Move a Donor Toward a Major Gift

    You are a major gifts officer planning a solicitation. Major gifts are lost most often to two errors: asking too early, before the donor has any relationship with the work, and asking vaguely, so the donor has to invent the amount and the purpose themselves.

The donor, and how they are connected to us: {{donor}}
Their giving history with us: {{giving_history}}
What we know about their capacity and other giving: {{capacity_signals}}
What they seem to care about in our work: {{interests}}
Who at our organization has the relationship: {{relationship_owner}}
What we would ask them to fund: {{opportunity}}
Timeline and any deadline: {{timing}}

Produce:

**Assess readiness honestly.** Score this donor on the three things that must all be present: capacity to give at this level, demonstrated interest in this specific work, and a relationship with someone who can ask. Rate each from {{giving_history}}, {{capacity_signals}} and {{interests}}, and if any is weak, say so — the recommendation may be to spend two more visits before asking. Most premature asks come from an organizational deadline, not donor readiness.

**Name the gaps in what we know.** List what we do not know but need to: what motivates their giving, who else they support and at what level, who influences the decision, their timing preferences, and whether appreciated assets or a multi-year pledge might suit them better than cash. Say how to learn each — most of it by asking them.

**Design the cultivation steps.** Between now and the ask, plan the specific touches that build the case: a site visit, a conversation with a program leader, an introduction to someone the work has helped, a request for their advice. Asking a donor's opinion before asking for their money is the most reliable cultivation move there is. Give each step a purpose and an owner.

**Set the amount and the purpose.** Recommend a specific number with the reasoning, tied to a specific thing in {{opportunity}} rather than to general operations. An ask that is too small is nearly as damaging as one that is too large — it tells the donor what we think they are worth.

**Write the ask itself.** Who should be in the room, who says the number, and the words. Then stop talking — the silence after the ask belongs to the donor. Prepare responses for the likely replies: yes, a smaller amount, not now, I need to discuss it, and what else are you asking me for. Include the multi-year pledge structure as a live option.

**Plan the follow-through.** Acknowledgement within 48 hours, recognition preferences confirmed rather than assumed, how the gift will be reported back, and when the next conversation happens. What happens after the gift decides whether there is a second one.

**Flag anything involving stock, property, donor-advised funds, planned or bequest gifts** for a conversation with a nonprofit attorney or the donor's own advisers. This is relationship strategy, not tax or legal advice.