Build Major Donor Relationships: 5 Tips for Fundraisers

Securing a major gift is rarely the result of a single conversation. Instead, cultivating these investments requires targeted prospect research, careful portfolio management, and personalized relationship building. Plus, to grow your major gifts program, you’ll need to manage dozens of prospects at once.

Maintaining individual relationships at scale is one of the most common challenges major gift officers face. Fortunately, the right systems and habits can make it easier for your organization. Here are five practical tips for building major donor relationships, securing high-impact gifts, and laying the groundwork for long-term support.

1. Prioritize prospect research

Effective major gift fundraising starts long before the first conversation. A donor-centric fundraising strategy requires prospect research to understand who you’re talking to, their potential ability to give, and what programs they’re interested in supporting. The more informed you are about each prospective donor, the more confident and credible your outreach will be.

As you research major gift prospects, focus on:

• Philanthropic history. Look at a prospect’s past giving to similar causes to see whether their priorities align with your organization’s mission. A donor with a long history of supporting education initiatives, for example, is a natural fit for a scholarship campaign. 
• Giving capacity. Look for concrete wealth indicators such as real estate holdings, business affiliations, and publicly available wealth data. EverTrue’s donor management software guide recommends using a dedicated solution to centralize this information and keep your prospect profiles up to date as circumstances change. For example, your prospect research tool might alert you when a supporter changes jobs or moves to a wealthy neighborhood.
• Affinity with your nonprofit. In addition to understanding a candidate’s affinity for philanthropy in general, you should assess each prospect’s individual relationship with your nonprofit. Before approaching a major giving candidate, review their history of engagement with your organization, such as their event attendance, past donations, and volunteer involvement. This will give you a clearer picture of how connected they already feel to your mission and what next steps you can take to steward them.

Thorough research helps you qualify your prospective major donors, helping you focus your attention on the most promising candidates. Then, during one-on-one meetings, you can spend less time gathering background information and more time asking questions that deepen your relationships. 

2. Maintain active donor portfolios.

A donor portfolio is only as useful as the attention you give it. Active, well-maintained portfolios help major gift officers stay on top of their relationships and ensure promising prospects continue moving forward.

To keep your portfolio in good shape, you should:

• Review assignments regularly. Have your major gift officers evaluate their assigned prospects and confirm that each one is moving toward a solicitation. If a potential donor has been sitting in the same stage for months, it may be time for a fresh approach. Every prospect in your portfolio should have a clear next step, whether that is a check-in call, an event invitation, or a scheduled ask.

• Track engagement metrics. Pay attention to how your prospects interact with your organization over time. A donor who starts opening every email and registering for events is sending a signal worth acting on. AI fundraising tools can help you identify changes in donor behavior consistent with past major donors, so you can reach out at the right moment.
• Maintain consistent records. Donor portfolios help your major gift officers stay organized and ensure each relationship feels consistent. If a major gift officer needs to transfer a few donors or leaves your organization, their portfolio should contain all the information the next major gift officer needs to pick up where they left off. 

Regularly reviewing and updating your portfolio helps you build a consistent major giving pipeline. Use portfolios to help your major gift officers stay organized and ensure they are continually sourcing and nurturing new prospects. 

3. Prepare to meet with prospects.

From initial outreach to the eventual solicitation, in-person donor conversations will help you develop trust and build momentum. Knowing how to prepare for, conduct, and follow up on these meetings is one of the most valuable skills a gift officer can develop.

Setting up a meeting with a major donor prospect requires careful planning. Graham Pelton’s guide to prospect meeting emails suggests keeping your request brief and personal. Rather than leading with your organization’s needs, reference details specific to the prospect’s connection to your mission. 

When a prospect agrees to a meeting, show them you value their time by preparing thoroughly for a productive conversation. Before a meeting, make sure you have a clear picture of:

• The prospect’s giving history and engagement with your organization
• Any recent life events that might influence their ability to give
• Which programs or initiatives align most closely with their interests

After each prospect meeting, write a personalized thank-you note that references the specifics of your conversation. Log the interaction in your donor management system, and plan your follow-up actions based on the meeting while everything is still fresh. 

4. Build individualized relationships.

Data can tell you a lot about a prospect, but effective cultivation goes beyond what’s on paper. Donors need to feel a personal connection to your nonprofit, which requires intensive relationship building.

You can cultivate lasting, individual relationships that lead to major gifts by:

• Uncovering donor motivations. When you understand why a prospect is interested in donating, you can create tailored giving opportunities that align with their goals. Early on in your relationship with each prospect, ask open-ended questions to understand what drew them to your cause, what outcomes matter most to them, and what kind of legacy they hope to build. 
• Aligning interactions with their interests. Once you understand your donors’ motivations, let them shape your cultivation efforts. Tailored moments, such as a site visit to the program they are passionate about or an introduction to a staff member working on an initiative they believe in, show donors that your nonprofit supports the issues that matter most to them.
• Varying your outreach channels. Different donors respond to different kinds of communication. Some appreciate a personal phone call, while others are more likely to engage with a well-crafted piece of direct mail that speaks directly to their interests. For major giving candidates, you should tailor your outreach to their exact preferences at every opportunity.

Be prepared for the cultivation process to take time. It’s not uncommon to engage with a prospect for a year or more before the first major gift is made. Continue to build relationships and use the information you collect from each interaction to continually move the prospect forward through their giving journey.

5. Continue stewardship after securing initial gifts.

Securing a major gift is a milestone, but it’s not the finish line. Major donor retention depends on consistent, thoughtful stewardship long after your organization receives the first gift.

To continue building relationships with your major donors, you will need to:

• Show tangible impact. Share personalized reports on how a donor’s specific gift made a difference. Connecting their donation to a concrete outcome, whether it’s a program launch, building construction, or endowment investment, is one of the most meaningful things you can do to keep connections with major donors strong.
• Recognize donors publicly. For major donors who welcome visibility, public recognition goes a long way. Named funds, event acknowledgments, and donor walls are all meaningful ways to honor their contributions and inspire others in your community to give.
• Communicate between gifts. Regular updates, event invitations, and personal check-ins keep major donors connected to your mission. If you only approach major donors specifically to solicit funds, they will feel less like partners in your cause. Stewardship involves continually creating touchpoints to build relationships. Subsequent gifts are usually the culmination of these efforts, rather than the result of any one meeting. 

Showing donors that they’re valued partners in your mission helps your organization build the kind of long-term relationships that sustain your major gift program.

Building connections with major donors takes time, but with the right combination of research, portfolio management, and personalized stewardship, every interaction moves the relationship forward. A consistent framework for managing these relationships helps your organization cultivate a community of donors who share your passion for your mission. 

Hannah Davis

Hannah Davis is the Senior Manager of Growth Marketing at EverTrue. She works with nonprofit advancement teams to help fundraisers connect with more donors in meaningful ways. Before joining EverTrue, Hannah worked in higher education advancement at the University of Connecticut Foundation, leading annual giving communications and donor engagement efforts. Her experience in fundraising fuels her passion for helping nonprofits modernize their outreach while staying donor-centric.