This document provides guidance on how to identify and engage major donors. It defines major donors as those who give $10,000 or more, as they contribute 64% of total fundraising dollars. It recommends investigating potential major donors based on 5 markers of philanthropy: giving to your organization before, giving to other organizations, being a trustee of a grant-giving foundation, owning high-valued real estate, and making political gifts. Donor-advised funds are another source of major donations, with over $15 billion granted from these funds to charities in the last year. When engaging major donors, communications should answer how much a project needs, what the donation will fund, and what the expected end result will be.

1. How to Use
Data to Find
Major Donors
W I T H D O N O R P E R F E C T
COMPILED BY
WHY?
Major Donors are the most valuable sources of
funding for your mission. To make an impact on
your community, to grow as an organization, and to
accomplish the goals that drive your nonprofit
forward, you need a plan to engage major donors.
Here's how you can tap into this critical audience.
WHO?
1%
For our purposes, we will use $10,000 as the minimum
gift amount to define a donor as a Major Donor.
Each organization creates its own
definition of Major Donor.
of donors gave more
than $10,000, per
DonorPerfect's data
IDENTIFYING YOUR MAJOR DONORS
Source 1
Source 2
Source 3
SOURCE/S:
64%
raised
of the total
dollars
. . .
1 2 3 4 5Gave to your
Organization
Gave to other
Organizations
Trustee of
Grant Giving
Foundation
Owns Real
Estate Valued
Above $2
Million
Gave Political
Gift
Investigate potential Major Donors by watching for these
5 markers of philanthropy. Remember, wealth alone is not a
predictor of philanthropic behavior.
DON’T FORGET ABOUT DONOR ADVISED FUNDS
Grants from donor-advised funds to charitable organizations reached a new high,
exceeding $15 billion for the first time.
HOW TO ENGAGE MAJOR DONORS
Major Donors want to know what their money can accomplish.
Make sure your communications answer these 3 questions that
acknowledge their support in a meaningful way.
How much
does the
project need?
What does the
donation fund?
Contributed by donors
into more than 285,000 individual
donor-advised funds.
$23 billion
What do you
expect the end
result to be?
Granted to qualified charities.
$16 billion
Total of charitable assets in
donor-advised funds.
$85 billion