6 Must-Have Reports to Find Major Donors in Your Nonprofit CRM

What defines a major donor?

Major gift levels vary by organization. One nonprofit may define a major donor at $1,000 annually, while another sets the threshold at $10,000, $25,000, or higher.

Clear reporting helps you see who already meets your major donor criteria, and who is approaching that level.

Nonprofit CRMs like DonorPerfect make it easier to:

• Confirm which supporters meet your major donor threshold
• Track donors trending toward that level
• Identify engaged constituents ready for personal outreach
• Surface relationship connections that lead to warm introductions

For leadership teams, major donors support long-term financial stability. Strong reporting clarifies where major gift revenue stands today and where it may grow next.

Your reporting strategy should reflect how your organization defines major donors. A flexible nonprofit CRM like DonorPerfect allows you to set, segment, and refine those levels as your fundraising strategy evolves.

The reports below help you identify both current major donors and the supporters most likely to become major donors next.

6 Reports to Find Major Donors in Your CRM

Clear fundraising reporting gives leadership visibility into major donor performance and pipeline growth.

When you know which nonprofit CRM reports to run, identifying major donors becomes a structured, data-driven process and not guesswork.

Each report below reflects a major gift prospecting approach that can be built or adapted within most nonprofit CRM systems. Together, they help you analyze metrics such as giving history, engagement, and relationships to surface major donor potential already within your database.

Pro tip: Turn everyday nonprofit reporting into strategic insight with customizable dashboards.

DonorPerfect’s reporting and analytics tools allow you to build saved reports, filter by key metrics, and monitor major donor indicators in real time, helping your team move from reactive reporting to proactive major gift fundraising. With more than 70 built-in reports, you can quickly gather data and insights needed to guide donor engagement decisions.

1. Lifetime giving report 

A lifetime giving report helps you identify your top cumulative donors by aggregating each supporter’s total historical contributions inside your nonprofit CRM.

Major donors don’t always start as large contributors. Many build their giving over time, and cumulative totals often reveal major gift potential that annual reports overlook.

This report helps you:

• Spot long-term loyal supporters – donors who have consistently invested in your mission
• Identify donors who can be upgraded – supporters nearing your major gift threshold
• Recognize overlooked capacity – donors whose annual gifts may seem modest, but the total impact is substantial

You can also segment these supporters by cumulative giving tiers using a donor recognition report to clearly define major donor levels.

Someone giving $1,000 per year for 10 years may be more ready for a $15,000 gift conversation than a first-time $10,000 donor.

Many major donors start as modest supporters. Reviewing cumulative giving inside your nonprofit CRM can uncover loyal philanthropists on the path to major giving, even if they’ve never made a single large gift.

Pro tip: Build a dynamic giving report that automatically updates as donors cross key cumulative thresholds.

DonorPerfect’s reporting and data analytics tools allow you to track and calculate different metrics—such as constituent giving totals with filters—and create saved reports or dashboard views that flag donors approaching your major gift benchmark. This helps your team prioritize outreach without manually recalculating totals each year.

2. Donor loyalty report

A donor loyalty report highlights supporters who have given consistently over multiple years. Consecutive giving is one of the strongest indicators of long-term commitment and future major gift readiness. Long-term consistency often indicates emotional investment and alignment with your mission.

This report helps you:

• Identify deeply committed donors – supporters who give year after year
• Protect at-risk loyalists – donors whose giving streak may be about to break
• Prioritize upgrade conversations – long-term donors who may be ready for a stretch ask or even a planned gift 

A donor who has given for seven consecutive years is telling you something. Your reports should help you formulate a personalized engagement strategy for donors. 

Long-term loyalty is one of the strongest predictors of future major donors. When supporters demonstrate commitment year after year, they signal emotional investment that can lead to larger philanthropic conversations.

Pro tip: Combine consecutive giving data with retention reporting to identify and engage loyal major donor prospects.

DonorPerfect’s built-in LYBUNT (last year but unfortunately not this year) and SYBUNT (some year but unfortunately not this year) reports help you quickly identify donors who gave in a previous year or who may be at risk of lapsing. Segment these supporters directly within your nonprofit CRM to prioritize retention and upgrade conversations before loyalty declines.

3. Largest single gift report

A largest single gift report reveals demonstrated giving capacity by showing the highest one-time contribution each donor has made.

This report helps your team focus on donors who are not just loyal, but currently engaged—an important distinction in major gift fundraising.

Some supporters test their capacity during a campaign or special initiative with a larger one-time gift. This type of contribution often signals readiness for a more intentional major gift conversation.

