Middle Donor Mania... your MAJOR DONORS are hiding, but you can find them.

“Roy, where do major donors come from?”

I get asked this question almost every week.?It is usually followed by a suggestion like, “I assume as a fundraiser you have a list of major donors you can give us…”

If you ever meet a fundraiser who claims to have a list of major donors ready to sell to your non-profit, “run away, run away fast!”

Major donors do not come from the secret, magic black book owned by the fundraising consultant.?Major donors come from your current donor file, specifically from a pool or segment of people we categorize as “middle donors”.?

What is a middle donor? Middle donors are a qualified group of high capacity, high net worth, current donors who have made more than two gifts annually.?Most important, these donors give cumulatively between $500 and $5,000 annually, but have the capacity to make single gifts of $10,000 or more.

Middle donors originate from your annual giving program.?Middle donors, have 5-figure capacity, and begin climbing the giving ladder almost immediately. Most middle donors grow to the $1,000 cumulative giving level within their initial 3 to 5 gifts.?This usually happens in 18 months or less.

Transform your organization by integrating these three critical steps into the donor communication plan:

1) Move to an “Open Ask” in their annual giving appeals, mailings, and email.?Stop using suggested ask amounts with your middle donors.?The open ask (or giving blank) will stop artificially capping the amount of the gift they send you.?While suggested “asks” for most donors lift the response rate, they often down grade the amount of money a high-capacity donor can give you.?I remind people often if you ask a millionaire for $25 bucks, you’ll only get $25 dollars.?There is a reason they have money.

2) Assign the middle donor to a specific person on your staff.?Thank you calls, follow up texts and emails should come from the same person on your staff.?After being thanked 3 or 4 times from the same person, they will understand that specific person is their contact at the ministry.?They will understand that have an advocate on this “inside” if they have any questions or want more information. Hiring donor service specialists or donor engagement coordinators is extremely important and often the most neglected position on the development staff.?These are your “inside salespeople”.?You should hire middle donor reps, A.K.A. donor service specialists before your hire Major Gift Officers.??A middle donor rep should be able to manage 250 to 500 relationships by email, text, and phone call.?Their goal, just like the goal of a major gift officer, is to find the donor’s passion or favorite project to fund.?Then they should be incentivized to “tee up” Major Gift Officer meetings, volunteer opportunities or program tours to engage these donors face to face.

3) Create a mid-major mailing frequency and style.?While the copy and appeals can be very similar, the direct mail formats and personalization techniques in middle donor cultivation are dramatically different from the regular mail program.?These techniques include:

? More Handwritten Outer Envelopes (real pen, non-laser)

? Frequent Live stamped Return Envelopes (not every time)

? Frequency is only 6 to 8 times per year

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