About the Toolkit
Despite the emphasis in today’s giving climate on major gifts, institutions cannot afford to neglect their mid-level donors. Failing to cultivate and advance pipeline donors risks undermining not only immediate returns from high-affinity donors, but long-term major gift prospects as well.
This toolkit—a supplement to our related study—will help optimize your campaign pipeline by accelerating donors up the giving pyramid and surfacing untapped major gift potential.
The toolkit contains guides, templates, audits, and more to supplement your advancement goals. Select from the options below to learn more about each tool.
- Fundraising Products Template
- Alumni Volunteer Referral Organizer
- Alumni Relations Prospect Referral Template
- Gift Society Tier Audit
- President’s Blog Launch Guide
- Social Media Impact Ambassadors Launch Guide
Fundraising Products Template
Instructions: Grouping institutional priorities into fundraising products gives donors a sense of ownership over their giving and loyalty to the institution. Circulate the below template to academic units to gather information on where donors’ dollars can have the greatest impact. Use the information to compile short brochures that gift officers can use in conversations with prospects.
Alumni Volunteer Referral Organizer
Instructions: Alumni are often the best judges for their peers’ likelihood to give. The following referral form will help advancement shops tap into their volunteers’ networks to surface strong prospects.
 Download PDF
Alumni Relations Prospect Referral Template
Instructions: Alumni relations professionals often meet more potential donors than development staff and are therefore in a perfect position to refer prospects to the development office. Give this form to alumni relations staff to help them track and qualify the alumni they meet. Upload this document to the advancement office’s intranet to streamline the referral process.
 Download PDF
Gift Society Tier Audit
Instructions: Gift society tiers and corresponding stewardship initiatives are often established and sustained without studying donor giving trends. Answer the following questions to check the effectiveness of your current gift society levels, or to establish new levels.
 Download PDF
President’s Blog Launch Guide
Instructions: Mid-level donors often seek enhanced access to senior leaders. A presidential blog can meet this need easily and with little time commitment from the president. Follow these steps to launch a blog that effectively stewards donors.
 Download PDF
Social Media Impact Ambassadors Launch Guide
Instructions: Social media impact ambassadors are volunteers who agree to share posts on their social network about the impact of donors’ dollars. Advancement shops benefit from their postings because what people see on social media affects how they give. This is especially true for Millennial donors who are starting to take home bigger paychecks and are thinking about bumping up their giving. This resource outlines six steps to establish a social media impact ambassadors initiative.
 Download PDF
This resource requires EAB partnership access to view.
Access the tool
Learn how you can get access to this resource as well as hands-on support from our experts through Advancement Advisory Services.
Learn More