Comments on: All Donors as Major Donors

By: PlanoPride

PlanoPride — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 03:23:51 +0000

Probably one of the strangest things human beings do is to work really hard for their paycheck and then turn around and give it away.

What is Major to one is not to another. I found that recognition is a much more powerful tool than one would think. This is part of human nature. When we say “Your gift will be recognized as a Major Gift because it is $XX,XXX dollars”, most donors will say. “Thats not important to me.” but when you say “We are going to recognize all donors of $1,000 or more on an alphabetical plaque, and we wanted to recognize the generosity of your family. ” Chances are you will maximize the likelihood of getting a gift close to what is being asked.

I raised money for a rural hospital once and we had a prospect who was a widow of a farmer with no heirs. We asked for a gift of $25,000. She said, “The last campaign in 1956 we gave $500, I dont think I can do much more than $1,000″

The hospital had to either count it as a turndown or accept it graciously. We said “Thank you very much”… When she died three years later , she left the Hospital a gift for $2.5 million in her estate.

To her the $1,000 was significant and was a Major gift in her mind. This shows that it is the RELATIONSHIP that matters…the two are inseparable.

Other examples include Latino craftsmen making “gifts in kind” to a catholic church building campaign. The gift of stone carving and concretework would have been prohibitive to pay for, yet these “small” gifts made a tremendous difference in the final product.

There is no such thing as a small gift and all of them deserve recognition!

By: Organizing Your Donors

Organizing Your Donors — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:01:46 +0000

[...] much as I wish we could treat all donors as major donors, we have to take a targeted strategy with different donor groups. Even if you are just a one-person [...]

By: Thom Griffin

Thom Griffin — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 14:26:39 +0000

I agree with your observations. A few years ago, my little town was raising funds to restore a covered bridge. I didn’t have much money at the time, but gave what I could. The next week, the fundraising committee announced that “major” donors would have their names listed on a brass plaque on the bridge. My reaction was that 1. Why spend money on a plaque? and 2. Why not put all the names on a wooden plaque that could fade with time, just like we, as humans, do?

I’m in the middle of a fundraising campaign, putting together a silent auction for an opera group. The chairman wanted $250 donations. I’m getting $25 donations. It’s all money. Of course it takes more time, but it also builds a great sense of community.

By: Peder

Peder — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:46:37 +0000

I think this goes to the value of people. If an organization only values large contributors, it affects the entire self-perception of the organization. At that point we are for sale. This can deeply affect the mission, to the point that we loose our reason for existence.

I do Communications Outreach for nonprofit communities and it is very powerful to see an organization reach out with a clear message of hope and gratitude for all people. It gives all of us a reason to donate to them.

I do also think there are many forms of donation: time, ideas, connections and encouragement are also gifts, priceless at times.

University Place, WA

By: Mike N.

Mike N. — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 22:07:58 +0000

It seems like a lot of people are doing a lot of good things for a lot of good causes.

Singer/Songwriter Elyse Bruce has compiled an album called “Countdown to Midnight” which raises funds and awareness for autism. Word is songs like “The Mad Hatter”, “Somewhere in Detroit”, “Say you’ll wait for me,” and “Late Night in the Borough” have already made it to radio in some venues.

Everyone is equal when they download a song or buy an album, and everybody is family when they all sing the tunes together.

By: happydonors » Blog Archive » “Treat all donors as major donors”?

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:13:10 +0000

[...] All Donors as Major Donors post is prime. Here he proposes that we think about the generosity of donors relative to their [...]

By: Morris

Morris — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 15:59:45 +0000

This is a great point. I would say the same is true of volunteers as well. I think your approach is a fundamental point that is far to often overlooked, which is what a donors donation means to them.

By: BethP

BethP — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 14:23:11 +0000

this IS untraditional and i think it’s a revolutionary way to think. thanks for challenging us to step outside our traditional paradigm of thinking.

i expecially like this because at the root, you are talking about valuing people equally, as people, authentically and not according to how much they give. the question is posed above–what is REAL generosity? real generosity is giving out of need, not out of excess, as in the story of the kids divying up the bread in the same comment.

treating all donors as “major donors” could have a huge impact, because it is an approach full of integrity. ultimately, i think people can and will sense that, and will respond.

By: The Neighborhood is back: Welcome Jason Dick @ A Small Change « SocialButterfly.

Thu, 22 May 2008 03:34:43 +0000

[...] ‘All Donor’s as Major Donors‘ post because it was the culmination of a lot of thinking I’ve done regarding the value [...]

By: Jeane Goforth

Jeane Goforth — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 10:07:07 +0000

Yes, a major donor would be great right now as we wait for our 501(c)3 determination. But we feel that we need the community to ‘buy in’ to what we are doing and that means small donors, tiny donors: parents at the inner city school bringing snacks, local rock bands performing at a benefit with a $5 cover. We take the time to make every connection because we’ve discovered it pays unimagined dividends. The connections, the small donors are part of the change we are trying to bring about.
Some of our supporters scour the symphony program for potential donors, but we write down the names of the small businesses near our teaching locations in the inner city. The plumbers, mechanics, truckers have never been asked to give to the symphony and probably would never go. But they can understand the benefits of music education and might value our efforts enough to donate. If it takes many more of them to equal one donation from a traditional arts patron, that’s that many more people having a stake in changing their community.
We’re probably crazy. We have little experience, just a vision. But we’re determined to make this happen, whatever it takes. It tickles me that by cashing in my (pitiful) life savings to get us started, I’m now a major donor–one of the biggest individual donors in our city this year!