Soapbox Engage Blog

It takes a lot of work to solicit major gifts to fund your nonprofit’s mission. If you’ve already completed the research portion of your efforts, you’re one step ahead.

Prospecting, or the process of identifying and learning about donors with a high likelihood of giving major gifts, is a crucial part of fundraising. But once you’ve combed through your donor database and found individuals with both the financial capacity and willingness to give to your cause in large amounts, what comes next?

We’ll break down these five steps your nonprofit can take to pave the way for successfully securing major gifts:

Table of Contents

1. Review and segment your prospects.
2. Clarify your goals.
3. Create a cultivation strategy.
4. Focus on building relationships.
5. Keep detailed records of your progress.

Keep in mind that this won’t be a one-and-done endeavor. Ideally, prospect research and the steps that follow it should be integrated into your ongoing fundraising strategy to continuously build and strengthen these important relationships.

1. Review and segment your prospects.

Once you’ve completed your initial prospect research, don’t step away from it just yet. Go back through your research data and take time to look for commonalities between prospects. Create segments of donors based on these three kinds of markers:

• Capacity: This refers to a donor’s ability to give in large amounts. Indicators that a donor may have a high capacity to give include real estate or stock ownership.
• Affinity: Also referred to as warmth markers, things like cause alignment and involvement history show that donors have a personal stake in your organization and may be willing to give more.
• Propensity: Look for data that indicates established giving habits, such as attending other nonprofits’ fundraising events or holding board member positions.

You’ve likely already looked for these indicators in your initial research, but now you can use them to segment and prioritize the donors you’ve found. For example, you might create a segment of donors who you know have a high capacity and affinity to give but may not have many propensity markers. If you have another group of donors with plenty of all three types of markers, focus your efforts there first.

2. Clarify your goals.

Next, determine exactly what your goals are for the prospects you’ve prioritized. Consider creating a set of goals for both the short-term and long-term.

To help you develop your goals, look back on your original fundraising plan and ask yourself:

• Why did you start your prospect research in the first place?
• What is your current fundraising goal?
• How many major donors do you need to reach that goal?
• Do you need urgent support for a specific project or ongoing, long-term support?

These answers should guide you in your donor cultivation strategy. For example, say your goal for prospect research was to find 15 potential donors for your planned giving program. Your next goal could be to meet with all 15 prospects and eventually secure at least 5 planned gifts over a certain amount of money. This isn’t an urgent need, so you can create individual, long-term cultivation plans for each prospect.

3. Create a cultivation strategy.

Major donor cultivation is a lengthy, delicate process that deserves your full attention. Although you’ll likely have some sort of existing connection to each prospect, before making any fundraising asks, you’ll need to develop strong relationships and really get to know your prospects as people. Creating a detailed cultivation strategy early on will make this process easier.

To create your prospect cultivation strategy, plan out:

• Timelines: Plan a general timeline for your initial approach, follow-ups, and proposal development. The timing of your asks should be highly personalized to each donor, but having a basic structure to inform your decisions can help you stay on track.
• Touchpoints: Plan to cultivate donors using a variety of methods and communication channels. While you’re likely to make the most progress during in-person conversations, it’s important to supplement them with emails, direct mail, and phone calls.
• Staff involvement: Determine early on who will need to be involved in the donor cultivation process. Will efforts be led by a major gifts officer or will it be a team effort? Which staff members need access to your prospect research findings and donor profiles?

Just like any other fundraising strategy, you should take stock of needs when building out your cultivation plan. Donorly’s fundraising strategy guide recommends assessing your strengths and existing resources to determine where you might need extra help. If you need to hire a major gifts officer or invest in a new marketing tool, take time to do that now before moving forward with your plan.

4. Focus on building relationships.

Once your strategy is solidified, it’s time to get to work building relationships with prospects. Highly personalized outreach is crucial! Make sure you leverage data from your research to tailor your approach to each individual’s unique interests and giving capacity.

As mentioned earlier, talking to prospects in person is the best way to learn about them and cultivate trust. These meetings can take many different forms, but might look like inviting prospects to:

• One-on-one meetings
• Lunches or dinners
• Tours of your nonprofit’s headquarters
• Donor appreciation events

At and in between these meetings, continue to prioritize communication and appreciation. Even before they make a major gift, you should thank prospects for any donation they’ve made previously and consistently update them on the impact their gifts make.

Don’t be afraid to get creative with your thanks either, as long as they align with donor preferences. According to eCardWidget, creative ideas like thank-you videos, eCards, and tangible gifts can make a larger impact than using traditional tactics alone.

5. Keep detailed records of your progress.

As you work to build these relationships, remember to make detailed notes in your donor database after every conversation. Write down what you learned about the donor’s charitable interests, which programs they seemed most interested in, and even more personal details like the trip they’re taking to Colombia next month.

Then, use these notes to guide your communication strategy and inform future interactions. If a donor expressed interest in your at-risk youth mentoring program, send them a personal progress update about the program’s success. Invite them to tour your facility, and ask them about their child’s recent graduation while you personally show them how your organization furthers the cause they care about.

If you’re unsure how to use the data you’re collecting effectively, consider reaching out to a fundraising consultant. These experts can help you analyze your initial prospect research data, create robust cultivation strategies, and improve your stewardship plans.

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By following these steps, you’ll get closer to securing the major gifts your nonprofit needs to further your mission. Remember to put relationships first, rely on your data, and pivot your approach as needed. Major gift solicitation may not be easy, but the lasting support you gain will be well worth the effort.