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Major Gift Indicator Model - Zuiderweg, D. post
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Donna Zuiderweg posted Nov 5, 2017 3:05 PM
I have worked in fundraising for the greater part of my career. More recently, I have responsibility for a relatively large philanthropy team – 10 individuals in total, with 3 individuals focused on major gift. Major gift fundraisers spend their time and energy cultivating current donors and prospects who we believe are capable of a gift of $10,000 or more. In the case of an organization like the Zoo, we have a significant number of current donors and prospective donors but a limited number of team members. Since philanthropy is very relationship based, each major gift team member can only maintain a refined number of prospects in their portfolio to “work” since each prospect requires significant quality time to cultivate, ask for and steward gifts.
One of the ongoing conversations in any fundraising shop is how to identify the most likely major gift donors and for what amount you should ask. Most indicators are based on wealth screening that look at a prospect’s income and assets but these indicators are often divorced from the actual relationship the prospect has with an organization. Obviously, a high-network individual that has been visiting, interacting or already giving modestly to our organization is a much more likely major gift prospect and should be a greater priority in a team member’s portfolio versus a high-network individual with little or no relationship. But, is there a combination of variables specific to the Zoo that point to a donor’s readiness to be asked for a major gift? And, does it help predict gift size?
If I were building a regression model, I would build a model that would test a donor’s anticipated major gift level based upon a variety of independent variables like: P2G score (wealth screening score), current annual giving amount, length of giving to the organization (years), attendance at fundraising events, Zoo membership level, number of annual visits. My intention would be to see if there is a combination of variables that indicates when a donor’s relationship with the Zoo is strong enough that a major gift is possible and if so, do those variables help identify the suggested gift level. This would not only allow us to identify and prioritize those donors within our team members’ portfolios but would also allow us to create a cultivation plan for new prospects that could lead them in steps into a major gift pipeline.
I’d set up the model by pulling our top 30 major gifts by individuals. My suspicion would be that P2G score, current annual giving amount and length of giving to the organization would be the strongest indicators so I would test each of those individually and then in combination. Once (and assuming) I found a strong level of significance there, I would test the addition of the other variables to see if any of the additions strengthen the model. Once I found a combination that showed a high degree of relatability I would use the model to find other “like” donors and work with the major gift team members to put together a cultivation plan for the desired gift amount that is suggested by the model.
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