10 Secrets to Major Gift Fundraising Success: The First 5

Not sure how to attack the Elephant Piñata in your room?

It simply makes sense to follow the money.

Where is it?

Let’s begin with that elephant-shaped piñata in the middle of the room. It’s filled with the bulk of all philanthropy. You’ve got to figure out how to get the goodies out of it, or you’ll be left scrambling for spare change.

According to Giving USA, 64% of charitable giving comes from living individuals, with another 10% coming through bequests. That’s nearly three-quarters of all giving coming from people — not foundations, businesses or government.

And major gifts are where much of the money is concentrated. According to the Bank of America Study of Philanthropy, charitable contributions from affluent donors have surged more than 30% since 2015. In 2024, their giving was ten times higher than that of the general population.

The philanthropy landscape is becoming increasingly concentrated among a smaller slice of donors.

This is your elephant.

How do you get inside?

Any organization, large or small, can build a major gift program. You just need to know what to focus on.

Here are the first five of 10 secrets that can help you do just that.

1. Secret to Choosing Your Major Gift Amount

You can’t begin without defining what a “major gift” means for your organization. For some, it’s $250. For others, it’s $1,000, $10,000, $100,000 or more.

There is no universal definition. Your major gift threshold should reflect your organization’s own giving history — and it can change over time.

For years, many organizations have used $1,000 as the benchmark. But if donors who could give $10,000 or $100,000 are being praised for $1,000 gifts, you may be leaving significant money on the table.

ACTION TIP: Let your own donor history determine your major gift target.

Review the top 10% of your individual donors over the past 12–24 months, including family foundations and donor-advised funds. Look at cumulative annual giving, not just individual gifts. A donor giving $100 a month, for example, has given $1,200 over the year.

What patterns emerge? Calculate your average gift. Calculate your median gift. Assess whether there are outliers that could skew your averages. Recalculate after removing the outliers. Does this seem like a reasonable threshold for your organization’s target major gift? Could you develop a list of any donors who fall above this threshold and begin to determine whether this is an amount of major donor prospects you could manage?

If you have more at that level than you can imagine connecting with personally, raise your threshold. If you don’t have enough, raise your threshold.  There isn’t a magic number that holds for all organizations.

The goal is ultimately to focus your energy on the donors who have the potential to provide a significant portion of your contribution income.

The familiar 80/20 principle often applies to fundraising, with a relatively small percentage of donors accounting for a large percentage of revenue. It could be 95/5 or 70/30 for you, but it will be close to the Pareto Rule.

Don’t choose your major gift threshold because another organization does. Choose it because your own data tells you where your greatest opportunities lie.

2. Secret to Finding the Right Prospects

Once you’ve established your major gift threshold, you need prospects with three things in common: linkage, interest and ability — LIA.

• Linkage: They have a connection to your organization or know someone connected to it.
• Interest: They care about your mission or the problem you’re addressing.
• Ability: They have the financial capacity to make a major gift.

Don’t make the mistake of starting with the wealthiest people in your community.

I’ve sat in far too many campaign screening sessions where someone names the wealthiest person in town as the obvious prospect. But capacity alone doesn’t make someone a good prospect. They may have no interest in your mission — or no interest in philanthropy. And you may have no way to connect with them.

And passion alone isn’t enough either. Someone can care deeply about your work without having the resources to make a major gift.

ACTION TIP: Start with your insiders.

Look at current and former board members, current major donors, staff, volunteers, members, service users and close friends of insiders.

You already know they have linkage and interest. Two out of three isn’t a bad place to start.

Who is already giving at or near your major gift threshold? Could they give more? You may not know yet. That’s what you’re screening for.

ACTION TIP: Then look for others who have at least two of the three LIA factors.

Begin to qualify these prospects through research and relationship-building. Major gifts depend on relationships, and not everyone on your initial prospect list will be interested in building one with you.

If they’re not going to engage, keeping them in your major gift portfolio will only waste your time.

Your prospect list will account for much of your success with major gifts.

So take the time to build, screen and continually refine it.

3. Secret to Creating the Right Case for Support

Your prospect needs to understand why you’re asking — and why their gift matters.

