You Can Start With Major Giving

For a long time, we believed something that we now know isn’t true.

We thought major giving, also known as one-to-one fundraising, was the last thing you set up. First came grants. Then events. Then appeals, emails, and online campaigns. Once all of that was humming along, and once you had enough donors and enough time, then maybe you could focus on major gifts. If you had wealthy donors. If you had extra capacity.

That thinking keeps a lot of organizations stuck.

When major giving is saved for later, later rarely comes. Organizations stay busy, stretched thin, and under-resourced. And they miss out on one of the most effective and sustainable fundraising strategies available.

Major Giving Works, and It Works Early

One-to-one fundraising:

• Raises more money

• Costs less than any other fundraising strategy

• Deepens donors’ connection to your mission

• Builds loyalty over time

• Helps donors give more and give longer

When major giving is values-based, it feels different. It’s relational instead of transactional. It’s grounded in shared values and real conversation. It centers the mission and the community, not just the money.

Values-based major giving makes organizations stronger and more nimble. It helps leaders adapt, respond, and lead when conditions change and communities need action.

Here’s the part we want you to hear clearly.

If you have at least 10 donors, board members count, and about one hour a week, you can do major giving.

You don’t need a perfect fundraising system.

You don’t need hundreds of donors.

You don’t need to wait until everything else is in place.

In fact, we often recommend the opposite. Spend less time perfecting appeals. Skip writing a grant or two. Step back from promoting a giving day. Use that time instead to connect one to one with donors. Talk about values. Listen deeply. Invite people to make their most meaningful gifts in support of your mission.

Major Giving Builds Power

If organizations are going to achieve their missions and create meaningful change, they need power.

Our community organizing colleagues remind us that power is organized people plus organized money. Values-based major giving helps build both at the same time. One-to-one fundraising creates relationships with people who share your values and want to help create the change your organization exists to make.

These relationships deepen donors’ understanding of your mission and of the systems shaping the challenges you are responding to. They encourage donors to do more than give. They tell their friends. They volunteer. They advocate. They connect you with others doing complementary work. Each relationship expands your reach through the people your donors are already connected to.

In this way, fundraisers are organizers. You are building relationships, helping people make meaning, and inviting them into collective action.

Start With One Conversation

Major giving does not have to be complicated to be powerful.

One simple place to start is to reach out to one donor. Call them. Text them. Email or message them. Thank them for their support and ask a single question: how does it feel to support this work right now?

Then listen.

That conversation builds trust. It deepens connection. And it creates the conditions for greater generosity and shared action over time.

You can start with major giving. And you can start now.

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