The strongest nonprofit fundraising plans combine five distinct approaches: retaining and segmenting donors, building monthly giving, cultivating major gifts, inviting legacy gifts, and using events or auctions to deepen engagement. The right mix depends on your mission, current supporters, and staff capacity. Measure both dollars raised and the number of people who participate; growth in one does not guarantee growth in the other.
Why a balanced fundraising portfolio matters
Recent U.S. giving data show why nonprofits should watch revenue and donor participation separately. The Fundraising Effectiveness Project (FEP), as reported by the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) in 2026, estimated that total charitable dollars raised in 2025 grew 5.0% compared with 2024, while donor counts declined 3.6%. In FEP’s Q4 2024 report, micro donors—those giving $1 to $100—represented 50.8% of donors, and their count fell 8.8% year over year; major donor counts grew 0.9% and supersize donor counts 2.6%.
These are national sector figures, not forecasts for an individual organization. They point to a planning challenge: higher revenue can coincide with a narrower base of participating donors. Giving USA estimated U.S. charitable giving at $592.50 billion in 2024, up 6.3% in current dollars and 3.3% after inflation, according to its 2025 report as summarized by AFP. That broad total does not indicate which fundraising tactic will work best for a particular nonprofit.
1. Segment donors and plan the next gift
Donor segmentation becomes useful when it changes what your organization does next. Start with information already in your records, rather than assuming that a wealth score or a single large gift explains a person’s interests.
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Build practical segments from your records
- Separate first-time donors from repeat donors, and note when each person last gave and how often they give.
- Group gifts by size and channel, such as online, direct mail, event, or workplace giving, where that information is available.
- Include relevant engagement signals such as event attendance, volunteering, and interests a donor has chosen to share.
- Use groups small enough to support a meaningful message and a clear next action; a segment is not useful merely because it can be created in a database.
Give each segment an owner and a next step
For each group, decide who is responsible for follow-up, what the next appropriate contact is, and when it should happen. A first-time donor might receive a timely thank-you and an update on the work their gift supports; a lapsed supporter might receive a personal re-engagement message that recognizes their past involvement. Keep the communication relevant and respect stated preferences.
Measure second-gift conversion, retention, reactivation, and net revenue by segment. Reviewing those measures together helps distinguish a segment that produces a few large gifts from one that sustains broad participation. FEP’s donor-count shifts are useful context for this balance, not a target or expected result for your organization.
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2. Build a recurring-giving program
A monthly-giving program asks supporters to make a repeat commitment through a straightforward, transparent process. Its value to an organization is the chance to develop a more predictable stream of revenue; enrollment, retention, and payment continuity still depend on how supporters respond and whether the program fits their circumstances.
Make the invitation clear and easy to manage
- Explain the ongoing impact of a monthly gift without implying that a particular amount guarantees a specific outcome.
- Show the amount and frequency clearly before a supporter confirms enrollment.
- Make it straightforward for donors to update payment details or change or cancel a gift.
- Test the invitation, suggested amounts, timing, and message with your own audience rather than assuming a standard appeal will perform the same way everywhere.
Track the full life of a monthly gift
Measure invitation-to-enrollment conversion, recurring revenue, payment failures, donor retention, and cancellations. A high sign-up rate alone can conceal payment problems or rapid cancellations, so review the measures together and use them to identify where the supporter experience needs attention.
The Tool Desk
Outbyte Driver Updater FREEScan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Outbyte PC Repair FREERepair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →AFP’s monthly-giving webinar presents recurring giving as a way to develop more predictable revenue. It is sponsored educational material, not independent evidence that a particular program will succeed. Dana Snyder’s book The Monthly Giving Mastermind is identified on the webinar page as a related staff resource; its current edition and availability are not established here.
3. Cultivate major gifts through individual relationships
Major-gift fundraising is relationship work, not simply a search for people with the greatest apparent capacity to give. Use giving history and mission interests to identify people who may welcome a deeper conversation, then qualify each prospect through respectful, individualized contact.
Move from interest to an appropriate invitation
- Review the relationship. Consider a person’s prior giving, engagement, and interests they have chosen to share.
- Invite a conversation. Ask about their connection to the mission and listen before proposing a gift.
- Match a need to a feasible opportunity. Explain a specific organizational need and a realistic way a gift could support it, without promising an outcome the organization cannot substantiate.
- Agree on follow-up. Ask what information or next step would be useful and record the person’s preferences.
Wealth screening may help surface names for review, but it should not replace donor consent, relationship knowledge, or individual judgment. FEP’s 2025 figures showed estimated dollar growth alongside a decline in donor counts, while its Q4 2024 report showed growth in major and supersize donor counts even as micro donor counts fell. Those national patterns support attending to both high-capacity relationships and the wider donor pipeline; they do not predict a prospect’s gift or an organization’s results.
4. Establish a planned-giving pathway
Planned giving gives supporters a way to explore gifts connected to their longer-term plans, including bequests. A nonprofit can make the subject visible and welcome without advising a donor how to structure personal legal or financial affairs.
Make legacy giving easy to discuss
- Provide general, educational information about common gift forms and invite supporters to ask questions.
- Offer a confidential conversation for people who want to discuss their intentions.
- Record donor permission, communication preferences, and any information the donor chooses to share.
- Maintain a suitable stewardship plan, while avoiding pressure to disclose private estate details.
AFP’s planned-giving guide describes bequests as a significant source and discusses giving history and engagement signals that may help identify prospects. Treat those signals as a reason for thoughtful outreach, not proof of a donor’s plans. Supporters should consult their own legal and financial advisers about personal estate decisions; nonprofit staff should not provide individualized legal, tax, or investment advice.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.5. Use auctions and events to deepen engagement
An auction can raise funds and create opportunities to connect with attendees, but its value should be judged after costs and in light of the staff and volunteer effort it requires. Choose an event format your organization can deliver well, and make both bidding and other ways to give accessible.
Plan around net revenue and capacity
- Set a net-revenue goal that accounts for event expenses, not just gross bids or ticket income.
- Select an auction or event format that fits the organization’s people, time, and operational capacity.
- Explain how attendees can participate and give, including options for people who do not bid.
- Follow up according to attendees’ interests and consent, rather than treating attendance as permission for unlimited solicitation.
AFP’s 2025 nonprofit-auctions webinar page, sponsored by OneCause, presents an average auction-donor gift of $529 and says 64% of auction attendees reported that they were likely to become monthly donors. These are figures promoted on that webinar page: stated likelihood is not observed conversion, and the page does not establish that auctions outperform other fundraising approaches. Use your own event costs, net revenue, follow-up results, and attendee experience to decide whether an event merits repeating.
How to choose a workable mix
There is no established controlled head-to-head comparison showing that these five strategies produce a particular return or that one is universally most effective. Prioritize according to your mission, existing donor base, and operational capacity. A small nonprofit can begin with disciplined donor records and stewardship, then add a monthly-giving invitation or a simple legacy-giving information page before taking on resource-intensive cultivation or events.
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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesSet a baseline for each activity, name the person responsible for reviewing results, and choose a measurement period suited to the tactic. For example, second-gift conversion can inform donor follow-up, while legacy-giving conversations and event net revenue require different ways of tracking progress. Reassess the portfolio periodically: revenue, participation, staff effort, and relationship quality each tell a different part of the story.
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