How to Build a Plan for Every Donor on Your Major Gift Caseload

The look on their face said it all.

“You want me to create a strategy for every single donor on my caseload? Are you kidding me?”

I’ve seen that look hundreds of times. It’s usually followed by some combination of disbelief, mild panic, and a quick mental calculation of how impossible this sounds with everything else already on their plate. And I get it. When our team at Veritus Group tells Major Gift Officers that one of the first things they need to do is build a plan for every donor, the reaction is almost always the same.

But this is one of the main reasons major gift programs struggle: Their fundraisers are working without a plan.

The answer to building strong donor relationships is… having a plan! Simple to say, not simple to do. Creating donor plans takes real work. It requires focus, discipline, and intentionality. If it were easy, everyone would be doing it. They’re not. And that’s exactly why so many MGOs feel reactive instead of strategic, busy instead of effective.

Start With the Ask and Work Backward

When I talk about a donor plan, I’m talking about something very specific. For each donor on your caseload, you should be able to answer a few key questions:

• What is the revenue goal for this donor?
• What is the management goal?
• What is the aspirational goal?
• When do I anticipate making the ask?
• What needs to happen before that ask?
• What needs to happen after?

I always start with the anticipated month of the solicitation and use that as the anchor. No, the ask isn’t the only thing that matters, but it is what you’re aiming toward. Once you know when the ask is coming, you can work backward to determine what it will take to get there, and then forward to plan how you’ll steward and thank the donor afterward.

This creates clarity. It also removes a lot of daily decision-making. You’re no longer wondering, “What should I do today?” You already know.

Plan for Every Donor, Not Just the Top Few

If you’re a Major Gift Officer, every donor on your caseload deserves a plan. That plan should include at least one meaningful touch point per month. It should map out when you’ll solicit, when you’ll report back, when you’ll send personal notes, birthday cards, or relevant updates.

This isn’t about treating donors like ATMs. Quite the opposite. It’s about engaging with them as real people. Do they love cigars? Are they going on a cruise? Did they just become grandparents? The more you know, the easier it is to connect in ways that feel authentic and personal.

Without a plan, most MGOs default to reacting. A gift comes in, they say thank you, then move on to the next fire. Intended communication falls through the cracks. Relationships become driven by money instead of meaning.

It’s very hard to build strong relationships with 75 to 150 donors without a plan. I’d argue it’s impossible.

Make the Planning Process Manageable

One of the biggest objections I hear is, “How can I possibly do this for everyone?”

If your CRM makes this hard, export your caseload into Excel. There’s something about seeing donors laid out in a linear way that helps you think strategically. We use tools like the Veritus Donor Engagement Plan or the Marketing Impact Chart (MIC), but the tool matters less than the discipline.

Start with the donors you know best or the ones with the highest potential. Spend real creative energy on your top 10 to 15 plans. Then step back and look for patterns. If you’re doing something meaningful for one donor in April, chances are a version of that touch could apply to 10 or 15 others as well.

This is where leverage happens. You’re not reinventing the wheel 150 times. You’re customizing smart ideas based on donor interests, timing, and giving tools, whether that’s cash, stock, or DAFs.

Build Around What Your Organization Already Does

When some Veritus coaches were working directly with MGOs, they’d often take a full day to plan. They’d start by listing everything the organization already sends to donors: newsletters, appeals, annual reports, and end-of-year communications. Then layer in personalization by donor tier.

From there, they’d go donor by donor. When do they usually give? November? Great. That’s your solicitation month. Now work backward three months to plan reporting, cultivation, and proposal development. By the end of the day, the entire year was mapped out.

Our coaches have seen teams do this in a conference room with whiteboards, sticky notes, and just enough conversation to spark ideas without derailing the work. You can do it in one day, two half days, or a week of focused blocks. What it takes is discipline.

Why This Is Worth the Effort

MGOs who go through this process almost always come back and say the same thing: “This changed everything.”

They feel less stressed. More confident. More intentional. They stop reacting and start leading their caseloads. And yes, the ones who refuse to do this work rarely last long as MGOs. That’s just reality.

The beauty of donor planning is that you can start right now. It doesn’t matter where you are in the fiscal year. Begin. Build the plan. Adjust as needed. It will become the single most valuable tool you have as a fundraiser.

Want to go deeper?
Download our free white paper on creating donor plans, where we walk through this process step by step and share practical examples you can use immediately. It’s one of the best resources we’ve created to help MGOs build stronger, more intentional donor relationships.