Recently, my friends at Veritus Group (led by two industry icons— Richard Perry and Jeff Schreifels) determined the following:
– Organizations WITHOUT a mid-level giving program migrate only .2%-1.2% of their donors to major gifts
– Organizations WITH a mid-level giving program migrate 3%-3.5% of their donors to major gifts
Use this worksheet to see what that means for you:
_____________________ # of donors in your database
_____________________ X 2.55% or .0255 which is the average migration you should realize with a mid-level program (To arrive at this figure I simply took the average between .2% and 1.2% = .7% and subtracted it from 3.25%, the average of 3% and 3.5%)
= ____________________
Next, take the number you just got and multiply it by your average major gift amount ($).
= ____________________ $ you could realize by implementing a mid-level migration plan
Recommendations
>> The MajorGiftMotivator series
>> Get started with 3-to-1 major gift fundraising
>> Proof that high-dollar donors are more loyal than low-dollar supporters
Can you put some framework around # of donors in your database? Active, lapsed, long-lapsed?
Great question Susan. I recommend using ACTIVE donors only. Veritus believes the recent donors with capacity are most likely to upgrade.