What’s a Mid-Level Giving Program and Why Your Charity Needs One

Laura is a writing wizard with over a decade of experience in higher education and medical philanthropy.

A Missed Opportunity

Several years ago, I made a spontaneous and larger than usual gift to a charity I support. That day, thanks to our dual income, child-free lifestyle, and the lingering buzz from an earlier dental surgery, I was feeling particularly generous.

For a few days after, I was riding a helper’s high. Making that donation felt good, and the endorphin rush led me to ponder all kinds of future giving scenarios. If the charity needed more money, my husband and I could swing a larger gift next year. Maybe, we could talk about a multi-year commitment.

The charity and I had reached a new stage in our relationship. At least, I thought we had. But after receiving a generic thank you email and gift receipt, communication went silent.

The Mid-Level Donor Crisis

My experience isn’t uncommon. Maybe you’ve experienced something similar. In fact, NextAfter conducted a study when they noticed charities lacked good communication strategies for their mid-level donors. They hypothesized nonprofit organizations were consistently abandoning donors who gave between $1,000 to $5,000.

In their test, they donated $1,000 to $5,000 to 37 different organizations, and then tracked how the charities responded over the next three months. The results are telling. Of the 37 organizations, only 8% called to say thank you, and of those calls, only 31% came from a real person. After 30 days, almost half of the charities stopped any form of communication.

This Article Is for You If…

You’ve got no mid-level strategy and you’re ready to make a change.
Your mid-level program is up and running but you want to raise more.
You want to accelerate the donor journey from middle to major.

What You’ll Learn

We’ll start by defining what a mid-level donor is and how to set your mid-level gift threshold. Then, you’ll learn all about this unique subset of donors and why your charity can’t afford to miss them.

What’s a Mid-level Donor?

Before diving into how to improve your mid-level program, let's define mid-level donors. As their name suggests, mid-level donors are those who give more than an annual donor but less than a major donor. You may also hear them referred to by other terms, like leadership donors.

What’s the Threshold for a Mid-level Gift?

Your mid-level giving threshold is determined by a variety of factors, all unique to your organization.

Things to consider when landing on your range include:

Annual revenue
Donor base
Goals
Resources
Organization size
Major gift threshold

If you’re having trouble landing on your threshold, take a look at the size of your organization’s major gifts. Your mid-level threshold should be relative to the threshold of your major gifts.

For example, a large non-profit with a major gift threshold of $25,000 might start their mid-level program at $1,000, while a small charity with a major gift threshold of $5,000 might consider a mid-level gift anything greater than $500.

Why Your Charity Needs a Mid-Level Donor Program

Often referred to as the “missing middle,” mid-level givers were long overlooked by non-profits. In recent years, these forgotten middle children of the charity world have gained renewed attention as organizations realize how valuable they are. Let’s explore why this subset of donors is so noteworthy.

Revenue Generators: While mid-level donors make up 5-10% of a typical organization's donor base, both NonProfit Pro and RKD Group Thinkers note that their giving accounts for 30-50% of a charity’s overall fundraising revenue. Mid-level donors are loyal, generous, and have multi-year retention rates, making them great revenue generators.

Future Major Givers: Not only do mid-level donors provide generous and sustained support, they're also the best source for your organization’s major donors. On Episode #50 of Frontier FM, Wes Moon, COO and Co-founder of Wisely, shares that for most charities 75% of their major donors first give to an annual appeal or attend an event, eventually joining the mid-level. Plus, major donors who come from mid-level programs make the best supporters in terms of giving and retention.

Your Charity Needs a Mid-Level Donor Program Because...

They make up 40% to 50% of your charities overall fund-raising revenue.
They are generous and loyal, offering stability for your organization.
On average, 75% of a typical charity’s major givers come from its mid-level program.
Former mid-level donors make the best major givers.
Middle donors are most likely to renew their gifts.

If you’re sold on mid-level giving, stay tuned to learn how to raise more from your mid-level donors.

Sources

The Mid-Level Donor Crisis. NextAfter. The Mid-Level Donor Crisis
Moon, Wes. What is a Mid-level Giving Program. Wisely. What is a Mid-level Giving Program - Wisely (fundraisewisely.com)
Baldelli, Karla. Mid-level donors: The key to your fundraising future. RDK Group Thinkers. Mid-level donors: The key to your fundraising future (rkdgroup.com)
Spitler, Derrick. (2021, March 23). NonProfit Pro Blogs. 5 Ways to Recognize Your Nonprofit’s Mid-Level Donors - NonProfit PRO
Johnson, Benjamin. (2020-Present). Frontier FM [Audio Podcast]. Wes Moon, Wisely, and the Missing Middle of Annual Giving, Ep #50 — Frontier Marketing Co.