This report helps you:

• Spot hidden capacity – donors who gave significantly during a campaign or special appeal
• Re-engage one-time major gift donors – supporters who demonstrated the ability to give more, but never received follow-up
• Inform personalized ask amounts – using real giving behavior, not assumptions

If someone gave $5,000 once, your next ask should reflect that demonstrated capacity and not default back to a lower annual appeal amount.

A one-time larger gift can be the clearest signal that a donor is ready to transition into a major donor portfolio if your team follows up intentionally.

Pro tip: Segment your largest gift report by campaign or fund to uncover giving patterns that might lead to future giving at the major donor level.

With DonorPerfect’s custom report filters and Easy Report Builder, you can sort donors by highest single contribution and layer in campaign, appeal, or fund data.

4. Giving frequency and recency report

A frequency and recency report highlights supporters who are actively engaged, those who have given recently, and those who give consistently. These donors are often more receptive to personal outreach and deeper major gift conversations.

This report helps you:

• Prioritize active donors – supporters currently engaged
• Segment high-frequency givers – monthly or multi-gift donors
• Identify cultivation timing – knowing when engagement is strongest

Strong recency and consistent giving often signal momentum. When donors are actively involved, they may be closer to a major gift conversation than their current giving level suggests.

For example, imagine a donor who gives $250 monthly, attends two events each year, and recently increased their gift during a campaign. Individually, those signals may seem routine. Viewed together in your nonprofit CRM, they reveal sustained engagement and growing investment—patterns often seen among major donors. Clear reporting helps you recognize that readiness before the opportunity passes.

Pro tip: Use donor scoring to quickly identify supporters with strong recency and frequency signals.

DonorPerfect’s Donor Score feature ranks constituents based on financial giving behavior, including recency and frequency, making it easier to prioritize donors who may be ready for deeper major gift conversations.

5. Wealth and engagement report

A wealth and engagement report combines philanthropic indicators with involvement data to surface high-capacity supporters who are deeply connected to your mission.

Giving history shows what a donor has done. Engagement data shows how connected they are today. When you combine both in a single fundraising report, you gain a clearer picture of major donor readiness.

When your nonprofit CRM integrates with wealth screening and engagement tracking, you can generate reports that overlay:

• Philanthropic indicators – publicly available wealth markers such as real estate holdings, business ownership, or prior philanthropic involvement
• Event attendance – consistent participation in key programs
• Volunteer involvement – hands-on mission engagement
• Soft credits – connection or influence over other gifts

This multi-dimensional view identifies major donors who may not yet give at major levels, but have the inclination and capacity.

Not all major donors begin at major gift levels. Some are identified through wealth indicators and engagement patterns before their giving reflects their full capacity.

Pro tip: Combine wealth screening data with engagement tracking to prioritize high-capacity major donor prospects.

DonorPerfect integrates with DonorSearch to bring wealth screening insights directly into your nonprofit CRM. When paired with engagement data like event attendance, volunteer activity, and soft credits, your team can quickly identify high-capacity supporters who are also meaningfully connected to your mission.

6. Relationship network report

Major donors often move within strong community networks. A relationship network report highlights board connections, employer affiliations, household links, and referral sources.

This report helps you:

• Map connection points – who knows whom within your database
• Leverage board relationships – identifying warm introductions
• Identify corporate or family clusters – shared major giving and matching giving potential

Sometimes the fastest path to a new major donor is through someone who already believes deeply in your mission.

Pro tip: Map relationships inside your nonprofit CRM to uncover warm pathways to new major donors.

DonorPerfect’s Relationships Links List Report allows you to link board members, households, employers, and referrals directly within constituent records. Reporting on these connections helps your team identify influence networks and pursue strategic introductions with confidence.

Major donors are essential to the growth and long-term stability of your organization.

With effective nonprofit reporting, you can identify and engage major donors based on their giving patterns, engagement signals, and connections—turning data inside your nonprofit CRM into a focused major gift strategy.

If your fundraising efforts feel stalled, don’t assume the solution is outside your organization. Start by looking inward at your donor management system. Your next major donor may already be in your database. You just need the right reports to uncover them.

When your leadership team understands where major donors are emerging—and where capacity is building—you can forecast revenue more confidently and build a stronger major gift pipeline year over year.

Strong nonprofit CRM reporting helps your team surface major donors and strengthen your major gift fundraising strategy. Get a free demo and see how DonorPerfect helps you identify and cultivate major donors with smarter reporting.