Let’s start with a reality every major gift officer eventually runs into: donors leave your caseload. Some pass away. Some change priorities. Some hit a business downturn. At the same time, new donors emerge with greater capacity and stronger alignment with your mission.
Because both of those things are always happening, your caseload cannot be static. It must be refreshed. And not occasionally, not when it feels urgent, but intentionally and predictably.
At Veritus, we recommend refreshing your caseload at least twice a year:
This is the crucial work we call stewardship.
Why refreshing your caseload matters
As a major gift officer, you have a clear responsibility to the organization you work for: maximize donor value to the organization. You do that in two ways.
First, you serve donors outrageously well. You help them fulfill their passions and interests through their giving. Second, you deliver economic value so the organization can fulfill its mission. Both matter. But today I want to focus on that second responsibility.
Your role costs money. Salary, benefits, overhead. As a result of that investment, the organization needs a return. Typically, we look for an ROI somewhere between 1:4 and 1:12 or higher, depending on the maturity of the major gifts program and the caseload.
That ROI only happens if the donors on your caseload are actually giving.
A hard truth about non-giving donors
If you have donors on your caseload who are no longer giving, you must make a decision.
It is not good stewardship to continue spending your time, energy, and resources on a donor who has stopped giving indefinitely. Your job is to bring in budgeted operating revenue. If a donor is no longer contributing to that goal, they may not belong on your caseload.
The important exception? If a donor has clearly communicated a temporary life or business circumstance that is interrupting their giving, we recommend keeping them.
We once worked with a donor who told his MGO that due to a business downturn, he could not make his usual $50,000 gift in a given year. He was clear, though, that he expected things to rebound the following year. The MGO kept him on the caseload, stayed connected, and continued to share program information aligned with his interests.
The next year, the donor resumed his giving at the previous level.
Another common situation involves a long-time donor who has made a significant planned giving commitment and then announces that they are retiring and will no longer be making annual gifts. In this case, we recommend transitioning that donor to a planned giving officer or donor relations role, so the MGO can secure more pressing operating revenue.
What to do during your refresh
Here are the key steps we recommend.
1. Identify donors who have gone silent or disengaged.
These are donors you have made consistent, thoughtful attempts to connect with and who have not responded or given. Before removing them, be absolutely sure they haven’t simply been unavailable due to travel, health, or a temporary personal circumstance.
2. Reassign donors whose giving ability has changed.
If a donor has communicated a life change that drops their giving below your caseload criteria, pass them to the appropriate team member. That might be planned giving, mid-level, or donor relations. This is not abandoning the donor. It is aligning the donor with the right strategy.
3. Replace every donor you remove.
A shrinking caseload is a red flag. Replacement donors should meet your caseload criteria based on recency, amount, and capacity. Then comes qualification. Our rule of thumb is simple: only about one out of every three donors who meet the criteria will actually want a relationship with an MGO. If you are replacing 25 donors, you should be qualifying closer to 75.
4. Tier your refreshed caseload.
Once your new caseload is set, tier it intentionally. We recommend the ABC system, where your highest-value donors receive the most time, focus, and customized engagement. Without tiering, even a strong caseload will underperform.
The bigger picture
Refreshing your caseload is about honoring the promises you’ve made.
First, to donors to serve them well and help them accomplish what matters most to them.
Second, your organization to deliver a healthy return on its investment in you.
A thoughtful, disciplined caseload refresh is how you keep both promises. If you do this consistently, watch what happens to your results.