Skip to content

How to use data to plan your major gift strategies in 2025

Will data transform your major gift strategy in 2025? This article will help you analyse donor behaviour, make the most of prospect research and build stronger relationships while staying GDPR-compliant.

From understanding your donors’ motivations to predicting giving trends, data is becoming essential for fundraisers who want to take a strategic approach to major gift fundraising.

In this article, we’ll cover making use of the data you already have to predict future giving, lawfully processing your supporters’ data and using it to build stronger donor relationships.

Analyse your donors’ behaviour

Use your supporter database to examine your donors’ previous giving behaviour. Can you spot any trends? Do certain donors engage with you at the same time every year? Or maybe they’re more inclined to give a significant gift after a certain type of communication or engagement.

As well as looking at giving trends, analyse your supporters’ interactions with your cause. Have they responded positively to your campaigns but didn’t donate? Does your database hold information that can help you focus your campaigns? Exploring your donor demographics – million-pound property ownership, life stage,  job title – could help you identify trends to shape your future fundraising strategies.

Make the most of prospect research

If you’re not quite sure where to start with data-based fundraising, prospect research can help. It’s the process of gathering information about potential donors or supporters. It can help you make the most of your supporter database or find new prospects.

The first step in lawfully undertaking prospect research is to tell your supporters you plan to do it. You can do this through your privacy notice. Make sure it’s fit for purpose and informs your supporters about how their data might be processed in line with GDPR guidelines. 

Wealth screening is another research tool that can help you make the most of data. It’s the process of comparing the information of your supporter database with a Wealth Intelligence Database to find matches. A match is a HNW individual who appears on both databases, making them a potential major donor for your cause.

Use data to build strong donor relationships

Strong donor relationships are the bedrock of best-practice fundraising. Use data as a shortcut to get to know your donors, so you can better understand their motivations for giving, interest in your cause and the impact they want to have on the world. High-level prospects expect you to undertake this kind of research before you make an approach and it means you don’t waste their time (or yours!) by making ill-informed asks.

Will 2025 be the year you embrace research-based fundraising? 

At Prospecting for Gold, we specialise in research, wealth screening, consultancy and regulatory compliance, making fundraising more effective and successful.

Get in touch to get started on your research-based fundraising journey.