By Matt Vuorela / Chief Executive Officer of Steier Group
Nonprofit fundraising is all about relationships. Remember that the next time you hear one of your co-workers say they thought you just took people out to lunch to ask them for money.
Done well, donor development is all about long-term partnerships with supporters who are invested in what you do. Keep reading to learn proven donor development strategies to increase loyalty to your mission. We’ll cover best practices related to:
- Researching and segmenting your donor base
- Engaging with donors
- Showing donor appreciation
Understanding the Donor Lifecycle and Segmentation
The first step in a donor development plan is for fundraisers to understand the “five Ws” of your donor base – who gives what amount, where, when, why and how. Every donor is different, but in your database, you likely have some commonalities or similar groups of donors.
We call these groups a donor segment. You can segment your donors through multiple categories, such as:
- Gift amount level
- Donor age
- Donor frequency
- Communication preference
- Length of relationship
- Affiliation with organization
However you choose to do it, segmenting your donors helps maximize impact because you can use a more personalized and strategic approach to connect and communicate with each segment. Think about it. When you receive an email addressed only to you, mentioning topics you are interested in, you are much more likely to respond, because it means the sender “gets” you.
So let’s say you want to focus on donor segmentation and you sit down to pull some reports accordingly. Now what?
Understanding the donor lifecycle is the next step.
What Is A Donor Lifecycle?
The donor lifecycle for your nonprofit may be different from others, based on your mission, goals and budget. It’s a specified journey your organization outlines to show the stages of how you will find, engage and retain donors.
Here’s an example of a donor lifecycle:
A donor’s journey begins with their first gift. Initial gifts can come from many sources, such as a particular ask from a parish program leader or from day of giving outreach. Regardless, it’s your organization’s job from the start to formally welcome and thank each supporter.
Targeted strategies based upon where each donor is within the lifecycle can help secure and maximize more meaningful gifts. We’ll get into that a bit more below.
Identifying, qualifying, then stewarding donors is a process with many steps. Next, we’ll outline some of the tactics we recommend you try to expand a donor’s level of engagement. The ultimate goal is to cultivate lasting relationships – building trust and commitment that grows over time.
Pro tip: Be sure to track donor engagement and add notes to your donor CRM to help identify where donors are in your lifecycle.
Donor Cultivation and Relationship Building
Donor development is all about engaging with donors. The most successful fundraising teams we’ve worked with all share this in common: the team does not view donor engagement as something they check off their to-do list. Successful leaders embody building and cultivating relationships as a regular part of their organization’s culture. There are many right ways to do this.
Organizations who build trust with their community will have more influence and lasting success. But cultivating a relationship based on trust takes effort. Open, transparent and frequent communication helps.
And staying consistent.
Indeed, it is important to maintain consistent contact year-round. At Steier Group, we follow the 8-to-1 communication method. For every time you ask for fundraising support, you should send eight other communication materials as touchpoints to supporters without asking for a donation.
We typically use a variety of communications strategies to reach audiences consistently – email newsletters, postcard mailers, pulpit and Sunday bulletin announcements, and social media posts.
The main thing to remember is that donor development means finding ways to demonstrate impact. Supporters aren’t usually inspired by line items, wanting to fund your budget. Rather, it’s important to show them how their gifts change lives and what their support makes possible. That’s what telling a good story can do.
Gathering and communicating the impact of your mission is key.
Here are some ideas of the types of stories that work well in our experience:
- Faith formation and/or student achievement within your parish and school community – e.g. spotlight on the increase of baptisms in your parish or the number of 8th graders moving onto a Catholic high school, etc.
- Individual spotlights that reflect a vibrant community – e.g. volunteer with longevity at your parish food pantry, staff accolades, relationships between bible study group members, etc.
- Updates on your stated objectives – e.g. stats showing progress on measurable outcomes
Pro tip: Be sure to update your website donation pages and your case for support materials with current stories on at least an annual basis. This helps audiences connect and see their continued impact.
When communications are personalized by donor segment, or even individualized by donor, it can take the relationship to the next level. Read on.
Personalized Communication and Engagement
The easiest way to know what donors want to hear more of is to ask them. A donor survey could help you craft individualized messaging based on their interests and giving history. It also helps your team save time by telling stories that align with donor values. Here are two simple questions:
What do you care most about related to our mission?
What type of content do you want to see more of?
Consider adding these to the bottom of your next email newsletter, posting them on social media, or making direct asks via phone or in person. Ensure that you use the feedback to make changes if necessary; this will help build trust.
You can also conduct prospect research on your own. Your donor CRM is a goldmine of information. Look at historical data on your most active donors, see what commonalities your alumni or top volunteers have in common, to start. Note which giving methods they have responded to in the past.
A quick internet search can also help you discover what local businesses and major donors are in your community that may be good to approach.
Then, leverage the data. Start to personalize with first names inside your email platform, automate a welcome message as soon as a first-time donor email is added – get creative.
Though we commonly work on large campaigns, we also advise to stay mindful of the smaller donors, too. Every donation means something, and it’s important to stay engaged with donors at all gift levels so they feel a part of your work as well. You never know who could be tomorrow’s major donor!
When you have solid donor development strategies in place and a good database, you will be able to better serve your mission.
Strategies for Different Donor Types
Consistent donors who regularly give each month and year-over-year are some of your most loyal. Honestly, it’s those types of donors we often start with when identifying possible major gifts for a capital campaign.
