Data is one of the most valuable resources a nonprofit can use when trying to level up its fundraising goals and results. Using your data effectively can help you move from transactional philanthropy to relational giving. One of the most effective ways to do this is by identifying major gift prospects within your donor database. Below is a step-by-step guide to building a cost-effective major giving pipeline using the data your organization already has.
A Simple Framework for Identifying Major Gift Prospects
While every nonprofit’s donor base is different, the process for identifying major gift prospects typically follows four key steps:
- Define what constitutes a major gift for your organization.
Reviewing recent giving history helps establish a realistic major gift threshold. - Analyze your donor database.
Reports such as lifetime giving, longevity of giving, and past Board service can reveal strong prospects already connected to your mission. - Evaluate donor capacity and engagement.
Wealth screening tools and external indicators can help validate giving potential. - Cultivate deeper relationships.
Once prospects are identified, thoughtful engagement and stewardship can move donors toward larger and more impactful gifts. This often begins with simple steps such as personalized outreach, mission-focused conversations, and invitations for donors to see your organization’s impact firsthand.
The sections below explore each of these steps in greater detail and provide practical guidance for turning donor data into a strong major gifts pipeline.
Understanding What a Major Gift Means for Your Organization
First, the organization needs to understand that a major gift will be different for every charity. Whether spearheading a major healthcare institution or nurturing a budding arts nonprofit, each organization has distinct expectations and objectives regarding giving and donor engagement.
Review Your Donor Data to Define a Major Gift
This essential first step will tell you what constitutes a realistic major gift for your organization. At a minimum, you are most likely looking at individuals who can write a check of $5,000, but in larger organizations, it could be six or seven figures to be considered a major gift.
An easy way to understand what a major gift would look like for the organization is to create a list of all donors and donations from the past three to five years, with the largest gifts at the top. The average of the top five largest gifts received is your major gift threshold.
Once you understand what a realistic financial expectation of a major gift prospect looks like, communicating that across the stakeholders within and outside of your organization is essential to ensuring that you are focused and deliberate in your effort to raise large sums of money from a small group of people. Managing expectations in fundraising is a topic in and of itself, but when spending focused time on major gifts, you want to be clear with your team on what you are trying to accomplish.
Clarify What You Are Asking of Major Gift Prospects
If you are pursuing a capital campaign, for example, you are seeking funds to build a building. You know that you will need that cash to be able to begin and finish construction. However, if you are pursuing a campaign in which you want to secure planned gifts that serve as potentially reliable future revenue, that campaign is going to be slightly different.
It is crucial to understand your tactics in approaching and asking donors and the vehicles through which they can donate.
Now that you’ve identified the financial target of your major gift prospects and the types of gifts you wish to solicit—whether cash and/or planned gifts—you need to spend time looking at your database and all the amazing untapped potential that exists there.
Use Your Database to Identify Major Gift Prospects
While fundraisers make regular use of the most common fundraising reports, the following suggestions may help you dive deeper when it comes to finding additional major gift prospects.
Run a Lifetime Giving Report
Most databases have a report around lifetime giving. If you pull that report regularly, you’ll identify the funders you already know and, perhaps more importantly, the ones you don’t.
Focus on the top of the list first. Look at the folks who have contributed over time and the most to your organization. These individuals have been with you and will most likely continue to support you on an annual level and, if the opportunity is right, during a special major giving opportunity.
Look for Long-Term Donor Loyalty
Another report that may intersect with the lifetime giving report looks at longevity of giving. One of the biggest indicators of a planned gift opportunity is someone who has consistently given for ten years or more.
Long-term loyalty to your organization often signals both commitment to your mission and a willingness to deepen their engagement when the right opportunity arises.
Revisit Former Board Members
An additional report that could be valuable is looking at past Board members. These individuals might be included on the previous lists, but there could be additional names that allow you to add more people to your major gift pipeline.
Ultimately, if individuals appear on multiple lists, they are strong candidates to pursue as major gift prospects. However, if someone appears on only one list, that’s okay too. Do a little more research and try to understand how their giving has shifted over time. Invite them to reconnect and understand how that relationship has changed so that you can be prepared for those types of conversations in the future and help prevent them from drifting away from the organization.
Dr. Louis Traina referenced this important concept of listening and learning in our fundraising work in a previous post about the major gift cycle.
Use Wealth Screening and External Data to Validate Prospects
In addition to identifying potential candidates, some databases can provide wealth screenings of your donors, verifying their potential. It’s important to take advantage of these invaluable resources when vetting potential major gift donors.
A wealth search function can provide additional prospects, more accurate information, and updated funding potential for the major gift prospects you’ve already identified through your searches of lifetime giving, continuous giving, and past Board relationships.
After thoroughly exploring the potential within your database, it’s also important to consider additional factors that could affect the feasibility of identifying a prospect as a significant donor. Elements such as charitable donations to other entities, political contributions, and property ownership can be instrumental in assessing a donor’s capacity and shaping your approach to engaging them in significant gift conversations.
Turning Donor Data into a Major Gifts Pipeline
The exploration of an organization’s database often reveals a treasure trove of potential major donors. It’s essential to understand that the journey to major giving is unique to each organization, and that moving from modest contributions to substantial gifts is the exception rather than the norm. A proactive strategy involves recognizing the opportunities aligned with your organization’s immediate and long-term objectives and developing thoughtful approaches to donor engagement.
By leveraging database insights through comprehensive reports and lists, your organization can strategically focus on nurturing deeper relationships with major gift prospects. Often, the strongest candidates for major giving are already connected to your mission—they simply haven’t yet been invited into a deeper level of partnership.
Taking the time to analyze your donor data, identify patterns of generosity, and cultivate meaningful relationships can transform your fundraising strategy. With thoughtful planning and consistent stewardship, your existing database can become one of your organization’s most powerful tools for building a sustainable and impactful major gift program. The next major gift to advance your mission may already be in your database—waiting to be discovered.
If your organization would like support identifying and cultivating major gift prospects, Soukup Strategic Solutions helps nonprofits develop fundraising strategies that drive long-term impact. Schedule your complimentary consultation to discuss practical steps for strengthening your major gifts pipeline.
