What Do Major Donors Need to Know in Order to Make a Big Gift?

Among your major donors, there are maybe 2 or 3 individuals who have both the capacity and the inclination to give a transformational gift to your organization. But before they do that, they want to feel confident in the following:

• They need to know that they can trust you and your organization. It can take 12-24 months of consistent outreach and two-way interactions to build that level of trust with a donor.

• They need to know the impact of all their previous gifts. Are you reporting back on impact so that they know what their gifts accomplished and feel inspired to give again? 

• They need you to connect the giving opportunity directly to their individual passions and interests. When you understand the passion and motivation behind a donor’s giving, it allows you to bring proposals that deeply connect to what matters most to them. If your offer doesn’t connect on a personal level, it won’t inspire a large gift. 

• They need to know you have a believable solution. When you present the problem, make sure you present a tangible solution so the donor understands what their gift will do. Support your solution with numbers and facts.  

• Many donors will want to see your budget and your long-term goals, but they also need to hear the emotional stories from the frontlines about the impact on the community served. Because donors give from their hearts. 

As an MGO, it takes a lot of intentional planning to make sure that you’re providing all the above for your major donors. To stay on track, you need to create a vision for your donors for the next 1-2 years and align with them along the way as the partnership evolves.

To learn more about cultivating your major donors and preparing offers for transformational gifts, check out our free white paper, Packaging Program Into Donor Offers.

Watch the Question of the Month here:

Read the transcript below:

Karen Kendrick   

Hi, I'm Karen Kendrick, Senior Director of Learning at Veritus Group, and I'm excited to welcome you to the Question of the Month. This question was submitted by our community and Jeff is going to be sharing our answer today. Here it is: what do major givers really need and want to know in order to make a big gift? 

Jeff Schreifels   

That's a great question. I think first of all, overall, donors need to feel that they can trust you and your organization. Right? Yeah, so that takes time. And so if you're trying to get a transformational gift, it's going to take, you know, 12 to 24 months, at least, to build that trust with the donor.  

Jeff Schreifels   

But I think, first of all, you need to make sure that you're reporting back on the impact of all their previous gifts. A lot of times, we don't do that well. So if you're really wanting to build trust, and you want to build to ask for a large gift, making sure that you've reported back all the things that they've done already for the organization. That's number one.  

Jeff Schreifels   

And then the next one is really understanding the donor's passions and interests well, because if you're going to try to get a transformational gift, you really want to know what they really care about. I mean, so many times major gift officers try to go in just because they have capacity to give a big gift, and ask a donor for something that they have no passion in. And they may get a gift, but it'd be way under what they're capable of. Because they're not really passionate about it. 

Karen Kendrick   

Imagine how that feels to the donor, like they're just an ATM machine. 

Jeff Schreifels   

Exactly, exactly. So knowing your donor's passions and interests are absolutely essential to getting that transformational gift. And then once you're there with the donor, making sure that you when you're presenting the problem to the donor, that you have a believable solution to that problem. 

Karen Kendrick   

What do you mean by that? 

Jeff Schreifels   

Well, it's so that the donor understands what my gift will actually be able to do and is it believable? So if I'm trying to eradicate hunger, you know, you can't, you can't do that with $50,000, you know, you it's so big and unbelievable, you know, you just won't be able to convince the donor to give them a big amount for that. So it has to be something very tangible that the donor can see.  

Jeff Schreifels   

And then my next point is that you do need the numbers and facts behind what you're trying to do, and to help the donor solve with their gift. And so a lot of donors will want to see your budget, will want to see what's the long term of this. So you need to come prepared with that, along with an emotional story, obviously, because donors give from their hearts. And so it has to come from emotion.  

Jeff Schreifels   

And I think just overall in how you should prepare as a major gift officer for a big gift like this, is you need to have a vision for the donor over the next 12 to 24 months. You need to know like here's where the donor is today, but two years from now, this is where I want to take that journey with the donor. And so having that plan and future out there -- 

Karen Kendrick   

Checking in with the donor all along the way... 

Jeff Schreifels   

Exactly. 

Karen Kendrick   

Understanding where they are and their understanding of what you're thinking... 

Jeff Schreifels   

Yes. That's what donors need. And that's what you need as a major gift officer to really have that vision for the donor. 

Karen Kendrick   

So if I never think that big, I'm never going to get there because I'm not even thinking about getting there.  

Jeff Schreifels   

Exactly. 

Karen Kendrick   

Fantastic. Thank you, Jeff. I hope this has been inspiring to you as well. And if you want to learn more about how to create a plan for transformational gifts, we actually have a lesson on that which you can get when you become a Veritus 365 Pro or Masters member. This membership is absolutely packed with incredible content, resources, trainings and lessons that you can absorb on your own schedule so you're getting the support you need when you need it. When you become a Veritus Pro or Veritus Masters member, you'll want to head to the Veritus Way on-demand lesson collection in your training library to find your lesson on transformational giving. We look forward to seeing you next time.