Generally, 80% (or more) of funds raised in capital campaigns will come from 20% (or less) of donors. We help our clients identify the donors who have the most fundraising potential and will strategize ways to prepare them for a large gift request. Then, we help strategize and execute the best ways to make the big ask.
For major donors, get to know the donor. Find out if there are family connections, common contacts or special interests. If you can, explore what kinds of financial gifts they have given in the past to other organizations and what their personal hobbies are.
Then, consider more frequent meetings with this level, providing opportunities to gather with leaders that are perhaps reserved for major donors only. Something we find especially effective is to ask donors for their advice. Offer advisory roles and open forums that show that their input is valued.
Pro tip: Promote planned giving opportunities to major donors so they can continue to sustain your mission well into the future.
For recurring donors, or donors in the middle of the donor lifecycle, you can host special events, such as tours of your campus, or special meet-and-greets with leaders and those you serve. Telling the story of your organization to connect emotionally at this level is especially important. Keep that in mind when preparing your annual impact report.
According to DonorBox, the cost to acquire a new donor is more expensive than it is to retain an existing donor. A lapsed donor segment can be exciting to re-engage. A donor may lapse for many different reasons, and many of them you can’t control. However, the amount of lapsed donors you may or may not have can tell you something about how well you’re doing with connecting donors with your mission. If you have a low percent of lapsed donors, it’s likely that you’re doing something right to help donors experience what you do on an emotional level, keeping them motivated to give.
We’ve heard from donors across the country that simply didn’t realize they were needed again. Consider a special invitation to lapsed donors this year, welcoming them back in and updating them with impact stories.
Some general donor development strategies to incorporate with all donors:
- Personalize communication as best you can, according to their interests or communications preferences.
- Ensure they receive your annual impact report, at least electronically.
- Offer opportunities to provide feedback.
- Invite them to volunteer for a one-time or ongoing basis, including as a board member, if applicable.
- Show appreciation.
If you don’t have a long (or even short) list of donors, that’s okay. More than likely, they’re already in your community, sitting in the pews on Sundays or volunteering at your school. Maybe they just haven’t been personally invited to deepen their involvement. This is where the work to build the relationship comes in.
Recognition, Stewardship and Appreciation
As a donor moves through the different stages of the donor lifecycle, it’s generally a good idea for more people from within your organization to engage with them.
To get and keep donors, determine what motivates them to give. Experts identified five types of donor motivation that cause people to act. Consider a review of your donor list, making note of major gift donors’ motivation type. You can also ask related questions at your next in-person meeting.
Overall, donor retention, and therefore, long-term support, grows when donors know they matter. How do you do that? Effective stewardship practices include:
- Sending thank-yous, handwritten notes and small touchpoints
- Inviting donors to experience a ministry or program you organize firsthand
- Updates that clearly show how their generosity made a difference
Gratitude is a key element to donor development. Gratitude resonates most when it is personal, specific and prompt.
Measuring and Evaluating Donor Development Efforts
We’re often asked how to tell what works and where to focus efforts. Well, it depends on what metrics you track and prioritize. Common metrics development teams measure include: retention rate, donor lifetime value, percent of donors who increase their gift. Secondary things you could measure include: email open rates, number of major gifts and more. The more you measure, the more you can use that data to refine strategies and improve your ROI.
To measure success and improve, you will need to create regular check-ins as part of your advancement plan. Track donations to date, budget actuals and goals. Have monthly conversations with your team about what’s working, what needs follow up and pivot focus as needed.
After your campaign (either annual appeal or capital campaign) ends, debrief again. Ask yourselves:
- What were the outcomes?
- Did you meet your goals?
- What could be improved next time?
- What stories worked to compel our audience to give?
- What types of stories do we need now?
- How will we provide a genuine thank you to those who were involved?
- Is there anyone else who should be asked to provide input on this campaign?
Conclusion
Donor development is all about building relationships that inspire deeper, continued gifts. That intentionality, with smart use of donor data, leads to long-term mission impact.
Many of the Catholic development professionals we work with say if they could wave a magic want, they would wish for more donors and more who give more consistently. Following the donor development strategies above will help your organization identify, connect with and retain supporters who truly care about your mission. The benefit of that? Your ministry will be able to more strategically plan for the future and respond to those you serve in bigger ways.
Sources
Capital Campaign Communications Solutions. (n.d.). In Steier Group. Retrieved December 24, 2025, from https://www.steiergroup.com/services/communications/
Create a Successful Capital Campaign Plan. (n.d.). In Steier Group. Retrieved December 24, 2025, from https://www.steiergroup.com/services/campaign-planning/
Faith Client Stories. (n.d.). In Steier Group. Retrieved December 24, 2025, from https://www.steiergroup.com/client-stories/faith-client-stories
Nonprofit Average Donor Acquisition Cost Calculator – Donorbox Resources. (n.d.). In Donorbox. Retrieved December 24, 2025, from https://donorbox.org/donor-acquisition-cost
Vuorela, M. (2024). The Big Ask: Five ways to prepare donors for a large request amount. In Steier Group. https://www.steiergroup.com/blog/the-big-ask-five-ways-to-prepare-donors-for-a-large-request-amount/
Steier, J. (2014). Understanding donor motivation is key to fundraising success. In Steier Group. https://www.steiergroup.com/blog/understanding-donor-motivation/