Major gifts aren’t really about money. They’re about outcomes: making something happen that otherwise wouldn’t.

Don’t simply say, “Last year you gave $500. Will you give $1,000 this year?”

Instead, show the donor what their gift can make possible.

The best case for support incorporates storytelling:

• Share the need: Once upon a time…
• Show how you address it: Here’s what we’ve done, what we’ve learned and what’s still needed.
• Show the donor how they can create the happy ending. Your gift of $X will make this happen…

Your story should help the prospect understand what would happen if your organization ceased to exist — or if the program you’re seeking funding for didn’t happen.

ACTION TIP: Give the donor a meaningful number to respond to.

There’s a concept in Judaism known as t’rumah, loosely translated as a gift from the heart that’s enough to get the job done.

Your donor wants to know what “enough” looks like. What will the entire project cost? What will it take to achieve the outcome?

Once they understand the scope of what’s needed, they can begin to see where their gift fits.

The secret is to make your case specific and outcome-oriented.

“We want as much money as we can possibly raise” isn’t inspiring.

The donor needs to understand why this opportunity matters, why your organization is the right vehicle, and why this amount can make a meaningful difference.

4. Secret to Building a Gift Chart

Most organizations don’t have a large enough donor base to be sustainable without major gifts. So don’t simply set a fundraising goal. Figure out how you’re going to get there.

A gift chart shows how many gifts you’ll need, and at what levels, to reach your goal.

If you have a $500,000 fundraising goal, you’re probably not going to get there with 50,000 $10 gifts. A relatively small number of donors will likely account for a large percentage of the revenue.

ACTION TIP: Build a gift chart — even if you’re not conducting a formal capital campaign.

It can help you see exactly what your fundraising goal requires. It can also be useful to share with major donor prospects, annual campaign donors and board members.

Your board members, especially, should understand what leadership giving looks like. If you’re counting on $1,000 gifts from board members and they’re giving $100, you have a disconnect.

A gift chart makes that disconnect visible.

The secret is to connect your goals with your prospects.

Randomly asking people for big gifts isn’t a major gifts strategy. It’s a shot in the dark.

You need to know where you’re going, how many gifts you’ll need to get there, and which prospects have the potential to help you reach the goal.

5. Secret to Knowing When to Ask

Your next step is to move each prospect along a series of donor experiences that engage their interests and passions and prepare them to make an investment.

As the old Paul Masson wine campaign put it: “We will sell no wine before its time.”

Ask no donor before their time.

You’ll know when the time has come if you’ve created a personalized cultivation plan for each person in your major gift portfolio.

ACTION TIP: Use the Goldilocks Model.

You want your cultivation to be just right.

People generally move along a continuum from interest… to awareness… to engagement… to investment.

• Too little: Someone may be interested in your cause but know little about your organization. Asking too soon is like taking a first date on an overnight ski trip.

• Too much: People who already have strong connections to your organization may be ready to move more quickly. Don’t make them wait unnecessarily.

• Just right: Build the relationship through a series of purposeful moves, then ask when the prospect is ready.

Many nonprofits get stuck in the middle. They cultivate, cultivate and cultivate — and never get to the ask.

That’s not good stewardship. It’s a waste of your time and confusing for your prospect. At some point, they expect to be asked.

The secret is to create a “just right” plan — and then follow it.

Don’t move prospect A right up to the threshold, then ignore them while you work on prospect B. When you’ve made the moves you planned, it’s time for the ask.

In Part 2, we’ll look at the final five things you need to make your major gifts program successful.

Want to Attend Major Gifts Fundraising Wizard School?

Whether you’re new to major gifts or a seasoned pro, I invite you to join this 8-week online course: Certification Course for Major Gift Fundraisers.

If you’re serious about fundraising, you’ve got to get serious about investing in major gifts. This is true no matter your size.

I’ve done every kind of fundraising there is, and can tell you from decades of experience there’s no more cost-effective fundraising strategy.

It’s a struggle to figure out how to do it on your own, and it wastes time.  Enroll yourself and your team today — and make this your best fundraising year ever!

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