I've Never Met a Nonprofit Organization With Too Many Major Donors

Nonprofit GrowthDevelopment
Written By Sherry Quam Taylor
Image of a nonprofit leader meeting with a major donor and having an investment-level conversation.

Recently, someone asked me about strategies to diversify AWAY from major donors…

 

My immediate question was . . . WHY?

 

My second thought was . . . I’ve never met an org with too many major donors.

 

(If you ARE that org and have 1,000 donors giving to your mission and 900+ of them are major donors, this post is not for you…for the others…keep reading.)

 

Before you choose to diversify away from major gifts, I’d make sure you’re not leaving money on the table first.

 

Here are three questions to ask yourself if this idea has crossed your mind:

1️⃣ Are ALL my current mid- and major-level donors giving their BEST gift?

No? My clients often identify 7-figures left on the table from this concept alone.

 

2️⃣ Are ALL my current mid- and major-level donors being solicited every year during investment-level conversations? And I don’t mean at an event or through an appeal. Sitting down one-on-one and making an ask.

No? When my clients learn this skill set they consistently 2-10X gift sizes.

 

3️⃣ Is 50-75% of my revenue coming from my Top 30 donors?

No? Then you’re not ready to diversify. Re-read question #1.

 

Last thing you should check….

 

If a staff member or board member suggests you diversify away from major donors, I’d question if they truly understand HOW to do this type of fundraising well. It's likely a skillset issue.

 

Why would anyone suggest pivoting away from donors with the highest-ROI, the least amount of retention costs, and the low acquisition costs?

 

How about you? I'm booking 2026 clients right now who want to fix their funding strategy, model, and trajectory once and for all. Is that you? You can apply here.

Whenever you’re ready, here are THREE things you can do next:

👣 Follow me on LinkedIn where I share insider info daily — the same lessons I teach my clients about attracting larger gen-ops dollars and diversifying revenue.

🍎 Grab FREE Guides + White Papers — download robust resources you can use to push against the sector’s misconceptions, equip your board, and shift your team into High-ROI fundraising.

📈 Work with me to diversify revenue & secure the gen-ops gifts you need to grow. If you’re a business-minded nonprofit CEO with big growth plans but need to make charitable revenue from investment-level donors a bigger part of your budget, you can apply to work with me here.

Sherry Quam Taylor

Sherry Quam Taylor works with business-minded Nonprofit CEOs whose Strategic Plans require expansive budgets and larger amounts of general-operating revenue for growth. To become investment-level ready, Sherry helps leaders see their revenue potential and helps them see what may be blocking donors from giving in this way. Sherry’s clients know how to attract larger donors by solving the funding challenges at the root of the issue.

As a result of learning her methodology, Sherry’s clients become sustainable, diversify revenue, and know how to add significant amounts gen-ops revenue to their budgets. But mostly, their development departments and board have transformed into high-ROI revenue generators – aligning their hours with relational dollars and set free from the limitations of transactional fundraising.

Sherry attributes the success of her business to her passion for modeling radical confidence to the future CEOs in her house - her two college-aged daughters.

https://www.QuamTaylor.com
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