The Longview of Major Donor Engagement

People often ask me, how do you create a better experience for major donors? What first I think it's important to define what you see as a major donation within your organization, and develop protocols to recognize and acknowledge donors who make gifts at that level. And once the donor does make a gift at that level, continue to acknowledge every donation they make your organization as if they've made a major donation.

It's also important to create communities around major gifts, that could include the donors to a specific building getting together on regular anniversaries to celebrate the accomplishments of the facility, donors to endowments supporting a specific area getting together to celebrate the recipients of that support, or Donors to unrestricted receiving regular updates on major challenges facing the Institution - some which may or may not be front-page news. This level of intimacy is critical in order for donors feel part of something larger, more than just a place where they write a check.

As the competition for major donations and the engagement of wealthy individual benefactors becomes more intense, only those organizations who can successfully create intimate, rewarding, and personalized donor communities will succeed over the long-term.

There is too much wealth in the world being transferred over the coming decades, and creating those relationships now will allow you to watch your organization thrive for the next half century.