Major gift fundraising is a crucial component of any nonprofit organization’s revenue stream, and setting goals is a vital part of ensuring the success of a major gift fundraising effort. If you are like many other fundraisers, you may have general fundraising goals, but are less likely to have major gift goals specifically.
Having specific goals for your major gift program will help increase the chances you will succeed. After all, if you don’t know where you’re going, you won’t know when you’ve arrived. In other words, to succeed at raising major gifts, you must set a goal.
3 Reasons Every Fundraiser Must Set Major Gift Goals
Here are 3 reasons why, as a fundraiser, you should set specific goals for your major gift efforts.
1. Goal setting focuses the fundraising efforts of the organization.
Without specific, measurable goals, it is easy for a fundraising effort to get off track. Goals provide direction and a sense of purpose for staff and board members, making it easier for fundraisers to identify and target the donors who are most likely to give.
2. Goal setting helps to measure your program’s success.
Without goals, it is difficult to determine whether fundraising has been successful or not. By setting specific, measurable goals, fundraisers can track progress and adjust as needed to ensure their efforts are on track to meet the fundraising goals.
3. Goal setting keeps fundraisers motivated.
Meeting and exceeding fundraising goals can be a powerful motivator for fundraisers, and it can help to keep you engaged and committed to your work.
If you have not set goals yet for this year, it’s not too late. Goals should be both realistic and ambitious. It’s absolutely okay to have a low and a high goal — one realistic and the other aspirational.
How to Set Your Major Gift Fundraising Goal
One common mistake many fundraisers make in setting goals is simply increasing their goal by a standard 5 or 10 percent, year after year. That sounds nice, but it’s probably not the most accurate way to set your goal (more on this below).
3 Key Things to Evaluate
To set an appropriate goal, you want to evaluate three things:
- Who gave major gifts last year
- How likely they are to make them again
- And who might be coming up your donor pipeline
Use a Gift Range Chart
Develop a gift range chart to check your estimates. For example, if you want to raise $100,000 in major gifts, you’ll need:
- 1 gift @ $20,000
- 3 gifts @ $10,000
- 8 gifts @ $5,000
- 10 gifts @ $1,000
That’s 22 gifts total.
In order to be confident that you’ll raise $100,000 in major gifts, you’ll want to have about 50 specific prospective donors who are likely to give you those gifts.
The Mistake of Simply Increasing Last Year’s Goal
When setting goals for your major gift fundraising program, it’s important to avoid the mistake of basing goals solely on a certain percentage increase over how much was raised during the previous year. Instead, goals should be based on data from current donors and projections (which is only in part based on last year’s giving).
It’s true that one key piece of data which should be taken into consideration when setting goals is the giving history of current donors. By analyzing a donor’s giving history, you can identify patterns and trends that will inform your goal setting.
Use Projections to Help You Set Major Gift Goals
However, another important piece of data that should be taken into consideration is projections. Projections can be based on a variety of factors, such as cultivation and stewardship strategies that have been implemented over the last year.
By taking projections into account, you can set realistic and achievable goals that consider the potential for growth. In addition to data from current donors and projections, you should also consider the overall fundraising strategy of the organization.
The goals of the campaign should be aligned with the overall strategy and should support the mission and vision of the organization.
Goal Setting is Essential for Major Gift Success
Goal setting is a vital part of ensuring the success of a major gift fundraising program. Goals provide direction and a sense of purpose for fundraising staff and board members, help measure success, and keep fundraisers motivated.
If you need a hand setting goals and achieving them, check out Mastering Major Gifts. You’ll gain the support of experts and colleagues to learn from, collaborate with, and celebrate your milestones.
I agree that goal setting is one of the most important pieces of our work in Development – and so important that the whole fundraising team be involved in setting it. Our team works through a process of evaluating the previous year’s grants, major gifts and sponsorships and then has realistic conversations about potential renewals and amounts to be requested. We actually present our projected goal to leadership as part of the annual budgeting process, so it can be discussed as part of the bigger picture of the organization. And when the annual budget is approved EVERYONE understands the goal and how it was set. Throughout the year, we then talk about our fundraising goal in terms of “percentage of the organization’s annual budget” and we stress that these funds are critical in ensuring the organization can achieve the service and delivery goals it has set – we currently have a goal of 25% of the annual budget. It helps donors understand how important their gifts are to the big picture. Thanks for stressing how important and valuable this process can be.