Optimizing the Campaign Pipeline

This study explores strategies to cultivate mid-level donors and advance them up the giving pipeline.

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Executive summary: Building a self-sustaining donor pipeline

Major gifts have grown in importance in recent years, bringing a laser-like focus on high-dollar acquisitions to university advancement. In this climate, too many advancement leaders forget that the major gifts on which they rely are cultivated over time in the annual fund.

Most major gift donors start out giving small gifts and upgrade consistently over time. Advancement divisions that chase one-off gifts from wealthy individuals with low institutional affinity instead of strengthening relationships with up-and-coming donors do so at the pipeline’s peril.

Institutions that fail to cultivate and advance their pipeline donors, especially those giving mid-level gifts (typically between $1,000 and $25,000), risk undermining their immediate returns from high-affinity donors as well as their long-term major gift prospects.

A poorly planned mid-level cultivation strategy creates a number of risks. Advancement leaders may miss major and planned gifts from mid-level donors with hidden capacity whom wealth screenings fail to flag. Unrestricted revenue returns falter as staff overlook the donors most capable of giving these gifts. Over time, inattention to the pipeline results in a depleted pool of major gift prospects and diminished cumulative donor value.

The primary outcome of an undeveloped pipeline strategy is donor inertia. Donors give loyally, but don’t upgrade, even though they could. Advancement leaders can overcome donor inertia and move mid-level donors closer to major gifts by taking an ambitious, targeted approach to upgrades.

Segmenting mid-level donors who are likely to upgrade and offering them a well-timed, compelling solicitation moves committed supporters up the giving ladder to higher-value philanthropy.

While upgrades increase the value of the pipeline incrementally over time, some mid-level donors have untapped capacity to give high-value gifts immediately. Institutions that deploy existing resources to qualify these donors and refer them for major and planned gift cultivation see big returns in the short term.

Discovery initiatives are key to an effective major gift strategy, yet they often come at great expense to the institution. The opportunity cost of assigning qualification duties to major gift officers is high, since their time is most productively spent cultivating and soliciting the institution’s best prospects.

Engaging students, alumni, alumni relations staff, and annual leadership giving officers in discovery and qualification achieves key divisional goals without distracting from direct fundraising work.