Let’s say your database has 100,000 records.
Perhaps you have 350 of those 100,000 records that are appropriately assigned in your major gift prospect management system. I say, “appropriately,” because you may have 350 donors who possess the financial prosperity, propensity to give, and passion for your mission that you have identified and engaged through your major gift prospect management system.
The next question most advancement leaders ask next is, “how do we find more than the 350? We need to find the next best donor prospects to raise more money!”
This is the ‘bigger database share,’ question.
Very much like the idea of increasing ‘market share’ in the for profit world, looking for new major gift donors out of the tens of thousands of records you have in your database is a consistent question many advancement leaders ask.
But, a far better question to ask is, “how can we get into deeper relationships with the 350 we currently have assigned?”
The data are pretty clear on this issue. Look at your last major, multi-year campaign, how many donors made up 60%+ of your dollar goal? My guess at an answer (without knowing anything about your specific campaign) is, “less than 25.”
Or, look at your last year’s giving total and ask the same question. The answer is probably very similar.
The point is, then, that you’ve identified 350 donor prospects who you believe are worthy of being assigned in your major gift prospect management system, yet only a fraction of those are making a significant difference philanthropically.
Instead of trying to find “more,” it makes far more sense to build the creative strategies to “go deeper” with those who have already raised their hands.
