A major donor program is the natural culmination of the effort going into 1) developing a strong set of programmatic activities such as monitoring, advocating, educating, and restoring 2) raising organizational awareness in the community, and 3) building a diversified funding base which includes individual members. Most groups who have accomplished these three things, regardless of their size, can benefit from instituting a special program to recognize and build the loyalty of their larger donors.

Basic Requirements for a Major Donor Program To undertake a major donor program, your organization needs: A clear mission statement and history of accomplishments. Before individuals make large gifts to an organization, they need to understand clearly what the organizational purpose is and perceive that the group is accomplishing tangible results. A committed base of members. In some cases, major donors can be recruited from outside the member base of an organization, but the best source of major donors prospects are those individuals who have joined the organization and have an established commitment to its work. Opportunities to involve individuals in the work of the organization. Most four and five figure gifts to nonprofits come from individuals who serve on committees or boards or who are involved in some meaningful way in the work of the organization. Staff, board, or volunteers who are willing to ask for gifts in person. Asking for money in person is at least twice as effective as asking by telephone, and almost always results in larger gifts. A system that allows you to record, retrieve and analyze information about individuals, including their giving history.

When and How to Use a Major Donor Program

A major donor program is perhaps the best strategy there is for raising general operating support for your organization. Once established, it will generate significant unrestricted income that you can rely on, year in and year out. However, it is probably not an appropriate strategy for organizations just opening their doors because most large donors do not make large gifts initially; usually they make a small contribution initially to find out more about an organization. Only after being reassured of the organization's ability to "handle their gift well" and to "get things done" are these donors ready to make larger gifts. So a base of committed members who are already giving to the organization is usually a prerequisite for a major donor program.

What is a major donor program and why start one?

Major donors are individuals who make gifts to your organization at or above a certain threshold level. The minimum gift which qualifies a person as a major donor should be defined by each organization, depending on the wealth of the community in which it operates. For most grassroots river groups, a gift of $100 or more is a large gift, so for the purposes of this chapter, $100 will be used as the entry level gift for a major gift program. The ultimate goal is, of course, to get donors to make larger gifts of four, five and even six figures.

A major donor program is simply a systematic way to encourage a particular set of your members who have the potential to make major gifts to increase their giving to your organization over time. The reason for starting a major donor program, simply stated, is that if you recognize and thank your members personally, keep them well informed about your work, and get them involved in some way in your organization, they will contribute significantly more money. Why do religious organizations receive approximately half of all the individual charity in the United States? There are many reasons, of course, but one that looms large is that they treat all of their members as potential major donors. Pastors usually shake hands with and address by name every member of their congregation; they hold weekly services at which churchgoers are told about their work; and they give their parishioners many chances to get involved in church activities 0through committees, boards, special events, and so on.

Most nonprofit organizations cannot have the direct personal contact with all their members that churches do, but we can try to identify those members who have the greatest potential to make large gifts and institute a formal program to recognize, inform and involve these
people in our organizations.

Identifying Major Donors

See Guest Article:
Researching Major Donors
By Suzi Wilkins Berl

In an ideal world, you, like religious institutions, would treat all your members as potential major donors. But when staffs are small and time is limited, you can only have direct personal contact with a small percent of your members. Many organizations derive as much as 60% of their individual member revenues from 10% of their donors. Your first job, then, is to identify that 10%-20% of your members that you think has the potential to become larger contributors over time. One tried-and-true set of criteria for identifying major gift prospects is the "ABC" rule: Ability (to make a large gift), Belief (in the cause), Connection (to the organization or asker).

Here are some possible methods for developing your list of major donor prospects:

• Ask your board and staff to look at your member/donor list and identify people who are contributing below their real capacity; at the same time, ask them for names of friends or relatives who are not members, but might have an interest in your work
• Target members who have made a one-time gift of $50 or more (or more, if your membership is affluent),
• Review donor lists in annual reports of other organizations, alumni magazines, and programs at concerts, plays, events; compare them with your own roster
• Attend the fundraising events of other organizations and "work the crowd." If the event is big, bring along a board or staff member to assist you. Collect cards and follow up as appropriate.
• Involve your most committed donors to help review existing lists of members/donors and provide you with information (particularly giving potential) for people they know. Ask them to suggest names of potential donors not on your list.
• Read newspapers and other local publications and note prominent individuals who might have an interest in your cause (a local businessman who likes to canoe, for example)
• Talk to experienced fundraisers and the heads of other nonprofits in your geographic/programmatic area and ask them help you identify prospects
• Use some of your volunteers to do research on the web, at the local library or at a local nonprofit research center
• Check out the Forbes annual list (and other similar lists) of the 400 richest people in America for anyone you might have a connection with
• If your member base is several thousand or more, consider paying a specialized research consultant or firm to help you identify prospects

