Defining major gifts by only their size is inconclusive alone.  While there is no minimum or maximum gift size that qualifies a gift to be termed “major,” the common characteristic is that all major gifts are solicited face-to-face or over the phone and the amounts given tend to reflect that personal approach.

In Europe and Australasia, major gift fundraising is referred to as “major donor fundraising.”  An interesting choice of emphasis on the word “donor” instead of the word ‘gift’ as used in Canada.  Some might argue that the Canadian (and US) emphasis reinforces our attention to the priority of landing the gift over landing the relationship.  Others scoff at this interpretation and point out that gifts only come from major relationships and the wording is semantics only.  However you interpret the language, know that you will be referring to major “donor” fundraising when travelling in other parts of the worlds … a subtle but important distinction.   

Five key factors when defining a major gift 

1. Major gifts are relative.  What is major to one organization may not be major to another organization.  For some organizations a major gift might be defined at $1000; for other nonprofits, a major gift might start at $100,000 or more.  Find the definition that fits your organization stage in its fundraising evolution.  Don’t feel you need to add “zeros” after your definition just because the organization down the street does so.
2. Major gifts should be substantial.  By substantial we mean those gifts that are extraordinary for both the donor and the organization.  Because a typical gift can vary greatly from organization to organization, we need to look at defining “substantial” not on specific dollar size alone, but on its proportion to an average annual gift received by that same organization.  For minimum definition purposes, the size of your major gift should be 100 times the size of your organization’s usual annual gift.  For example, at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, the average annual gift was approximately $80 dollars.  Their definition of a major gift was $10,000 dollars.
3. Major gifts should be transformative.  They should create opportunities - endowing scholarships; permanently funding a research project; constructing a building – that have a permanent impact on the organizations future. Both concepts – relative substantial size and transforming nature are important to understand the definition of major gift.
4. Major gifts are those which warrant one-on-one attention.  Major gifts result from donor relationships.  And donor relationships don’t just happen by accident or overnight.  They require time and attention to nurture and cultivate.  A major gift definition should be set that reflects the need to provide one-on-one attention for cultivation and eventual solicitation.
5. Major gifts depend on the maturity of the organization’s development history.  Major gift fundraising is very dependent upon prospective leads being identified and nurtured for solicitation.  Many of these leads come from a strong annual fund that has been operating and which has built up a substantial donor base; upgrading donors by moving them up from gift level to gift level; and have recruited and trained staff and volunteers in effective major gift cultivation and solicitation.

Campaign-for-one

When looking at major gifts within the context of a campaign, we could say that major gifts are those gifts which play a major role in reaching the fundraising goal.  Using the rule of thumb that says the top gift is usually 10-15 % of a fundraising campaign goal, and the next four gifts are set to provide a further 10% of the goal, with the top 10 gifts equal to approximately 40-50% of the goal.  Eighty percent of the goal will be provided by 20% of the donors.  

When thinking about major gift and fundraising campaigns, it’s helpful to think of the campaign as a series of individual campaigns-for-one.  Each prospective donor has a campaign tailored for their own situation.  Donors come in different shapes and sizes, each with their own motivations, inherent timelines, and unique obstacles and advantages.  Each prospective major gift donor warrants their own “campaign plan” to ensure that the best opportunity is presented to them, at the best time, by the best person.

This article is excerpted from Guy Mallabone's chapter on "Major Gifts" in Excellence in Fundraising, Volume One.