Beyond the Major Gift: Why Mid-Level Donors Deserve Your Attention

When most nonprofit leaders think about high-impact fundraising, their minds immediately go to major donors. The transformational kinds of gifts that fund new programs, launch capital campaigns, and make headlines. Meanwhile, sitting quietly in the middle of your database is a donor segment with extraordinary potential that often gets overlooked: mid-level donors.

According to recent industry research, mid-level donors typically represent only 1% of all donors but contribute more than 30% of total revenue from individual donors. These supporters give between $1,000 and $10,000 annually, and their reliability makes them the backbone of sustainable fundraising programs. Yet many nonprofits struggle to create dedicated strategies for this critical group, often lumping them in with general annual fund appeals or hoping they'll eventually become major donors.

The reality is that mid-level donors deserve their own strategic approach. With donor numbers declining for the fifth consecutive year, and retention rates dropping to just 42.9% in 2024, according to the Fundraising Effectiveness Project, nonprofits can't afford to overlook any segment. The good news? Mid-level donors are already in your database. They're already giving. They need the right cultivation strategy to deepen their engagement and maximize their impact.

Defining Mid-Level Donors and Their Pipeline Importance

While the exact dollar threshold varies by organization, mid-level donors typically fall between your annual fund supporters and major gift prospects. For some nonprofits, this means gifts of $1,000 to $5,000 annually. For larger organizations, the range might extend to $10,000 or more. The specific numbers matter less than understanding who these donors are and what they represent for your organization's future.

Research on mid-level donors reveals that they share distinct characteristics that set them apar from other donor segments. The average mid-level donor is 68 years old, highly engaged with causes since young adulthood, and involved with organizations in multiple ways beyond just giving. About 50% volunteer, 33% advocate for the cause, and 28% serve in leadership roles. Perhaps most importantly, nearly 90% of surveyed mid-level donors say they're very likely to renew their gift. This loyalty isn't just reassuring. It's transformational!

The pipeline importance of mid-level donors extends beyond their current giving. Industry data consistently shows that two-thirds of major donors start in annual or mid-level giving. When you build strong relationships with mid-level donors today, you're not only securing reliable revenue. You're cultivating tomorrow's major gift prospects and planned giving candidates.

How to Identify Mid-Level Prospects in Your Database

The first step in building a mid-level donor program is understanding who these supporters already are. The best place to find mid-level donors isn't through expensive acquisition campaigns. They're already sitting in your database and often hiding in plain sight.

Start by pulling a simple report of donors who gave a cumulative amount between your defined thresholds in the past 12 months. However, this is just the beginning. You'll also want to segment this group further. Some mid-level donors give recurring monthly gifts that add up over the year. Others make occasional larger gifts. These two groups may require different cultivation approaches, so it's worth identifying them separately.

Beyond gift amounts, look for behavioral indicators that signal mid-level potential. Which donors have been giving consistently for multiple years? Who has attended your events or volunteered? Which supporters engage with your email communications at higher rates? These engagement patterns often matter as much as current giving levels when identifying donors with mid-level potential.

Modern CRM systems make this analysis much easier than it used to be. With Julep's Actions, Attributes, and Codes features, you can track custom data points like communication preferences, engagement history, and personal interests. This information becomes invaluable when you're ready to build personalized cultivation plans.

Wealth screening tools can help identify donors with higher capacity than their current giving suggests. AI-powered predictive analytics have revolutionized this process, helping nonprofits quickly identify which donors have both the capacity and propensity to increase their support. Research from the Fundraising Effectiveness Project reveals that only 2.7% of donors give between $5,000 and $50,000 dollars. When you combine a targeted stewardship campaign with predictive analytics for this segment of donors, you have huge untapped potential to grow these relationships.   

For a comprehensive guide on uncovering hidden donors in your database, check out Julep's resources on finding hidden donors and identifying mid-level prospects.

Building Scalable Cultivation Programs

Once you've identified your mid-level donors, the challenge becomes creating a cultivation program that feels personal without requiring unlimited staff time. This is where strategic segmentation and smart use of technology become essential.