Prospect Cultivation

Once you have identified a list of potential major donors, and coded them in some way that allows you to do special mailings to them and to exclude them from the regular membership renewal mailings, you are ready to begin the process of building donor loyalty. If your list is sizable, this is probably best done by mail or by phone. One rule of thumb is that you should try to have at least four meaningful contacts a year with these prospects. Some easy ways to make them feel appreciated are:

• send them an annual report with a note from the director
• send them a copy of a recent news article about your organization's work, or a special bulletin on one of your projects
• invite them to breakfast, lunch or dinner occasionally
• call them and give them some good news about your organization
• ask them to get involved in your work in some specific way
• Send them a holiday and/or birthday card
• Invite them to attend a special event or to drop by the office

The important thing is to develop a personal relationship with these donors and discover what their interests are and how their interests coincide with those of your organization. Once you have accomplished that task, the rest will be easy!

Making the Ask

See Guest Article:
A Few Guidelines and a Couple of Tricks for Overcoming Fear of Donors
By Kevin J. Coyle

After an appropriate period of cultivation, you will be ready to launch your major donor program by asking your prospects to become "major donors." This is best done in person, because people are more likely to give and almost always give more in response to a face-to-face request. However, if you have many prospects, you may be forced to rate them according to what you think they are capable of giving and tailor your solicitation method to that rating, asking the best prospects in person, and soliciting the others by telephone or by letter.

The amount you ask each prospect for will be based on a number of factors including: their past giving, their level of involvement in the organization, their giving record with other groups (if that is available), and your research on their financial capacity. If they have given before, try asking for twice their previous gift. If you know they give $500 to a sister organization, try asking them for $500. The important thing is to ask for a specific amount that is reasonable and in keeping with their interest and ability to give.

You should come up with a goal at this point, and establish a "Gift Chart" to help you imagine how many gifts you will need to reach your goal and what size they will have to be (you will need more prospects for the larger gifts, fewer for the smaller gifts). For example, if you want to raise $25,000 your first year, and you have 150 prospects, your gift chart might look like this:

If there is nobody on your prospect list who seems to have the capacity to give you $5,000, you will have to either lower your goal, or increase your prospects for one of the other categories.

The Letter

Unless the prospect is a good friend, it is best to start off by sending a letter. Depending upon how many prospects you are writing to, and how much you are asking for, you can use the letter itself to make the ask, or you can use it to request a visit. Below is a simple letter you might send to someone you know requesting a meeting:

Dear Elsie,

I recently spotted your name on our membership list. As Joe may have told you, I am now working for Friends of the Smith River, and knowing of your interest in river conservation, I would like to visit with you briefly to tell you about some of the exciting projects I am working on. Attached are some background materials on what I am up to.

I will call you in a few days to see if we can arrange a time to get together. I look forward to seeing you!

Sincerely,
Sam Elgin

Letters requesting major gifts should always be personalized. You may be able to use parts of a letter you have sent to your regular members as a special appeal, or even a new member solicitation, but you should also include information on the benefits of becoming a "River Steward" (or whatever name you chose for your higher giving level) and how important these donors are to you. You should also make reference to their prior giving history in some way, if they are already a member or donor, and you should always ask them for a specific dollar amount:

"Last year you made a generous $50 gift to Friends of the Sandy. We hope you will consider joining our River Steward program this year by increasing your gift to $100. Your gift will be used for our campaign to stop mining along the Sandy River and other important program activities."

If you have discovered any special interests they have, you should mention those interests in your letter.

"I know from our conversation last month that you have an interest in involving young people in environmental work. Our intern program accomplishes this by giving recent college graduates a chance to work for one year in either our D.C. or Portland, OR office."

The Phone Call

The second step in asking major donors for gifts is usually a phone call. The call may be to follow up on the request made in the letter, or it may be to request a meeting with the donor. If the former, the approach is usually, "Hi, Mrs. Jones! I'm calling to follow up on our recent letter asking for a $100 contribution. Did it reach you? Do you have any questions? Can we count on you for $100? If the object is to set up a meeting, be sure to have a place in mind that is convenient for the prospect. If the prospect says a meeting is not possible, then the call should be used to ask for a contribution.

