Midlevel donors have long been neglected by fundraising teams. But in recent years, some organizations have recognized the potential that engaging these supporters could have on the bottom line. Groups began scaling up their midlevel fundraising programs even before the pandemic, but Covid-19 forced some to accelerate their work to cultivate this group of donors.
A new report from fundraising consultancy Sea Change Strategies provides a snapshot of midlevel programs at 19 nonprofits and how they’re evolving.
Among the changes charted in late 2020 and early 2021: more staff to cultivate and retain midlevel donors and a shift to digital engagement and events. Now the authors are asking what will persist beyond the pandemic — and offer advice on what they hope to see going forward.
Sea Change Strategies has been tracking the evolution of midlevel giving programs for years. It released its first “Missing Middle” study of midlevel giving programs in 2014. At the time, few organizations had even one full-time person dedicated to raising money from this group, and there was little coordination between direct-marketing and major-giving teams about engaging midsize donors.
A follow-up study in 2018 found the programs had grown in sophistication — many organizations had hired one or more development staff members whose primary responsibility was to raise money from midlevel donors. And fundraisers across teams were becoming more sophisticated about working together to offer a personalized experience on a larger scale.
Today, the 19 organizations in the study report an average of 3.2 full-time employees supporting midlevel donors — “2018 was the year of the midlevel manager; 2021 is the year of the midlevel team. says Alia McKee, a principal at Sea Change Strategies and a co-author of the report
Some of that happened even before the pandemic, McKee says. Organizations that saw a surge in gifts from new midlevel donors made the case to hire additional staff to give them more attention to keep them in the fold.
Many charities McKee and her colleagues interviewed were smart about redeploying staff and volunteers who could no longer operate in the same way they did before the pandemic. Those individuals pitched in to provide donors additional personalized attention. But McKee offers some words of caution as organizations head into a more normal way of life.
“The bar pre-Covid was really quite low, but now we set the bar a little high,” McKee says, and that’s causing a bit of a concern. “Groups are going to need to make sure we don’t disappoint donors who may have gotten accustomed to a certain level of cultivation and stewardship. The question is, are they going to continue investing that way?”
Changing Definitions
Who exactly is a midlevel donor? That’s expanding, too. When Sea Change Strategies published its initial look at midlevel programs in 2014, the ceiling was around $10,000.
“Today, as organizations have carved out midlevel as a tier, they’re able to provide an intimate enough feeling program even for folks who give $20,000, $25,000, or $50,000.” Some groups have multiple midlevel tiers and include donors who give as little as $1,000 or as much as $99,999 in those categories.
Even donors at the high end of that scale might not yet merit the attention yet of a major-gift officer who’s seeking high six-figure gifts, McKee says.
The 19 organizations highlighted in the report raise as little as 8 percent to as much as 33 percent of their total individual giving revenue from midlevel donors. For groups that land on the lower end of that spectrum, it’s likely because major giving is an especially large share of their revenue.
How midlevel programs fit into a development department’s structure differs from organization to organization. But in recent years, there’s been a trend toward the direct-response team taking the lead, with major gifts playing a critical supporting role. In many cases, the midlevel program director reports to the head of direct marketing.
There are a number of reasons for this. Midlevel donors sometimes get short shrift from major-gift teams who prioritize their time with donors who make bigger contributions.
But on teams that raise money from smaller donors, the midlevel supporters are the ones who provide the big gifts.
“Midlevel really strives to create an intimate-feeling program at scale,” McKee says. The smaller-donor fundraisers provide data-analysis expertise, and the midlevel team focuses on deepening engagement with donors.
Twice a year, Karyn Bryant identifies midlevel donors who have the potential to become major contributors to World Relief. Bryant, who leads a midlevel donor program at the Christian humanitarian organization, shares that list with the head of the group’s major gifts team. Together, they talk to major-giving officers about each prospect and whether it makes sense to move them onto a list of major-donor leads. “I introduce the donor to the major-gifts officer, who follows up with specific steps to establish a relationship,” Bryant says in the report.
“Rather than immediately adding someone to a major-gifts portfolio (and removing them from midlevel), we add them to a ‘lead list’ for the major-gifts officer,” she says. “The donor remains in the midlevel program until the officer connects with them and establishes a relationship.”
Donors who are not responsive will stay in the midlevel tier to be considered again later. “It all helps to ensure a smooth donor experience whether they finally move into a major-gifts portfolio or stay midlevel,” she says.
Some organizations are beginning to coordinate “downgrades” from major giving into midlevel programs, too.
Nonprofits that are hiring for midlevel roles are looking for professionals who understand the world of raising money from small er donors and have the people skills to cultivate donors on a personal level.
That’s why Suk Wortman, director of direct marketing at the Arbor Day Foundation hired a midlevel officer from the nonprofit’s major gifts team. The organization needed someone who could meaningfully engage with donors while building on the support of the direct-response team to reach a large group of contributors
Digital ‘Sweet Spot’
Retaining donors is a critical focus for fundraisers in 2021. That applies to all supporters — but midlevel givers represent a big chunk of change. “If you’re able to move the needle on midlevel donor retention, you’re going to be able to move the needle significantly” on revenue, McKee says.
The groups in the Sea Change Strategies reported mixed success encouraging new midlevel supporters to give again even before Covid-19. First-year retention rates for the 19 groups ranged from 15 percent to 80 percent. Multi-year retention rates of midlevel donors ranged from 21 percent to 85 percent.
“Most organizations do a really bad job at listening to donors,” McKee says. But retaining them will require it.
Fundraisers should survey donors regularly and watch and react to their attitudes and behaviors. Some nonprofits do this through “donor insight panels,” groups of supporters who agree to provide regular feedback on the organization’s work through surveys, and sometimes through focus groups. These panels provide a way to both engage supporters and gather critical insight into how they feel about the organization and what they want to hear.
Fundraisers should pay close attention to how donors want to interact with a charity — something that’s especially important after digital fundraising became so central over the past year.
In 2018, most midlevel programs focused on mail and in-person events, “with a little bit of digital sparkles or sprinkles on top,” McKee says.
The pivot to online fundraising and events allowed charities to engage with more supporters than they might have in the past, but now fundraisers have to find the “sweet spot,” McKee says. Some donors, including some baby boomers and people in older generations, are not eager to go fully digital. Print communications and live events will remain their preferred way to stay connected, she says.
“Where does the pendulum swing now that we had to go so focused on digital? I don’t think it swings further to the digital realm,” she says. “I think it swings a little bit back in the middle, where mail is still a core part of the engagement of your midlevel program.”
