A few years ago, I was working with a brand-new start-up nonprofit organization. They had exactly one donor: the founder. He was a wealthy business owner who had a vision for making the world a better place, and he was willing to invest in making it happen.

His long-term goal: To build a self-sustaining nonprofit organization that didn’t rely entirely on him. That is a very smart goal for any founder.

Then he had an idea: Get to sustainability by recruiting one very BIG potential donor…

Wait for it ….

Warren Buffett!

Fabulously wealthy, famously philanthropic Warren Buffett.

I know what you’re thinking, but let’s hear my client out: While he didn’t know Buffett personally, he moved in a lot of the same social circles. He even had a close friend who was also a friend of Buffett. Furthermore, he knew that Buffett had made large donations to similar causes over the years.

Slam dunk. Right?

So I wrote an introduction letter. To Warren Buffett. Asking for a donation to this fledgling organization. You know that feeling when you’re doing a task you know to be a complete waste of time? I really tried to suspend my disbelief. Maybe the social connection was strong enough to get Buffett’s (or someone’s) attention.

You know what happened next: Nothing.

Silence.

We followed up a couple of times. Still silence.

Of course. Nothing else was ever going to come of it.

We know Buffet’s gatekeepers have gatekeepers. We know he probably gets a flood of requests every day from people who have done the research and know their cause should appeal to him. Some even have connections of some kind.

Same with all the well-known philanthropists. Oprah. Bill Gates. MacKenzie Scott.

Same with their more local equivalents: That super-wealthy family here in town. They give away a lot every year. They’d love our cause! My second-cousin’s financial advisor knows one of their attorneys!!

It’s a big nope. Every time. (It must work sometimes. But I’ve never heard of it working.)

These people have their own plan for their giving, and their own way of doing it. Just because your organization is amazing doesn’t mean they’re interested.

That’s the discouraging part.

There’s good news, though.

You already have your mega-donors. They already know you. They’re already giving.

They just haven’t given the kind of transformational gifts they’re capable of. In a sense, they’re “hiding” among all your more normal donors.

Around 95% of major donors start their relationships with nonprofits as low to mid-value donors. Usually through direct mail.

They care enough to give what is for them a small donation. But so far, you haven’t risen in their priorities. A few of them are actively “auditioning” you, watching how you handle their modest giving before they increase it.

Once you know that, you can stop wasting your time on Warren Buffett.

Here’s how you “find” your major donors:

Have great donor service

Make it easy for donors to connect with a human being at your organization by phone, email, or SMS. Have your letter signer invite donors to call them, personally, with any questions. If a donor requests information, make sure you can give it to them right away. If they need something to change, do it! Donors are getting amazing customer service from their favourite commercial brands. They’ll respond well when they get it from you too.

Have superb donor data

That means getting the details right: Nothing tells a donor you aren’t paying attention like having errors in their giving amounts, name, or address. Make clean and accurate data a priority.

Thank donors promptly, powerfully, and personally

Don’t let weeks go by before they get a written thank you letter. Aim for a 24-48 hour turnaround for acknowledging gifts. And really give those messages a lot of thought. It should be well-written, emotional, and be about the same thing they gave to make happen!

Do a great job at reporting back on the impact of their giving

When we ask donors to give, we’re making a promise: their giving will make a difference. If we don’t actively show them that we kept our promise by telling them about their impact, they have far fewer reasons to keep giving … much less increase their giving to higher levels. Make sure donors get those powerful stories of transformation.

Do excellent fundraising

Great fundraising is the first step to keeping donors happy, connected, and giving at their capacity. When your fundraising is relevant, donor-focused, and action-oriented, your organisation will rise to the top of their charitable giving list.

These first five steps are best practice for all donors. But they are extra important for those hidden major donors. Fall short on those ways, and they will probably notice. And they won’t move to higher levels of giving.

These next steps are specifically aimed at finding the major donors from among the

Outlier ask amounts

Most fundraising appeals ask for three or more amounts, all of them we believe to be in the range donors are likely to give. Except for a small percentage who can give a lot more, if you give them the chance.

Now and then, maybe more often than not, add a very much higher donation amount to your ask array. Like:

This can help you find those with higher capacity. This approach brings in donations around the large amount. It also has the bonus of increasing the average donation from everyone else. That high amount “anchors” their thinking higher.

Supporter Connection Survey

If you follow this blog, you know how much we at Moceanic love this particular type of survey. One of the “standard” questions we like to ask goes like this:

In the coming months, we will have a special campaign to [some specific project]. For this campaign, we will have a private phase asking key supporters to give gifts over $1,000 that will match donations during the campaign, multiplying their gifts. (This encourages more people to donate!) Would you consider making such a gift in the coming months?

(The amount asked is ideally personalized to each donor, and asks for a donation 4-10 times higher than they’ve ever given before.)

This often brings in a handful of donations that are well outside donors’ previous giving.

Mid-Value Direct Mail Packs

For your higher-end donors (your top 20%), you can usually spend more to get more by creating mid-value donor versions of direct mail. Many major donors spend some time (or a lot of time) in this donor group. “Heightened” packs cost more, but they get better response, mainly because they get more attention. Here are some ways to boost a direct mail piece:

A large and stand-out outer envelope, such as Postal Service special delivery envelopes that are typically oversized, thick stock, and call out IMPORTANT.

• 1st class stamps on the return envelope. This reliably boosts response.
• Longer letter.
• More lift pieces.

These things can help coax more major donors out of the woodwork.

Use hyper-personalisation

Information is power, and your donors give you the gift of information every time they donate or communicate with you. Use their name, their city, and their giving amounts when you can in your communications. Better yet, survey them about what they care about, why they give, and how they connect … and use what they tell you in your communications. This is a great way to show you’re listening.

What about wealth screening?

You can pretty accurately find out who among your donors has hight net worth, and thus could be major donors.

This is not as useful as you may think. I don’t want to discourage you from doing it – just don’t expect the miracle results that some claim for it.

Some wealthy donors like your cause enough to give “small” amounts – and not more. All the communication in the world is unlikely to change that. They may have high giving capacity, but you are just low on their list of giving priorities.

But more important: Most major donors don’t want the major donor treatment.

Really! For most donor files, between 70-80% of donors giving at the major donor level don’t want a personal, high-touch relationship with you! (I know, how could they not want more connection with YOU?)

You can’t assume that high giving capacity or even high giving means they want to go there. Jumping all over someone just because a wealth screen says they have the money can be a big mistake. For most major donors, you’re going to have to cultivate them the same way you always have. Hey – it’s working for them. Let it work for you too.

Are you ready to take your organization to the next level? Do you look at the most successful nonprofits and wonder how they got where they are? It’s simpler than you might think. Get your FREE copy of Sean Tiner’s ebook, 4 Little-Known Strategies the World’s Top Charities Use to Smash Their Fundraising Targets and Skyrocket Their Donor Value. You’ll be amazed at the results you get from these tips.

Please share your experience by leaving your reply below. We’d love to learn from your experience.

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• The “Middle Siblings” of Fundraising, and How You Can Connect with Them
• Easy Fundraising Money: How to Spend More to Make More
• 4 Types of Surveys for Fundraisers – 3 Are Good, One is GREAT