The Meeting

Volumes have been written about meeting with donors. Here are a few tips from the experts:

1. Give yourself before asking. Most experts agree that to be a good solicitor, you must first give a significant gift yourself.
2. Expect success. Go into the meeting with a positive attitude by mentally telling yourself that you are going to raise the money you need so your group can do wonderful things. Pump yourself up!
3. Take a partner. It can be helpful to have two people present at the meeting. A board member is a great partner because he or she can brag about the organization's merits without sounding self-aggrandizing.
4. Smile and exchange pleasantries. A little playful conversation at the beginning of a meeting helps everyone to relax and enjoy themselves. This should be fun, not an ordeal!
5. Identify yourself and your organization. Don't ever assume that the prospect knows who you are or what you do. Make this part as interesting as possible. Consider telling a story about how the organization got started or how you got involved.
6. State the problem or need and your solution. Tell your prospect what the problem is ("Threats to rivers are so pervasive that the only way to save them is through widespread local activism!") and what your solution is ("Our solution is to help people organize to protect their home rivers, one watershed at a time!")
7. Listen and ask questions. Engage your prospect by listening to any responses s/he may make, and by asking questions. "Have you heard about our work?" "Do you get out on the river?" etc. Some experts say that as much as 60% of the requestor's time should be spent in listening.
8. Ask for a specific amount of money. When the time seems right, ask your prospect for a gift. You must ask the prospect for a specific sum. "Mrs. Jones, you seem genuinely interested in our cause. Will you consider making a gift of $1,000 at this time to help us build the number of local river groups in this country?" It helps if you and/or your partner have made your own gift to the organization. Then you can say to your prospect, "Will you join us/me in making a gift of $1,000?
9. Once you have asked, wait for the prospect to respond. By waiting silently for a response, you indicate to your prospect that you are serious about your request and that it is now his turn to respond.
10. If the prospect says yes, complete the transaction. Thank the donor enthusiastically and ask how they wish to make their contribution. Be sure to get the cash, check, or credit card #, or find out what the process will be to obtain the actual donation. Also, ask for any additional data needed if this is a new donor, such as home address, email address, etc. Find out if the donor wishes to be recognized in your annual report or prefers to remain anonymous. Back at the office, be sure to send a written thank you as well.
11. Respond courteously to objections and refusals. If the prospect has questions or objections, try to deal with them in a thoughtful and courteous manner. Offer to obtain more information if that is appropriate. If the prospect says no, it is still important to say thank you and to follow up with a written note thanking him for taking the time to meet with you, and letting him know that you would like to continue to keep him informed about your work.
12. Document each visit with a short note or memo. It is important to record each visit with a prospect or donor for the files. If you are listening as well as talking at these visits, you will learn a lot about the prospect…how many children she has, what her interests are, where she went to school, and so on. Incorporate this information into her file so that you can follow up on some of these items at your next meeting.

Thanking Donors

Thanking major donors swiftly and personally is absolutely vital. Nothing cements donor loyalty more than a prompt, heartfelt thank-you. Thank-yous should go out immediately, or at most within two days. When a contributor makes a gift, she is more interested in your organization at that moment than at any other time; by responding swiftly, you reinforce that interest, raising it to a higher level than ever before.

Thank you letters or notes should usually be signed by the director of the organization. Keep them short and sweet, and as personal as possible. Avoid precooked-sounding phrases such as "It is contribution such as yours...." Use plain, straightforward English to tell the contributor how much you appreciate his or her gift and what it will be used for. If possible, send something along with the thank-you, such as a recent news clipping, or the latest summary of activities. Be sure to acknowledge any past contacts with the donor, or any relationship the donor has with the organization, its board, staff, or volunteers. If you have any upcoming events, extend a personal invitation.

Sometimes people make a gift to please a friend or relative connected with your organization. When this happens, it is important to indicate that the friend or relative will be told about the gift, particularly if they solicited the contribution in the first place. Remarkable as it may seem, this is seldom done, yet it can be as simple as showing a "cc" at the bottom of the letter.

Donor Clubs

A technique used for getting people to become major donors, and then to upgrade their gifts year after year, is to create a donor club with special names and special benefits attached to the various giving levels. Groups can opt for the standard names, such as sustainers, patrons, founders, etc., or seek more creative names related to the geographic location or other peculiarities of the group. A simple structure for a major donor program might look as follows:

For an example of some more imaginative giving level names, check out the Center for Watershed Protection's web site at www.cwp.org.

