Turning the Donor Pyramid Upside Down

The traditional donor pyramid puts the major donors at the top, while the wonderful widow down the street who sends in $5 a month is at the bottom. You can only focus on talking with so many donors about planned giving, so there’s no time to lose on such a small donor, right? 

Not so fast! We hear stories all the time that involve seemingly insignificant donors who make major end-of-life contributions, while development staff wish they had had a chance to know the story and build a real relationship with the donor. 

Of course your major donors are good prospects for legacy giving. You already have a relationship with them, and they likely already have advisors helping them make their estate plans. Keep up those relationships.  

But what about the small monthly donor who cares about your organization more than any of the others? How do you identify them and build a strong relationship? 

Getting to know the hidden major donors in your list is sort of our specialty. If you want to know our secret, just hit up our blog post about The Magic of Data-Driven Surveys. Move past the short-sighted, traditional way of doing things and open the door to a larger pool of major donors.