Why Major Gifts Should Drive Your 2025 Development Plan

At the heart of fundraising are the supporters who believe in your cause and want to place their trust—and dollars—into your organization to make a change in the world. Fundraisers like you are more and more optimistic for the future, as shown in a recent study from the Blackbaud Institute. With an informed development plan, there is no reason that 2025 can’t be your best fundraising year to date and a prime year for major giving. In fact, setting your sights on major gifts this year may be more important than ever.

Understanding the role of major donors—in tandem with an informed development plan—are the foundations of a securing a major gift this year. This interactive resource from the Blackbaud Institute, Development Plan Toolkit: Your Three-Step Guide to Strategic Fundraising offers a pathway to reaching and retaining major donors:

Step 1: Reflect on successes and opportunities.

• Using the toolkit’s free Reflection worksheet, gather data on your current revenue streams, audience, donor retention rates, and more.
• Now that you’ve collected the data from years past and reflected on it alongside colleagues across departments, you can document your development activities and the challenges or learning experiences that arose.

Step 2: Identify specific, realistic goals.

• Work with the finance team and other stakeholders to ensure that your goals are SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time Bound).
• Goals may be dollar-based—e.g., raise $100,000 via major gifts; volume-based—e.g., retain 75% of previous year’s donors; or activity-based—e.g., establish relationships with 100 new prospects.
• Use the Annual Opportunity Assessment worksheet to find opportunities to retain and attract new donors and expand your modes of giving.

Step 3: Align those goals to proven strategies.

• By now, you have a clear picture of your opportunities and goals, so it’s time to build a work-back calendar and activate your organizations around a development plan. Your strategy should:
  • Clarify expectations, roles, and goals.
  • Outline specific actions and the necessary budget to achieve those goals.
  • Establish the metrics that will determine which elements work, and which offer opportunities for improvement.
• With these insights in mind, use the included Engagement Strategy worksheet to define your outreach for distinct personas, informed by unique data for differing levels of donors, including major prospects and supporters.

Tools for Success

Donors are in the driving seat, with a plethora of giving options distributed across a smaller sample of the population. Taking the reins of your major giving program gives your organization a distinct advantage in the philanthropic landscape. In a survey of fundraising professionals by the Blackbaud Institute, 60% of those who identified their organizations as early tech adopters saw an increased success with major donors in 2024 (compared to 35% overall). This is in addition to 57% of those early adopters reporting higher total revenue, compared to 46% overall.

Using connected systems of record that leverage AI- driven tools will give you a line of sight into the personas of your major donors and prospects—as well as a clear picture of how your campaigns are performing in relation to your goals.

Measuring your results is as valuable as the initial goal setting—and often overlooked in the flurry of looking ahead to the future. By consistently measuring factors like your retention rate, segmented giving, and average gift amount, not only will your organization stay informed of your fundraising status, but you can more effectively communicate your impact. As major donors seek partners to make their own change in world, measuring your impact and telling your story are critical tools for establishing trust and long-lasting relationships.oftware will give you a line of sight into the personas of your major donors and prospects, as well as a clear picture of how your campaigns are performing in relation to your goals. Measuring your results is as valuable as the initial goal setting, and often overlooked in the flurry of looking ahead to the future. By consistently measuring factors like your retention rate, segmented giving, and average gift amount, not only will your organization stay informed of your fundraising status, but you can more effectively communicate your impact. As major donors seek partners to make their own change in world, measuring your impact and telling your story are critical tools for establishing trust and long-lasting relationships.