For a long time, midlevel donors fell through the cracks at many nonprofits. They were considered too valuable for the direct-mail program but didn’t give enough money to win the attention of major-gift officers, who are under pressure to bring in larger and larger contributions.
Now a growing number of charities have created fundraising programs that target midlevel donors, often people who give $1,000 to $10,000 annually, says Mark Rovner, a principal at Sea Change Strategies, a fundraising consulting company. Midlevel contributors are usually a relatively small portion of a nonprofit’s donors, but they give an outsize amount of money and tend to be more loyal than small-dollar donors. He says multiyear retention rates of 70 to 75 percent are not unusual.
“There’s a strategic recognition that an organization that’s ignoring $1,000 donors is leaving a lot of money on the table,” Rovner says.
For groups that get it right, the rewards are substantial. Take Best Friends Animal Society. People who give $1,000 to $25,000 annually to the animal-welfare group make up just 2 percent of donors, but they account for 30 percent of gifts to the annual fund.
What can your organization do to make the most of its relationship with midlevel donors? We spoke to veteran fundraisers who shared their hard-won lessons.
Give them a point of contact.
Andrea O’Brien includes her business card in the note she sends to people who make their first gift of $1,000 to $25,000 to the Wilderness Society, and her contact information appears in subsequent communications.
O’Brien, who leads the charity’s midlevel-giving program, says she’s given her contact information to middle donors at several organizations where she’s worked, and it’s never felt like a mistake. The most common reasons donors call are missing acknowledgments, questions about making a stock donation, and other issues related to making a gift.
“Those are points when you can lose a donor really quickly if they feel like that’s a bad customer-service experience,” O’Brien says.
Create processes with an eye to the future.
When you set up a midlevel-giving program, don’t just think about today, O’Brien advises. For example, it might be feasible to call donors when a program is small, but it may not be doable when it grows bigger.
“Hopefully, you’ll get to a point where that’s not possible anymore,” she says. That’s why it’s important to think carefully about how to collect information about donors, their interests, and behavior and record it in the database. Setting up smart protocols early will allow the organization to reach large numbers of donors with appeals that still feel personal.
Sort them according to their behavior.
Careful data collection and a well-designed database allow nonprofits to identify donors who might warrant special attention. An organization might single out for extra attention middle donors whose gift frequency is increasing, who are in the 12th month since they last donated, or who are major donors to other charities, says Mark Rovner, a principal at the fundraising consultancy Sea Change Strategies.
“The really cutting-edge groups are slicing and dicing the file,” he says.
Ask donors what they want.
It’s easy for someone in the fundraising department to guess how contributors want to engage with the organization, but you get a much more accurate picture by actually talking to supporters, says Victoria Smith, manager of donor relations and resource development at Oxfam America.
Before Smith took over three years ago, the group’s midlevel-giving effort was very focused on setting up in-person meetings with donors. But Smith and her colleagues heard from multiple donors: Yes, they wanted to find out more about the organization’s work, but, no, they didn’t want to meet with representatives. As a result, the fundraisers directed much of that staff time to “medium-touch outreach,” such as phone calls, emails, and webinars.
Demonstrate the impact of their gifts.
Donors who make midsize contributions want to understand how their giving makes a difference, and they appreciate feeling like organization insiders. Many welcome the opportunity to hear from leaders and program staff.
Oxfam America invites these donors to attend a video webinar series. Events take place roughly once a month. Some of the webinars feature the organization’s president, Abby Maxman, while others focus on a country where it is working or a specific issue, such as fighting famine.
Because many of Oxfam’s programs deal with food, the group has experimented with a series called Cooking & Conversation. In November, Isra Chaker, a campaign adviser for Oxfam, showed participants how to make moutabel, a beloved Syrian dish of grilled eggplant, sesame paste, and lemon juice, and talked about the organization’s work with refugees.
Build a sense of belonging.
Midlevel donors are looking for a sense of community. They want to feel like they’re part of the mission. One way that Best Friends Animal Society does that is by sending donors a certificate that states they’re part of the organization’s Golden Circle, says Barbara Camick, the group’s director of annual giving. And it seems to be working.
“Some of the major-gift officers have said that when they visit people, they have their certificates on the wall,” she says. “They display them proudly.”
Let contributors experience the mission.
Best Friends has created new events to strengthen donors’ ties to the organization. Supporters can travel to the group’s animal sanctuary in Kanab, Utah, for Friends and Founders gatherings, which feature a hike with several of the nonprofit’s co-founders, discussions with animal-welfare experts, and time with the animals.
“Even for people who can’t attend, just being invited makes them feel special,” Camick says.
The Utah events are limited to people already giving $1,000 or more, but the charity plans to cast a wider net with its new regional events — and hopes to attract new midlevel gifts. Starting in May, organization experts will travel to four cities around the country to brief supporters on the charity’s goal to eliminate euthanasia of healthy animals at all U.S. shelters by 2025 and other program efforts.
Best Friends will invite its midlevel and major donors to the events as well as supporters who give less but are committed to the mission and have the capacity to give more. In the past, it might have taken five years for those folks to understand Best Friends well enough to give $1,000 or more, Camick says. “We want to try to fast-track them.”
