Engaging Major Donors: Multichannel Strategies Using Your Nonprofit CRM

The importance of multichannel engagement with major donors

Knowing who your major donors are is just the beginning of outreach planning. The next step is understanding how to connect with them consistently, personally, and across the right channels.

Donors want personalized, meaningful experiences

Major donors engage with nonprofits in very different ways, so your outreach shouldn’t be one-dimensional either. Some will respond to compelling email storytelling. Others might be inspired by a behind-the-scenes tour, a thank-you call, or a peer’s testimonial on social media.

Multichannel strategies help you meet donors where they are—whether it’s on their phones, inboxes, or social feeds—and engage them in ways they prefer.

Did you know? 73% of nonprofit donors prefer to give online.

Mapping your organization’s active donor engagement channels

When your message is consistent across channels and team members, your mission feels more credible, and major donors get to know you through a seamless engagement process. Whether it’s a direct mail appeal or a personalized email, reinforcing your case for support over time builds donor trust, confidence, and responsiveness.

Consistency builds trust and strong donor relationships

Before engaging major donors across channels, review how each platform supports your goals.

Ask:

• Are we using each channel intentionally?
• Are we consistent in our messaging and branding?
• Are we tailoring content to match how donors interact with each channel?

Once you’ve mapped your outreach options, you can better align them with each phase of the major donor journey—from discovery to stewardship. Your donor management system can help you track activity in each channel, ensuring that nothing falls through the cracks.

Tailor the content and format to match how donors engage with each channel. Use video for storytelling on social media, share data-driven updates via email, and offer personal reflections during in-person conversations.

Use DP Video to send personalized videos that thank major donors, share impact, or invite them to events, right from your nonprofit CRM.

Dispelling common major donor myths

Multichannel engagement also helps shift outdated thinking about who major donors are. Not all major donors give six-figure gifts or come from generational wealth. Many of your best prospects are already in your donor management system: mid-level givers, monthly donors, and volunteers with untapped capacity. A thoughtful, multichannel approach gives them new ways to say yes.

Grow major gift fundraising with digital tools and event-based cultivation

Technology provides powerful tools to deepen donor relationships online. Channels like email, text, social media, and video help you deliver impact, invite participation, and build familiarity.

Digital tactics to engage major donor prospects:

• Personalized emails tailored to past giving and program interest
• Targeted newsletters featuring major donor impact stories
• Video messages from your executive director or lead program staff
• Invitations to virtual briefings, Q&A sessions, or donor updates
• Text messages for event reminders, campaign milestones, or thank-yous

Make it easy for donors to engage on the go. Use DP Text to send event reminders, campaign updates, or timely prompts when donors are most likely to donate.

Pro tip: Digital engagement should complement—not replace—in-person connection. Major donor cultivation thrives when you create meaningful, face-to-face opportunities.

Event ideas for cultivating major gift prospects:

• Private dinners with board members or your executive director
• Mission immersion site visits to experience your work firsthand
• Small-group roundtables to preview future initiatives
• Soft-launch events to introduce an upcoming campaign

These aren’t transactional fundraising events; they’re trust-building experiences that show donors the impact they can have and where they belong in your mission’s future.

Leverage peer influence and board member introductions to engage major donors

Your strongest advocates might already be in the room. Board members, campaign committee members, and longtime donors bring authenticity and credibility that staff simply can’t replicate.

Peer-led introductions can build trust faster and open doors to new relationships. A fellow donor saying, “You should meet this organization. I think you’ll be inspired,” is more powerful than any formal pitch.

To activate board and peer influence:

• Provide talking points aligned to your mission and priorities
• Share recent impact stats and stories for easy storytelling
• Offer email templates for peer introductions
• Invite them to co-host cultivation events or lead donor tours

Board engagement helps grow your nonprofit’s network. One of the most effective strategies for engaging major donors is activating your board’s social capital. Encourage board members and ambassadors to publicly share their own giving story—through social posts, annual reports, or testimonial videos. Social proof builds confidence among prospective donors and sparks action.

Are you looking for more strategies to engage your board and leverage them as ambassadors? Check out our recent blog, Build a Board of Ambassadors: 6 Steps to Strengthen Your Nonprofit Board and Fundraising.

Design a personalized major donor outreach plan

At the heart of multichannel donor outreach is intentionality, and your nonprofit CRM is essential for keeping that strategy coordinated and personalized. You’re layering tactics and designing a relationship journey that makes each interaction feel like part of a bigger story.

Here’s how to build an integrated outreach plan for major gift prospects:

1. Map your major donor engagement journey

Outline your stages of engagement, define the right touchpoints for each, and align them with a clear objective.

