The Pareto principle shows up in fundraising all the time: roughly 80% of revenue often comes from the top 20% of donors. This insight is helpful for prioritizing focus and immediate revenue, but it's a dangerous guide for long-term growth.
When Major Donor Fundraising Blunts Growth
When nonprofits rely on a small pool of donors to fund the majority of their work, a few things happen:
- The total "pool" of active donors shrinks; you lose what you don't attend to.
- While your efforts may increase total giving from a small group of major donors, the organization becomes vulnerable to large revenue gaps if even one of those donors changes their giving priorities.
- Acquisition comes to a screeching halt: without strategic annual communications and regular touch-points, your donor pool doesn’t just shrink, it evaporates. The people who might have given never enter your pipeline, and the donors you already downgrade or lapse away.
You can only grow what you feed.
You can only maintain what you consistently nurture.
The Simple Fundraising Architecture That Scales (From Small Nonprofit Teams to Large)
I’m going to share the system I use with all GrowBetter clients. No matter how different the programs, complexities, nuances, or team structures, this framework works.
Step 1 - Donor Concentration Risk Assessment
Pull the last three years of fundraising revenue and sort donors by total giving over that period.
1. Calculate total fundraising revenue for each of the last three years.
2. For each year, calculate total giving per donor and sort donors from largest to smallest.
3. Look at your top 20–30 donors and add up how much they contributed.
This will quickly show you who your largest supporters are and how dependent you are upon them from year to year. It also helps you double-check your major donor strategy: when you’re doing major donor work, are you focusing on the right people?
Step 2 – Clarify Your Giving Segments to Prepare for Step 3
Skip this step if your donor segments are already clearly defined.
The donor concentration assessment doesn’t just reveal vulnerabilities. It also clarifies where your team and board should and should not spend major donor energy.
After reviewing your top donors, two additional giving segments typically emerge that deserve intentional attention: small donors and mid-level donors.
A simple starting framework looks like this:
- Small donors: $100 or less annually
- Mid-level donors: $101–$999 annually
(You can adjust these ranges based on your organization’s giving averages.)
The goal isn’t to overcomplicate the segmentation. At this stage, you simply want to identify the main tiers of your donor base.
Once you do this, you’ll have a clearer picture of your three core fundraising segments:
- Major donors
- Mid-level donors
- Small donors
And now you have the foundation needed for the next step: developing strategies that grow revenue beyond just major gifts.
Step 3 – Build a Communication Strategy That Raises Revenue from Every Donor Segment
Once you understand your donor segments, the next step is building a simple communication structure that engages your entire donor base... no matter its size, and no matter how lean your team may be.
Ultimately, the real magic behind successful fundraising communications is warmth and consistency. Please, please, please don’t let perfection slow you down. Get messages out the door that are human (not AI-inspired), thoughtful, and consistent.
Your donors don’t need perfection. They need to feel connected to the work and appreciated for their role in it.
A practical starting rhythm looks like this:
Monthly donor emails
Share 1–2 stories of impact (always credit the donor), along with program updates and opportunities you thought they might enjoy hearing about. These emails keep donors connected to the mission between appeals.
Quarterly print appeals + companion e-mails
Direct mail is only going to grow in demand and effectiveness in the age of AI and digital overload. High-touch, physical communication stands out. It remains one of the most effective tools for fundraising - outperforming email 2-10X (Nonprofit Pro).
Additionally, pairing email with print results in a 300% lift in response rates compared to one channel alone.
Use together. Always. ....Like the "buddy system."
Biannual print newsletters
Donors spend four times longer looking at print mail than email (conservatively).
Response rates are five times higher for print than email (again, conservatively).
Yet many nonprofits bet on digital carrying the relationship.
Whether you send a simple one-page update, front and back, with two short stories of impact that credit the donor, along with a reply device if they’d like to help one more person like this…
Or you send a fully designed, six-page spread filled with stories, small pieces of good news, and moments that recognize your donors…
It works. You retain, you upgrade, and you grow. You’ll see your appeals skyrocket in performance and passive giving increase.
Step 4 – Grow Baby Grow
Real growth happens when every segment of your donor base is engaged.
Personalized, consistent, donor-centric communications are how you get there.
- Execute a donor concentration audit.
- Segment your donors.
- Then implement a steady communication plan ..... and do it with heart (not AI-driven copy).
When you do, your fundraising stops depending on a few people making big giving decisions. Momentum builds across the entire donor base.
You retain.
You upgrade.
You grow.
It’s that simple.
What you feed will grow.
Just be consistent.
Want a Second Set of Eyes on Your Fundraising?
If you’d like help strengthening your fundraising, you’re welcome to book a conversation with me.
We’ll walk through what you're currently doing, where opportunities for growth may exist, and a few strategic adjustments that could improve performance. If your goals and my work align, we can explore whether working together makes sense from there. :)
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