You’ve poured your heart into your mission. You’ve run the campaigns, sent the emails, thanked the donors, and watched your community grow. But if you’re honest, you might feel like your fundraising is stuck in a cycle, always hustling for the next gift, always starting fresh at the beginning of each fiscal year.
Here’s the truth: major donors and planned giving are how nonprofits break that cycle. They’re how organizations like yours build something that lasts, not just beyond this campaign, but beyond this decade.
And the good news? You don’t need a million-dollar development office to pursue them. You just need a plan, a genuine relationship, and a willingness to have a few important conversations.
What’s the Difference Between a Major Donor and a Planned Giving Donor?
Before we dive in, let’s clarify what we’re talking about because these two types of giving are related but distinct.
A major donor is someone who gives a significant gift in their lifetime. What “significant” looks like depends on your organization. For some, that’s $1,000. For others, it’s $10,000 or more. The defining feature isn’t the dollar amount, it’s the depth of relationship and intentionality behind the gift. Major gifts are usually discussed, cultivated, and asked for directly.
A planned giving donor (sometimes called a legacy donor) is someone who includes your organization in their estate plans, whether that be through a will, a beneficiary designation, a charitable trust, or another long-term vehicle. These gifts often don’t arrive until after the donor passes, but they can be transformational in size and impact. And here’s the beautiful part: many planned giving donors aren’t your biggest annual fund donors. They’re simply people who love what you do and want to be part of your story forever.
Both types of donors have one thing in common: they’re not just writing a check. They’re investing in you.
Major Donors vs Planned Giving Donors comparison
Why Should You Prioritize These Donors?
Because your mission deserves a future.
Annual giving is vital, but it can only take you so far. Major donors and planned giving donors provide the kind of unrestricted, substantial support that lets you dream bigger, weather hard seasons, and make long-term commitments to staff, to programs, and to the people you serve.
Beyond the dollars, cultivating major donors deepens your relationships with your most passionate supporters. These are people who want to be part of solving the problem you’re working on. They’re not passive donors, they’re partners. When you invite them in, everyone wins.
Download The Donor Engagement & Retention Playbook
How to Identify and Cultivate Major Donors: 5 Practical Steps
1. Look Closer at Who You Already Have
The best major donor prospects are already in your database. Look for people who have given consistently for three or more years, who attend your events, who volunteer, who refer friends, who open every email. Pay attention to the donors who give, say, $100 four times a year, that’s someone who is engaged and giving as much as they feel they can right now.
These are your cheerleaders. These are your people.
A CRM like CauseVox’s built-in donor management tools makes this easy, you can filter by giving history, engagement patterns, and frequency to quickly surface your best prospects without hours of manual spreadsheet work.
CauseVox’s free growth-level CRM with real-time dashboards, custom reports, and automated data entry.
2. Assess Capacity Before You Ask
Once you’ve identified prospects, take time to learn more about them before making any ask. This doesn’t mean researching their net worth online (although wealth screening tools exist). It means having real conversations. Listen for what they’re excited about, what problems they care about solving, what legacy they want to leave.
Champions Ranch created donation tiers through different levels of pavers so donors can leave a lasting legacy.
There’s an old fundraising saying worth taking seriously: never ask for a major gift unless you know the name of your donor’s dog. That’s not an exaggeration, it’s a reminder that major giving is built on trust, attention, and genuine relationship. Listen more than you speak.
3. Connect The Gift to Their Vision
Major donors don’t give to your budget gap. They give to a vision of the future that excites them. Your job is to show them how their gift makes that vision possible, in concrete, specific terms.
Westonwood Ranch’s capital campaign invited major donors to invest in a shared vision. They were able to raise over $3 million dollars doing so!
Come prepared with a clear picture of the problem, your plan to solve it, and how their investment moves the needle. Think of it less like a fundraising pitch and more like problem-solving together. You’re inviting them to be part of the solution.
4. Make The Ask, Genuinely
When the time feels right, ask. Be direct, be warm, and be yourself. You’re not selling something. You’re inviting someone who already loves your mission to go deeper.
Here’s language that works well:
“You’ve been one of the most incredible supporters we’ve ever had. We have the chance to grow this part of our program and I’d love for you to be part of that goal.”
Or simply: “Would you consider making a significant gift this year to help us do this?”
Donors want to help. They often just don’t know how. Your job is to be the teacher, so walk them through exactly how their gift creates meaningful change.
5. Thank Them Like They Matter, Because They Do
After a major gift, your relationship deepens, it doesn’t end. Send a personal thank-you with no ask attached, just gratitude and a specific update on what their gift made possible. A handwritten note is king, but if you can’t do that, call them when you’re thinking about them. Give them access, like a behind-the-scenes look, an early update, a conversation with your program director.
The simple message: “I was thinking of you when I saw this and I thought you’d want to know.” That kind of personal attention is worth more than any gala ticket.
A Word About Planned Giving: How to Start the Conversation
Planned giving can feel intimidating to bring up, but it doesn’t have to be. Think of it as an invitation, not a transaction.
Here’s how to open the door:
“Have you ever thought about including our mission in your long-term plans? A lot of our supporters have found that leaving a legacy gift is one of the most impactful things they can do, and it doesn’t have to be complicated.”
Or, if someone has been a long-term supporter: “You’ve made such a difference in what we’ve been able to build. Have you thought about the kind of legacy you’d like to leave?”
You can also invite people into a “Legacy Society”, a named group of donors who have committed to planned gifts. This creates community, recognition, and a sense of belonging that many donors genuinely value.
Champions Ranch offers a Legacy Paver tier as a legacy society for their major donors on their CauseVox campaign page.
Types of Planned Gifts (And How to Make It Easy)
Planned giving doesn’t have to mean complicated legal documents. Here are a few of the most common types:
- Bequest through a will—The donor leaves a percentage or specific dollar amount to your organization in their will. This is the most common form of planned giving.
- Beneficiary designation—The donor lists your organization as a beneficiary on a life insurance policy, retirement account, or bank account. Simple and doesn’t require updating a will.
- Charitable remainder trust—The donor creates a trust that provides income to them (or a loved one) during their lifetime, with the remainder going to your nonprofit.
- IRA Qualified Charitable Distribution—Donors over 70½ can give directly from their IRA, potentially with significant tax advantages.
To make planned giving accessible, your organization should:
1. Make Information Easy to Find
Post your tax ID number and sample bequest language on your website. Something as simple as: “To include [Organization Name] in your estate plans, our legal name is ___ and our tax ID is ___.”
2. Train and Engage Your Board
Board members often have existing relationships with your best prospects. Equip them with simple talking points and invite them to open doors. You don’t need your board to be expert fundraisers, just willing connectors.
3. Create A Soft Landing for New Legacy Donors
When someone tells you they’ve included you in their plans, celebrate them warmly. Welcome them into your Legacy Society, acknowledge them in your annual report (if they’d like), and keep them connected to your work for years to come.
Extend The Invitation
Major giving and planned giving aren’t just for large nonprofits with big development teams. They’re for any organization with donors who truly believe in the work.
You have those donors. You probably already know who they are.
The only thing left to do is start the conversation, with curiosity, with warmth, and with confidence that what you’re building together is worth investing in for the long haul.
Ready to put this into practice? CauseVox is built for nonprofits like yours, helping you raise more, build lasting donor relationships, and spend less time on admin. Book a free demo and see how simple unified fundraising can be.
