As a non-profit professional, we don’t have to tell you how one of your most critical roles is cultivating and nurturing relationships with your donors. However, in working with organizations of all sizes and missions, the true challenge often lies in maintaining these relationships in a meaningful and sustainable way. Each donor is unique, with distinct motivations, passions, and expectations, and understanding these traits is key to fostering long-term support for your cause.

By understanding who your donors are and tailoring your approach to their specific interests and needs, you can build deeper, more lasting connections that not only secure immediate support but also lay the foundation for future generations of giving.

Drawing on the experience of our firm, which has partnered with non-profits for more than 40 years to help them grow and manage their endowments, we’ll offer practical insight that can enhance your fundraising strategies. With the right approach, you can ensure that your organization’s mission is supported for decades to come, creating a legacy of impact and investment.

Let’s learn how you can take your donor relationships to the next level with the following examples of charitable planning situations.

Meet Joe, 39, Ambitious vice president at a local technology company

Joe enjoys spending time with his wife, two kids, and three dogs, as well as being active in his community, where he strives to make a difference through volunteering and annual gifts. He’s very familiar with your non-profit organization, having used its services in the past.

He looks forward to perhaps someday leaving a legacy, once his kids are through college and his family is cared for. His main assets are his home and his retirement plan, but he is an amateur day trader – using a taxable online brokerage as his “play money”.  

Giving history to your organization: $150 cash annually for the past 5 years.

What next steps might you take to strengthen your relationship?

1. Engage him with volunteer and associate board opportunities. He’s probably not ready for a full-fledged donation ask, but he qualifies as someone to build a relationship with over the next several years with the goal of growing into a planned giving prospect.
2. Leverage his community-focused motivation to demonstrate how the organization plays an important role in making your community better for everyone – share and reinforce your mission and vision.  
3. It’s a bit cliché with younger generations, but leveraging technology for marketing and donation purposes might be appreciated – i.e., social media, mobile giving, etc. – by simplifying gifting and making it more accessible for this demographic.  

What giving strategies might be of interest?

• “Bunching” donations to get the charitable tax deduction in one year and standard deduction in others.  
• Donating appreciated securities (from his brokerage account) can be more tax-efficient than donating cash. 
• Adding your organization to his will. Since most individuals aim to care for their family in their will, they can also consider naming an organization as a remainder beneficiary or a specific beneficiary bequest on an IRA. 

Meet Rita, 65, a sole owner of a successful florist shop

With multiple locations and over 50 employees, her business has grown tremendously over the last several years, but unfortunately, none of her children are interested in taking over management. They are all grown and building their own careers in different cities. As she gets older, Rita is thinking carefully about retirement and an exit strategy for her business. She has several interested buyers but is wary and uncertain about the tax impact. She’s a big proponent of your organization and very familiar with its benefits to the community.  

Giving history to your organization: 15 years of consecutive corporate sponsorships at events and occasional in-kind gifts of flowers. She was personally a lead donor in the last capital campaign with a $100,000 unrestricted cash gift.

What next steps might you take to strengthen your relationship?

1. Educate. As an engaged donor, and a sale of business on her radar, there are plenty of opportunities and strategies both parties can consider to keep the relationship ongoing and mutually beneficial.
2. Make the ask. She has a strong relationship with your organization and is nearing an inflection point in her estate plans. Now is the time to ask if a planned gift is part of the legacy she’d like to create.
3. Consider asking her to be a board member. For someone in such a transitional period in her life, now is the perfect time to ask her to be more involved and hands-on with the organization.

What giving strategies might be of interest?

• Gift her ownership interest in the business directly to your organization through a Charitable Trust, to a Donor Advised Fund, or to a Private Foundation. Each provides different benefits depending on her needs, but the primary goal is to reduce her tax burden by transferring the realization of gains to a charitable entity that doesn’t pay taxes. If structured properly, she should also be able to get a charitable deduction on her income and reduce the size of her estate. Care must be taken to work with advisors to help with this, as there are pitfalls in terms of timing, appraisals, liquidity, etc.  

Meet Inez, 85, a retired teacher and newly widowed

Inez recently lost her husband recently, leaving her in control of their entire estate. She has no children but is a lifetime volunteer at your organization. Her grandnieces help with housework and keeping her company. She would like to gift them something meaningful, perhaps enough to support their college education. Her biggest worry, though, is her living expenses. She lives comfortably but worries about inflation, future healthcare needs, and how long her nest egg might last. Her assets primarily include a pension and her home. 

Giving history to your organization: 20 years of regular cash gifts averaging $30 annually, and a frequent volunteer tour guide. 

What next steps might you take to strengthen your relationship?

1. Educate. Again, there are several ways to financially support an organization, making donors aware of all their options while reinforcing your mission and need of your organization, helps keep your organization top of mind for giving.
2. She may be ready to be approached with a formal ask as she is coming to an inflection point in her financial plan and needs solutions for her biggest concerns.  
3. If she agrees to a planned gift, steward her and her extended family.  

What giving strategies might be of interest?

• Bequests and beneficiary designations can be structured so she lives off of what she needs, but your organization will get the remainder of what’s left. Her grandnieces can also be factored into her estate alongside a charity.
• Qualified Charitable Distributions are a good option if she’s taking RMDs. This might be the most tax-efficient way to give today, assuming she doesn’t need all the money right now. 
• Since gifting to her grandnieces is important to her, there are ways to give to them, minimize tax consequences, and then give to your organization after she’s helped support their education. She can take advantage of the annual gift tax exclusion to give up to $19,000 annually to her grandnieces, without incurring the gift tax. 
• Another option is to “accelerate” gifting into a 529 plan that would allow contributions made in a single year to be spread out over 5 years for gift tax purposes. This allows her to give more to her grandnieces without triggering a taxable gift.

While donors can be grouped by similarities, no two donors are the same. From different values and motivators to different financial situations, each donor and potential donor needs to be understood, educated, and cultivated by the organization. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.