When does a gift (or a giver) become major?

As followers of this blog will know, I believe that donors give blood and body parts, whilst people give money to charities so should be shown some respect and called, givers, whatever the value of their gift.

We had a particularly interesting meeting at the Institute of Fundraising Consultants Group AGM when Theresa Lloyd talked about philanthropic motivations from the perspective of seriously wealthy UK givers, Eddy Hogg talked about £1m givers from a global perspective and Martin Kaufman talked about what value consultants add to the whole major gift process from a uniquely personal perspective. What all three emphasised is how well universities do at major gift fundraising and that there are lessons for everyone looking at those experiences.

We also discussed, at some length, at what level of gift someone is considered a "major giver?" Some reckoned it's £10,000 or even £25,000 whilst others suggested that £5 per month over 15 years gift aided (£1125) might be considered a possible! My own view, confirmed by published research, is that anybody who can write you a cheque for £1000 can, if so motivated, put an extra 0 on the end. So whilst you may not treat your £1000 givers as major givers you would be foolish not to treat them as major gift prospects! Especially when you add in the possibility of a legacy. Remember the average residiary charitable legacy gift is more than £50,000 and even the average specific legacy gift is approaching £5,000

But what do think?

No grumps today (much)

Had a very successful evening last week presenting the first phase of my "donor motivation" research at LSBU where it was, it seems, very well received by an audience of around 70 third sector fundraisers, trustees and academics. In fact I've been asked to do a reprise, twice! Really interesting thing though, which is a sort of grump, is the lack of major donor/volunteer involvement there is in most major gift programmes. The ask is generally done by a fundraiser and whilst volunteer boards are aspired to; few charities do anything about it!

Considering that, and the gift pyramid, is at the heart of all successful capital appeals, why aren't we practicing what we preach?