Major Donor Year-End Strategy

Continuous innovation is the key to success with major donors

Problem / Opportunity:
A Masterworks client had historically raised between $60,000 and $70,000 from their major donors in the last 30 days of the year. Based on other major donor results, that seemed low. We saw it as an opportunity to significantly increase revenue with a different strategy.

Successful Strategy:
We recommended and implemented a three-part year-end strategy that included:

• A custom year-end proposal to major donors based on the program to which they’d designated their largest gifts in the past. The offer contained a specific ask that was representative of the donor’s prior giving.
• An integrated follow-up strategy to the very top-end donors from a major donor representative.
• A second mailing that included a Christmas card with a soft reminder to prayerfully consider the gift amount requested in the proposal.

Results:
In the first year, revenue increased from $75,000 norm to $194,000. In the second year, revenue grew to $367,000. A 2x lift in major donor revenue in just 2 years!