Leadership giving is a donor category that can serve as a springboard from higher-level annual giving into major gifts. According to Jason Demers, any school size or type can benefit from a focus on leadership giving, designed to increase donor engagement, plus size / number of gifts, while building the capacity of fundraising staff.
What is leadership giving?
Jason defines leadership giving (LG) as the upper end of annual gifts: $500 – $2,500, usually undesignated.
How LG differs from major gifts (MG):
Shorter timelines and fewer moves from LG prospect to gift than with MG.
LG prospects show commitment to your school through consecutive years of annual giving and larger than average gifts.
Some are lapsed MG donors who need re-engagement.
Transitional or newly discovered prospects can be potential leadership givers.
Advantages of an LG program
Give upper-end annual donors a more personalized experience.
Identify a pool of potential MG donors while increasing annual giving totals.
Increase donor retention.
Provide staff with experiences that help them transition from AG into MG fundraising.
Define success for your LG program
Increase average size of annual gifts.
Increase AG retention rate (should be 75%+; highest retention level among annual donors).
# of donors recategorized from AG into LG.
# of upgrades from LG into MG over a given time period.
Success rate = retention of LG donors, transition to MG donors + additional funds raised.
Steward your leadership donors
Create a specific recognition group for LG donors to reward loyalty.
Provide unique branding and benefits – ancillary services such as passes to the gym, campus theatre and sports events.
Meet face to face with each LG donor at least once per year and express interest in their points of view.
Thank them personally (hand-written cards).
Organize an annual get-together that includes both LG and MG donors, and invite LG to MG events.
CCAE eLearning Archive
James McMillan, Director of Advancement, Selwyn House School
Marilyn Anthony, Managing Director, Business Development, PearTree Canada
Learn how Selwyn House School and many other charitable organizations in Canada are using the Pear Tree Canada’s Flow Through Donation Format to enable their donors to make significantly larger gifts not only to your organization but to many others as well.
Michael Page, Director of Leadership Annual Giving, University of Toronto
Michael Page demonstrates how a well-structured discovery program, utilizing highly trained students, can create a pipeline of promising leads for advancement staff.
Steve Kennedy, Director of Marketing & Communications, University of British Columbia
From May 2017 – May 2018, alumni UBC celebrated its 100th year as the alumni association for UBC’s 325,000 + graduates in more than 140 countries. Coming off of the heels of UBC’s institutional centennial in 2015 – 16 created challenges in message differentiation and raised the question of whether alumni UBC should be recognizing its 100th year milestone at all. Ultimately, an initiative was launched that included the goal of creating 100,000 alumni connections during the year. Watch Steve Kennedy live at the #CCAE2018 National Conference discuss the lessons learned from UBC’s cenntenial campaign.
CCAE eLearning Archive
Zahra Valani, Hillfield Strathallan College
HSC launched The David Tutty Joy and Innovation Fund in 2015 to celebrate and honour the life of a much‐loved community member—David Tutty—who passed away in 2014. Learn how HSC used bright, engaging imagery and uplifting language to evoke the qualities that made David special, and to promote innovation, responsibility, and real‐world skills through a commemorative fund.
Get inspired to boost your own and your shop’s creativity.
From political upheaval to campus unrest, those working to advance education face a new narrative. From #CCAE2018 in Halifax, watch CASE President and CEO Sue Cunningham put this “new normal” in perspective and discuss its implications – amid uncertainty comes opportunity, for those willing to embrace it.
