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© 2015 Ruffalo Noel Levitz | Major Gifts Don’t Grow on Trees | 0515
MAJOR GIFTS DON’T GROW ON TREES:
The Long-Term Annual Giving Investment
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Major Gifts
Don’t Grow
on Trees
The Long-Term Annual Giving Investment

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© 2015 Ruffalo Noel Levitz | Major Gifts Don’t Grow on Trees | 0515
MAJOR GIFTS DON’T GROW ON TREES:
The Long-Term Annual Giving Investment
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Major Gifts Don’t Grow on Trees:
The Long-Term Annual Giving Investment
Major gifts don’t grow on trees—but there are proven ways you can grow them.
By utilizing phonathon to cultivate a long-term relationship with donors, you are planting the seeds for major gifts down
the road. Most major donors don’t just one day decide to make a substantial gift out of the blue; more commonly they
have been giving annually, over a long term, at fairly modest levels—often through direct mail and phonathon.
We know that an annual giving program isn’t about just meeting today’s fundraising needs; it also lays the foundation for
tomorrow. As the most effective channel in new donor acquisition, phonathons play a tremendous role in this process:
g They build donor loyalty with a personal ask that comes at least once
a year
g Over time, these annual gifts lead to larger annual gifts
g A portion of your loyal annual donors will become major gift prospects
and ultimately leadership donors
Major Donors Start Small
Do you give a $100 donor the same attention and level of investment as a
$25,000 donor? Probably not, but consider why that’s not such a crazy question.
We recently analyzed the comprehensive giving data for eight institutions to
understand the philanthropic journey of their best donors and how and when
those journeys began.
The results? Those $25,000 donors started with a median gift of $179 in the not-
so-distant past. We see that most major donors begin giving at modest levels.
Why?
Capacity: At the point in their lives when they started giving, many of your major donors may not have been able to
make a major gift. By the time they do have the capacity to give at a higher level, rest assured that other organizations
are already soliciting them.
The take-away? It’s important to build a philanthropic connection early on and to build that relationship over time.
Investment: At the time of their first gift, a new donor may not be as invested in your organization. Many of these
donors “test the water” with their first gift to see how they will be stewarded and if their gift makes an impact.
According to a 2012 Blackbaud study, while “one-off” gifts are on the rise, the top three reasons donors opt to regularly
give to an organization are: an improvement in their personal financial situation, passion for the organization’s mission,
and access to information that demonstrated the impact of their contributions.
SIZE OF INITIAL GIFT
The median first gift of major
donors is fairly modest.
for $25,000-$49,000 Donors
for $50,000+ Donors
$179
$386

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© 2015 Ruffalo Noel Levitz | Major Gifts Don’t Grow on Trees | 0515
MAJOR GIFTS DON’T GROW ON TREES:
The Long-Term Annual Giving Investment
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The take-away? Personal contact from a passionate phonathon caller can be highly effective in conveying meaningful
reasons why a donor should give, cultivating their passion for what the organization is accomplishing, and clearly
articulating how the donor can directly impact that mission. And, regular calls will catch more of your donors as they
reach the capacity to become a leadership level donor.
Planting the Seeds for Major Gifts
Your annual giving program is fueled by these earlier smaller gifts. Phonathon has
a unique advantage at effectively aquiring donors at a level higher than commonly
seen through other channels. The program must be robust enough to continually
bring in enough new donors and build your major gift pipeline. Of course, the
majority of new donors will not become major donors, but their impact is
absolutely critical to your results. The opportunity cost of not acquiring new
donors will have an impact not just in this year, but also over the next several years.
Building Loyalty
Annual giving is an investment that can pay great dividends both in the here-
and-now and over time. While the donors renewed and acquired through phone,
mail, and other channels contribute heavily to alumni participation rankings and
to fund immediate operating needs, the annual giving program is just as critical in
building donor loyalty: over time, that’s what comprises your major gift pipeline.
In our recent study, we found that 72% of donors giving at a level of $25,000-
$49,000 had started making gifts more than ten years prior to making their first
gift of $25,000 or more, and over a third had been giving for more than two
decades before reaching that level.
Annual giving consistently renews donors
year after year, and over time can increase
their level of support. And, when done
well, no outreach mechanism can impact
your annual giving goals the way a
phonathon can.
A well-run phonathon is best compared
to an Army of Gift Officers, as—outside of
sending a major gift officer to visit each of
your donors—it is the most personal way
to engage and solicit these donors on an
annual basis.
TIME TO REACH $25,000 GIFT LEVEL
8%
FIRST
GIFT
Percentage of donors, years given prior to $25,000+ gift
1-5
YEARS
6-10
YEARS
11-15
YEARS
16-20
YEARS
20+
YEARS
30%
35%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
9% 10%
18% 19%
35%
“
“Making it easier for
donors to learn about
your organization,
answering their
questions, and providing
clear vehicles for
contributions is
essential to successful
fundraising.
(2012 Blackbaud Donor
Perspectives Study)
EXPERTS SPEAK

