Midlevel finds a home

When we launched our first mid-level study in 2014, we found that, while few in number, mid-level donors were, in many cases, generating as much as one-third of an organization’s income from individuals. Even so, organizations were doing — at best — a marginal job of stewarding and prioritizing these donors.

Back then, we found that the tactical and cultural gap between direct marketing and major gifts officers was leaving mid-level fundraising in the lurch. Midlevel donors often found themselves lost in the no person’s land between direct marketing/membership and major giving.

In our second study in 2018, we saw positive shifts on both the staffing and coordination fronts. Many organizations had hired one or more development staff members with the primary responsibility of growing and stewarding mid-level donors. And we saw huge improvement in coordination between direct marketing and major gifts teams with donor moves management guidelines taking shape.

In our latest midlevel study, which just launched last month, we are seeing a quantum leap in staffing and a sophisticated blending of direct marketing and major giving skill sets.

We’re happy to say that midlevel fundraising has found a home.

Learn how organizations are combining the properties of a one-to-many direct response program with the one-to-one attention of a major gifts program and creating intimate-feeling programs at scale. Check out the latest study.