How do you find new major donors?

That’s the $64,000 dollar question!

How on earth do you find new people who might want to invest significantly in your charity’s cause? Do you have to google people on the other side of the planet? If so, who do you choose?

Personal connections and word of mouth are the most powerful tools we have. So there’s an easier place to start looking for major donors - your charity’s existing circles.

1 / The inner circle

Your existing donors. Do an audit. Who has ever donated a large one-off gift? Have you pulled that list recently? Are you keeping in touch, meeting them and nurturing them?

2 / The middle circle

You. Who do you know? Are there generous people in your network who might like to know more about what you do and maybe support it?

Your CEO. Is your CEO or SLT well connected? Do they have personal contacts, peers, friends, etc. who are supporting or might like to support at a high level? Have you had that conversation with them?

3 / The outer circle

The Board - who do they know? Has someone asked them to explore their network? Might a bespoke event just for them and their peers work?

Existing major donors - if someone is willing to give generously, maybe even sacrificially to your cause, do you not think they’d also like to be generous with their network? Maybe they’d host a dinner party in their home to introduce their friends to your charity? One thing is for sure, if you don’t ask you won’t get!

Start with your circles - you might be surprised.

Outside the circles…

When you’ve exhausted your network, what’s the best way to look more widely?

Strangers (aka prospecting) - you can prospect for major donors in the UK, but you have to check this is permissible within your privacy policy and data protection policies and that you aren’t breaching GDPR.

There are companies offering a prospecting service, aiming to match you with people who give generously to causes like yours. But you won’t get individuals’ personal contact details, just their addresses.

Is this useful? It can be, if you want to invite new people to an event. If they turn up, you’ll get a valuable opportunity to meet a new potential major donor who’s outside your circles.

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Major donor fundraising is all about relationships, so we can’t do it for you - but we can offer coaching in how to do it well. Our Director Dan has raised millions through major donor programmes and is currently coaching a handful of charity CEOs in this area. He’d be pleased to help you too - get in touch to start the conversation!