Identifying major donors . . .

Every nonprofit organization needs major donors - and the vast majority of nonprofit organizations rely on a few major donors for at least 50% of their annual income. However, finding major donors for your organization can be akin to looking for a needle in a haystack. Here’s a couple of pointers to help you get started:

Get a good database: Before you can really start analyzing your donors, you should start at square one: selecting a great donor database that works for your organization. The CRM you choose will depend on many variants such as size, cost, currencies, automations, integration with other platforms, and more. Whatever you choose, spend time ensuring that the data is accurate, updated and relevant. To summarize: your donor database with up-to-date information is the key to finding major donors within your pool of existing donors. Start off by looking through your nonprofit CRM or donor management software to find donors who have made large contributions in the past.

Past giving is one of your most valuable tools to finding major donors; whether you’re launching a capital campaign or looking for major donations for your annual fund, use this positive statistical correlation to your advantage. To summarize: past giving allows you to pinpoint major gift donors based upon their demonstrated ability and willingness to donate. Evaluating past giving, provides you with the context you need to make an informed assessment of a prospect’s projected giving capacity.

Do extensive Prospect Research: proper research is a great tool for indicating a person’s likelihood of donating, as well as relevant as accumulating background information on potential major donors. Your research should include both philanthropic and wealth data because both of these factors are important to consider when it comes to identifying major donors who are both able and willing to give.

It is important to remember that wealth alone does not determine whether a person is willing to donate. Consequently, wealth indicators should be considered in conjunction with philanthropic behaviors.

However, don’t stop with your current donors! Yes, it’s true that past donors are the most likely to continue donating, however, general interest and support for other nonprofits of a similar nature, can also be an indication of a willingness to donate.

Keep your eyes open - many nonprofit websites, publications and buildings honor their major donors. It stands to reason that donors who have made large contributions to an organization in the past are more likely to make a donation elsewhere than the average person.

Let’s say you’re looking for major donors to help get your peer-2-peer campaign going. Since over half of your donations will likely come from major donors, it’s critical that you find supporters who are passionate about your cause and willing to give large contributions. The likelihood of donating only increases with the amount of past giving. Donors who have contributed $100,000 or more are 32 times more likely to donate elsewhere, especially if they have already shown a passion for a similar cause.

However - don’t ignore small donors: a donor might be giving small gifts to your organization but major gifts elsewhere. By not exclusively researching only the largest gifts, you can identify potential major donors who are already in your donor database who are making small contributions and may just be waiting for someone to ask them to be a partner. To summarize: Prospect research helps your organization open the door to major donors by targeting people who are both capable of making large donations and willing to make a donation in the first place. Knowing who your donors are can help your nonprofit create lasting relationships. Prospect research will help identify past charitable giving but even more importantly, nonprofits can use the information they discover, to help with cultivating relationships with their donors. Knowing more about your donors can help your nonprofit craft a pitch that targets a specific potential donor. In a future article we will discuss tools you can use for prospect research

A non-profit fundraising consultant, I have learned there is no such thing as one-size fits all. Each organization has its own dynamic needs and my goal is to help your organization move to the next level and turn your vision into donations. You can contact me at suzanne@suzannelieberman.com; let’s start a conversation.