferences so the relationship survives staff changes. Agree in advance what influence a donor may and may not have over your work, because significant gifts occasionally arrive with expectations attached that would compromise the organisation.

Treat their data with particular care. Notes about individuals' circumstances, family and finances are personal data, and the informal research some organisations undertake needs to stay within what your jurisdiction permits.

Conclusion

Treat major donor work as an individual relationship rather than a larger version of your appeal.

Identify prospects from your own records instead of aspiring outward, learn what they actually care about through conversation, offer involvement and access before asking for anything, make the ask specific and substantial rather than general, bring in a trustee or chief executive where a peer conversation will carry more weight, allow the process to take months, report back personally and quickly after the gift, and keep careful records while agreeing in advance what influence a donor may not have.