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© 2015 Ruffalo Noel Levitz | Major Gifts Don’t Grow on Trees | 0515
MAJOR GIFTS DON’T GROW ON TREES:
The Long-Term Annual Giving Investment
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The level of personalization—the direct, one-to-one interaction—makes phonathon more costly than other solicitation
channels, though it is a lot less costly than an army of gift officers! It is, by far, the most effective means by which you
will bring new donors into your organization and to move them up the pipeline. With a solid phonathon program,
new donor acquisition rates are 6 times that of direct mail and email solicitations.
Beyond that, in those annual calls you learn more about each donor: understand his or her passions and capacity to
give, and steward a strong, long-term relationship that strengthens over time. Rather than starting “cold” in identifying
major gift prospects, you have a constant finger on the pulse of who those potential donors are and can help them
understand how they can make an impact in a way that is most meaningful to them.
Phonathon and Total Fundraising
We compared data from the annual Voluntary Support of Education surveys with the outcomes for institutions who
have utilized Ruffalo Noel Levitz-managed onsite phonathon programs for an extended period (at least the past three
years, and many for much longer). These institutions have very robust phonathon programs that focus on both donor
acquisition and retention. What we see is that not only do these institutions raise more money on average than higher
education institutions as a whole, but they were quicker to recover and increase gifts following the recession.
It is expected that gift totals will rise in the coming years due to the major concentration of wealth in the WWII and
Baby Boomer generation. While there’s some debate about the total value of this “Great Wealth Transfer,” it is a fact
that institutions who regularly, actively, and effectively ask for donations via the phone are poised to reap greater
benefits. An annual personal contact clearly makes a difference, and phonathon is by far the best possible way to
accomplish that at scale.
$25,000,000
$20,000,000
$15,000,000
$10,000,000
$5,000,000
$0
AVERAGE (MEAN) ALUMNI TOTAL GIVING
2004 2005 20072006 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
RNL Robust
Phonathon in
at least 2012,
2013, 2014
All Higher
Education
Inclusive

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© 2015 Ruffalo Noel Levitz | Major Gifts Don’t Grow on Trees | 0515
MAJOR GIFTS DON’T GROW ON TREES:
The Long-Term Annual Giving Investment
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Conclusion
When you are evaluating the efficacy of your investment in annual giving, it’s critical to look not just at a single fiscal
year, but also to holistically analyze its performance over time. Only then will you understand its true value to your
development operation.
The goals for capital campaigns continue to increase, and your institution’s annual giving directors and staff from a
decade or two ago laid the foundation for your current pipeline. The donors they acquired and upgraded are now
fueling those campaigns. Your annual giving program today has the potential to do the same for the capital campaigns
of tomorrow—so it’s important to be sure you’re optimizing your outreach.
Need assistance in evaluating and making the most of your program? Contact us to discuss how we can help fuel your
major donor pipeline.
In the 2014 fiscal year, robust Ruffalo Noel Levitz phonathon programs at 200 institutions contacted nearly 4 million
higher education alumni, parents, and friends, and received over $109 million in pledges.
Learn more about how we will put our experience and expertise to work for you: www.ruffalocody.com/fm