When you’re developing an end-of-year fundraising campaign, one of the most important steps is determining your target audiences. Have you considered how you’ll work major donor fundraising into your giving season plan?
Having a major donor strategy as part of your overarching campaign is a great way to meet your goals this year-end. Major gifts make a bigger impact on your fundraising goal thermometer. Plus, these donors often come with networks of people they may be able to influence to give as well.
Here are our top five tips on including major donors in your year-end fundraising.
5 Tips for Year-End Major Donor Fundraising
Put these major donor fundraising tactics and strategies to work to help you raise more critical funds for your mission this giving season.
1. Do Your Major Gifts Research
There’s a reason this tip comes first! It’s the very first thing you should do when it comes to major donor fundraising. Conduct research to determine who your current major donors and major donor prospects are – this may include running a wealth screening, if you haven’t done so already. Come up with a list of those you want to target this year-end.
Then, get to know the people on this list like the back of your hand. Major donor outreach is typically done on more of a one-on-one basis. Therefore, it’s crucial that you know how to personalize each message to fit the recipient. This will show that you truly value each major donor and their contributions!
You should know this information about each of your major donors:
- Communications Preferences – How do your donors like to be reached? Do they respond best to phone calls or would they rather conduct all conversations via email? It’s possible a one-on-one meeting might be best for some while others may prefer catching up at a larger event.
- Giving History – Be sure to know the date and amount of the donor’s last gift, as well as information on when, how often, and how much they typically give. This will help you time your ask as well as better understand how much you may be able to ask for.
- Program Affinity – Does your nonprofit offer several programs or designations for gifts? Check to see if each of your major donors tends to give to one program or another. If they do, be sure to share impact stories or data points that align with this affinity.
2. Make Multiple Touchpoints
Just like with any campaign, it’s important to reach out to your major donors several times leading up to and throughout the giving season. You should also reach out to them in different ways and through various channels (keeping their communication preferences in mind, of course).
For example, it’s often a good practice to make a round of phone calls to your major donors just to say “thank you”. You can share details about the impact that donor had, but do not make an ask during this phone call.
You can follow up later with another phone call, a mailed appeal, or an email campaign with that direct ask. Saying “thank you” first often primes major donors to feel more ready to give the next time you make an appeal for a contribution.
3. Add a Personal Touch
If you have a large number of donors to contact, it can often feel daunting to personalize your communications. The good news is that a little personalization can go a long way with major donor fundraising!
You’re probably already using variable fields to add donor names as well as custom ask amounts to personalize your mailed giving season appeal letters.
For major donors, consider taking this a step further. Ask a staff or board member who has a relationship with your donor to add a short handwritten note before mailing their letter out. They can mention any specific impact the donor has had as well as a personal message of gratitude.
The same holds true for thank-you notes or holiday cards. Even if most of your donors receive the same printed message, print a few blank cards for your major donors. This way, you can write a handwritten note of appreciation or season’s greetings.
Want to really grab their attention? Use a flat envelope to send your major donor their letter and handwritten note via FedEx or UPS. One of the biggest challenges is just getting a donor to open their mail. Who doesn’t like opening something from FedEx?
4. Request Matching Gifts
If you’re looking to give your Giving Tuesday or year-end fundraising campaign a boost, this major donor fundraising tactic may be just the ticket.
In a matching gift challenge, an individual, foundation, or company usually promises to match every donation raised by an organization up to a certain amount or within a time frame (or both). For example, if a donor gives $100, the challenger will give another $100 for a total of $200 given to the nonprofit. The opportunities are nearly endless! The match could be offered only for gifts of a certain size or above, or the challenger could even offer to triple or quadruple each donation.
These challenges encourage more giving because donors know that their contribution will have a bigger impact. Adding a timeline – such as the 24 hours of Giving Tuesday or until the end of the year – also creates a sense of urgency and encourages more people to give right now.
Consider asking a supporter who has made a major gift in the past if they’d be willing to give the same amount, but have it be presented as a matching gift. If the challenge is met, the impact of their original contribution will go (at least) twice as far!
5. Utilize Major Donors’ Networks
Beyond asking for gifts, part of your major donor strategy this year-end can include asking them to advocate for your mission. Many of your biggest supporters likely have large networks of family and friends. Request that they help spread the word about your giving season campaign!
For your major donors, this can be as simple as sharing one of your posts on social media, forwarding an email, or making a few phone calls. Request that they share a bit about why they support your organization and encourage others to do the same.
Or, take this even further with a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign. Using online fundraising software, create a main or “parent” campaign. Then, ask major donors to set up their own “child” campaign pages, which they share with their networks to ask for donations on your behalf.
These methods work because people tend to give to people over a faceless organization. If someone they know and trust (read: your major donor) tells them about your mission and why they should support it, they’ll be more likely to donate themselves!
If your current donation platform or CRM doesn’t offer peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns, we recommend looking at Donorbox or CauseMatch! These tools make it easy for you and your supporters to raise funds using P2P.
Get Started with Major Donor Fundraising this Giving Season
And there you have it! Our five biggest pieces of advice when it comes to including a major donor strategy in your end-of-year fundraising campaign:
- Do your research
- Reach out multiple times (and in multiple ways)
- Add a personal touch
- Put matching gift challenges to work
- Make use of your major donors’ networks
What are you planning to implement?
If you need a little help to reach your major donors this year-end, connect with us here at MVP Advisors. Our consultants are ready to help with everything from wealth screening to communications planning to appeal writing, and beyond. Email us or schedule a call today to get started!