Question of the Month: How do you actually tier a caseload?

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Question of the Month

How do you actually tier a caseload?

After you’ve qualified your donors, tiering your caseload is the next step to help you focus your time so that you’re spending the majority of your effort on donors who have both a deep connection to your organization AND the potential to give significantly. But how do you know which donors should be considered “Tier A” with the highest level of personalized outreach, versus “Tier C” with less personalization in their messaging?

In this Question of the Month video, Richard and Jeff discuss how to determine which of your donors belong in Tier A, B, or C, how many donors should be in each tier, and how to allocate your time between each donor group.

If you'd like to learn more about tiering and the rest of our system and structure for major gifts, be sure to check out our Certification Course for Major Gift Fundraisers.

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are a couple FAQs we get on this topic

Why do you recommend tiering donor caseloads?

When MGOs don’t tier their caseloads, they often end up creating impersonal, one-to-many strategies and sending the same thing to every donor. Or, on the other hand, they might think that they need to create a highly personalized strategy for every donor they come across and develop unique touch points for each one, which is simply impossible to implement and maintain on a large scale. Tiering is the key to a focused caseload so that you can spend more time with those donors who have the greatest potential to make a difference for your organization.

Why shouldn’t I just treat all donors the same?

While we value all donors, the relationship and strategy won’t be the same for everyone. Some donors will give much more than others, and those donors need a bigger investment of your time and energy. Remember, you only have so much time. And it's so important to be a good steward of that time, your energy, and your organization’s resources, especially because you represent a cost to your organization. For the sake of your mission and your duty to use donors’ money responsibly, you want to make sure that the investment the organization has made in your role has a good ROI and that you’re nurturing transformational relationships with your donors.

Veritus Group is passionate about partnering with you and your organization throughout your fundraising journey. Where do you need more support? Learn more about ways to partner with us here.