Advice to a New Major Gifts Officer (part 1 of a series)

Advice to a New Major Gifts Officer (part 1 of a series)

by Tom Wilson Major Gifts Guru

I've been reading your blog for about a month now with much interest. I was recently hired by a mid-sized nonprofit to run its major gifts operation. Although I've worked in development before, I have never held this particular role, and I'm both excited and nervous to get started.

I'm writing to ask you for any advice you might have for a new major gifts officer. As I understand it, my first task is going to be to get to know our current major donors. But how will I proceed with new donors? I hope you have some tips. Thanks for your site and your time.

N.T. from the East Coast, USA

This is a fun question and takes me way back in time. Good luck on the new job. Here is how I would start.

You’re right in thinking you should start with your current major gift donors. Determine what a major gift is for your organization – is it $1,000, $5,000, or what?

I’m a champion of establishing a basic, annual giving major gifts club. Or if you have, totally re-engineering it.

Pick just one entry-level giving amount (with higher amounts recognized by level and/or color). Use one gift club name to brand the club and focus staff energy to build community and identity for gift club members. When I was a university vice president I went so far as to re-title the staff coordinator of the club “Executive Director” of the Presidents Club. This made a lot more sense to the club members than development officer.

What should your basic entry level dollar amount be?

One way to check this is to look at the top 25 gifts to your organization in the past year. Work top down – how many gifts at each level starting with your largest gift first. You should be able to determine a pattern as to where you could set up an annual major gifts club program.

Here’s an example of some data:

• 1 – $25,000
• 4 – $5,000
• 3 – $2,500
• 12 – $1,000
• 6 – $500

This gift patterning is tough to call. You could set a major gift club at $500 with 26 members. I probably would call it at $1,000 with 20 members. But, you could consider $2,500 with 8 members.

To check your instincts go back to the gift histories of these same top donors. How stable is their pattern of giving? For example, if you think $1,000 is the right answer, how consistent have the 20 donors giving at that level this year been in the past? If you’re seeing good stability in the gift histories, then you’re on the right track. If on the other hand, you see only periodic giving at this level and in fact most giving at $500 then the $1,000 may be too aggressive. If you see many years of higher giving and that this year is actually low, then the $2,500 gift club level makes more sense.

This article is part of a series. To read the rest of the series, please click the links below:

• Advice to a New Major Gifts Officer (part 2 of a series)
• Advice to a New Major Gifts Officer (part 3 of a series)
  
  

Permanent Link: Advice to a New Major Gifts Officer (part 1 of a series)

http://majorgiftsguru.com/2009/10/advice-to-new-major-gifts-officer-part.html