Once these levels have been established and used successfully for an appropriate time (and adjusted, as needed), they should be incorporated into the web site and all the literature and brochures of the organization and communicated frequently to the membership. If an ongoing effort is made to educate and encourage members about opportunities to upgrade, they will often spontaneously increase their giving to a higher level.

Donor Benefits/Premiums

Benefits can be used effectively to encourage donors to upgrade their gifts. For river groups, such benefits (related whenever possible to the mission of the organization) might include special reports from the director, invitations to special events, recognition in the annual report, maps, T-shirts, hats, posters, calendars, books, and river trips. I would offer the following advice to small groups undertaking major donor programs:

1. Don't let the lack of benefits/premiums stand in the way of your starting a major donor program. In my experience, benefits are not the real motivation for making higher gifts-your relationship with the donor and the donor's perception that the organization is doing important work is the most important motivator. So start simple; you can always add premiums later as your program becomes more sophisticated.
2. Seek premiums that are related to, and reinforce, your mission. A beautiful map of the watershed underlines the connectedness of upstream and downstream; a book about the river enlarges awareness; a bandana with river flora and fauna is useful and instructive, and so on.
3. If you choose to use an item as a premium for one of your giving levels, keep the value of the item at no more than 10% of the gift, including packaging, postage and handling.
4. If you do decide to offer premiums such as maps or calendars, be sure you can send them out quickly and easily; donors are turned off by organizations that promise to send them something, and then fail to do so within a reasonable time.

Donor Recognition

One of the best ways to encourage higher gifts is through recognition. For most people, recognition is a powerful incentive for maintaining and even increasing their giving. One way to recognize major donors is to list them in you newsletter and annual report. In the newsletter, you can list new contributors since the last issue; in the annual report, you should list all the donors for the year in question. When compiling such lists, be sure to spell names correctly, include all qualified contributors who wish to be recognized, and omit any donors who ask to remain anonymous.

Another way to recognize really large gifts is to thank the donor publicly at the annual meeting or some other event. This kind of recognition has two benefits: it pleases the donor and it encourages other potential donors to do likewise!

Donor Renewals

Major donors should always receive personalized renewal letters. The outside envelope should be typed or hand-addressed. The reply envelopes in their renewal packages should bear live, first-class stamps. And their response form should be personalized, too, and should specify what they gave last year and what you are asking them to give this year.

As far as frequency goes, my approach with major donors has always been to send them fewer requests than regular members, perhaps two renewal requests and one special appeal per year, spaced out more widely throughout the year than for regular members, with the last one coming between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Because of the personal attention major donors receive, the overall renewal rate is often higher than for regular members, somewhere between 75% and 85%.

Major donors who fail to renew should not be immediately dropped from the membership roster. They should continue to receive the newsletter and other benefits for at least an additional year, depending upon the size of their previous gift. Make a special effort during this time to get them to respond. After two years have gone by, it may be time to move them back into the ranks of the regular members, and send them lapsed member mailings and special appeals, but many fundraisers keep major donors on a special list indefinitely, in the hope that they can find a way to induce the donor to make another major contribution by continuing to give them special treatment.

Upgrading

Once a prospect has joined your major donor program by making a large gift, it is very important to keep that donor satisfied with her investment in your organization and feeling appreciated. In addition to providing her with certain benefits, and recognizing her in your annual report, you can do that by continuing to use the ideas suggested above under "Donor Cultivation." When you sense that your relationship is strong, and the donor has renewed her gift at the same level at least once, you may want to ask the donor to upgrade her gift to the next giving level, depending upon your knowledge of the donor's capacity and her interest in your cause.

Donor Records

To facilitate recognizing donors, personalizing thank-yous, and targeting solicitations, it is essential to keep good donor records. You should open a folder on each individual who gives at your major donor level (whatever that may be), and keep copies of all correspondence with the donor in this file. It is also important to make a written record of any significant information exchanged during personal visits or phone calls with the donor, and place it in the donor's file. Finally, it is essential to have a good software program which can record individual gift amounts, dates, and sources and allow you to analyze and segment your membership by giving patterns and other criteria.

Conclusion

If your group plans on being around for the long haul, you can increase your income substantially over time by instituting a major donor program, and at the same time reap additional benefits from greater member involvement and commitment. A major donor program takes time, energy, and courage, but will pay off for your organization in the long run. Don't neglect this important strategy!