The $25 donors who became $25K donors

Major gift officers typically aren’t excited about a $25 online donation.

Email teams often overlook major gift pipelines when optimizing campaigns.

But those two worlds are more connected than most organizations realize — and the gap between them is where future major donors get lost.

Here’s what the data says about that gap, and how email can help close it:

The case for small donors
CCS Fundraising analyzed 732 major donors at a human service organization — people giving $25,000 or more — and found that almost one in three started with a first gift under $250.

Read that again.

Donors now writing five-figure checks once entered the file at the same level as your average year-end donor. They gave a modest gift, stuck around, and grew.

But that first gift is where most organizations stall.

Moore's survey of nearly 200 nonprofits found that just 0.5% of lower-dollar donors upgrade to mid-level in a given year. The capacity is in the file, but the bridge isn’t built.

What does it look like when an organization actually completes the bridge?

Scripps Health Foundation tackled this directly. Working with Digital Health Strategies, they built a digital-first fundraising program that tripled online revenue and included a handoff process between the digital team and major gift officers.

When they analyzed their online donors, roughly half had a single-gift capacity of around $25,000. The prospects were already there. The infrastructure to surface them wasn’t.

Where email does the heavy lifting
A strong welcome series sets the trajectory. NextAfter tested a relational, value-first welcome series: plain-text emails from a real person and free content before any ask.

The result? A 920% increase in donor conversions.

That tracks. A welcome series is the one moment when the donor is paying attention: they just gave, they’re curious, and they want to know their gift matters.

What happens in those first 90 days shapes whether someone drifts away or deepens their connection.

How to start connecting the two programs
Define your handoff criteria — what combination of giving history, engagement, and capacity signals should trigger a conversation between digital and major gifts?

When donors enter a portfolio, don’t suppress them from email. Segment them into differentiated content: more impact reporting, less urgency-driven solicitation.

And run your welcome series like it matters, not just an item on your list to cross off.

For the donors who eventually write the biggest checks, it’s the opening chapter of a years-long relationship.

The bottom line
Email isn’t just for raising small dollars.

For your future major donors, it's the first five years of the relationship.

Organizations that bridge digital fundraising and major gifts will find prospects they didn't know they had.

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'Til next time!
Sara