Examples of engagement stages:

• Discovery – Use prospect research, peer input, and nonprofit CRM data to learn about individuals
• Cultivation – Send a personalized email to prospects and invite them to a small-group event
• Engagement – Schedule a one-on-one coffee meeting with the prospect and your executive director; share a custom impact video when sending the invite
• Solicitation – Present a tailored ask with a formal proposal when the timing is right
• Stewardship – Share a thank-you video and spotlight their gift in your annual report (with their permission)

Your moves management process—the series of strategic touchpoints that guide a donor from prospect to partner—should be clear, trackable, and tailored to your team’s workflow.

Use DonorPerfect’s Moves Management module to define custom cultivation stages, set goals for each donor, and track every interaction. Stay aligned across your team and never miss a key step on the path to a major gift.

Pro tip: Consider seasonality and donor travel patterns; summer months or year-end may affect timing.

2. Segment your major donor prospects

Use your donor management system to group donors by:

• Giving capacity – Based on wealth screening, past giving, or external indicators like real estate ownership or business affiliations
• Program affinity – Tied to past donations, event participation, or email engagement
• Engagement history – Frequency and depth of past interaction (e.g., volunteered, attended events, responded to surveys)
• Preferred communication channel – Whether they prefer phone calls, emails, texts, or in-person meetings

This ensures that your outreach matches the interests and preferences of each prospect.

Use DonorPerfect’s flexible reporting tools to segment donors by giving history, capacity, and engagement. Easily build lists to personalize outreach and prioritize top prospects.

3. Assign relationship owners to facilitate major donor outreach

Every major donor should have a designated relationship owner from your nonprofit—someone responsible for managing the connection, coordinating outreach, and ensuring the donor receives a consistent and personalized experience.

• In smaller organizations, this might be shared between the executive director and development director. For example, the ED may steward long-time or top-tier donors, while the development lead manages outreach to newer or mid-level prospects.
• In larger settings, such as hospitals or universities, donors often engage with multiple departments. In those cases, a lead gift officer typically owns the relationship, with support from secondary fundraisers based on the donor’s specific interests—like scholarships, athletics, or research.

Assigning clear ownership helps ensure every major donor feels known, supported, and connected to your mission, regardless of your organization’s size. The goal is to avoid confusion externally for donors and internally for staff. Utilize your nonprofit CRM to document roles, track activity, and maintain consistent communication, even when multiple team members are involved.

With DonorPerfect, you can use solicitor fields on donor and gift records to assign relationship managers and generate reports by fundraiser. Add custom fields for secondary solicitors to support coordinated outreach.

4. Blend digital and in-person donor engagement tactics intentionally

Use digital engagement to spark donor interest and reinforce impact messages. Schedule in-person visits, which offer opportunities to build deeper engagement, conversations, and relationship building.

For example:

• Send a teaser video before an in-person site tour
• Follow up on a donor lunch with a thank-you email and impact report
• Use social media to highlight a donor’s recent gift and invite others to match it

Blending these approaches thoughtfully allows you to stay visible and relevant while also creating space for authentic, high-touch experiences that build trust and move donors closer to giving.

Build an automated email series for fundraising campaigns, tailored to major donor segments. With email open and click tracking, you’ll know which messages resonate—and when to follow up for deeper engagement.

Pro tip: There is a difference between fundraising communications and donor engagement. Dive into how they differ and why mastering both is crucial for your organization’s success as you engage major donors across multiple channels.

5. Measure and refine your donor engagement strategies

Use your nonprofit CRM to track donor behavior across channels. Ask yourself: “What’s resonating?” “What’s falling flat?” Then, review your data to adjust and improve your plan accordingly.

Key donor engagement metrics to track:

• Email open and click-through rates
• Event RSVPs and participation
• Social media responses
• Donor upgrades or first-time major gifts

Beyond just reporting, use these insights to inform next steps with individual donors, like when to schedule a meeting, extend an invitation, or tailor your ask based on demonstrated interest. Over time, these small adjustments lead to stronger relationships and greater fundraising results.

Monitor campaign performance, track donor engagement, and evaluate channel effectiveness with DonorPerfect’s built-in dashboards and custom reports.

P.S. Once you’ve reviewed your results and are ready to reach back out, you don’t have to wing it—Practivated gives fundraisers a private, no-pressure sandbox to rehearse donor conversations, so when the real ask happens, you’re ready and confident.

The result: An integrated, relationship-centered major donor strategy

An effective multichannel outreach strategy doesn’t require a massive communications team. It requires coordination, consistency, and a deep understanding of your donors.

By weaving together digital tools, face-to-face experiences, peer influence, and strategic segmentation, you can create a major donor journey that feels personal and inspiring at every step.

Ready to build deeper donor relationships? DonorPerfect helps you design personalized donor journeys, track multichannel engagement, and coordinate outreach across every touchpoint—so you can grow major giving with confidence and less effort. Learn more about DonorPerfect’s online fundraising features.