Mid-level donors fall into an awkward middle ground. They give too much for generic mass communications, but most organizations can't provide the white-glove treatment reserved for major donors. The solution lies in creating a tiered approach that balances personalization with efficiency.

Start by dividing your mid-level donors into tiers based on both their giving level and engagement. Your top tier might receive quarterly personal phone calls, handwritten notes, and invitations to exclusive briefings with leadership. Your second tier might get personalized emails, impact reports, and invitations to larger donor events. The key is ensuring each tier receives communication that acknowledges their importance without overwhelming your team.

According to NonProfit PRO, only 8% of organizations give mid-level donors a phone call thanking them for their donation. This represents a massive missed opportunity. A five-minute phone call can create lasting impressions and deepen relationships in ways that email simply cannot match. Building these touchpoints into your workflow doesn't require massive resources. It requires intentionality.

Technology can help you scale personalization through automation while maintaining authentic connections. Julep’s Email Scheduler features allow you to create custom searches that run at scheduled intervals, automatically identifying donors who fit specific criteria for outreach. Integration with email marketing platforms like MailChimp or Constant Contact enables you to segment communications by interest area, engagement level, or giving history.

Julep's Thank You Notes Needed feature highlights donors who contributed but haven't received acknowledgment, ensuring no supporter falls through the cracks. These small touches, when systematized, create consistent donor experiences that build trust and loyalty.

Develop Targeted Content & Programs

Content strategy matters tremendously for mid-level donor cultivation. Rather than sending generic newsletters, create impact updates that speak directly to mid-level donors' interests. If a donor gave to disaster relief, follow up with a story from the field showing how their contribution made a difference. If they support education programs, share student success stories that demonstrate outcomes.

Consider creating a mid-level donor society with its own identity and benefits. This doesn't have to mean expensive events or physical perks. Many mid-level donors simply want deeper connection to your mission. Behind-the-scenes content, virtual meetings with program staff, or quarterly impact briefings can create a sense of insider access that money can't buy.

According to Giving USA research, effective mid-level programs require a full lifecycle strategy that includes acquisition, retention, growth, and movement. Creating a donor journey for your entire mid-level segment ensures consistent touchpoints throughout the year. Some organizations develop 12-month cultivation calendars that include thank you calls, impact reports, event invitations, and personalized asks, ensuring donors receive meaningful engagement at regular intervals.

Julep's Moves Management Features for Mid-Tier Relationships

Moves management is the systematic process of moving donors through their giving journey, from initial cultivation to solicitation to ongoing stewardship. While traditionally reserved for major donors, applying moves management principles to mid-level donors can dramatically improve outcomes.

At its core, Moves Management is about being intentional with every interaction. Each move represents a deliberate action designed to deepen the relationship and move the donor closer to their next level of engagement. For mid-level donors, this might include activities like sending impact reports, scheduling calls, inviting them to events, or making personalized asks.

The challenge with moves management has always been tracking and coordinating these activities across multiple team members and donors. This is where a robust CRM becomes essential. Julep's platform provides several features specifically designed to support moves management for mid-level donors.

The system allows you to track every interaction with donors in one centralized location, logging calls, emails, meetings, and notes so your entire team has visibility into each relationship's status. This becomes particularly valuable when multiple staff members interact with the same donors or when team members transition.

Custom searches and reporting capabilities let you identify which donors need specific types of outreach at any given time. For example, you might create a search for donors who gave last year but haven't renewed, or donors who attended an event but haven't yet made their annual gift. These searches can run automatically on schedules, ensuring timely follow-up.

Email Scheduler functionality takes this a step further by automating report delivery. You can set up searches to run monthly or quarterly and have results sent directly to the appropriate team member's inbox, creating built-in accountability for outreach activities.

Membership and club tracking features enable you to organize mid-level donors into societies or giving circles, making it easy to target communications and benefits to specific groups. This supports the tiered approach discussed earlier, ensuring donors at different levels receive appropriate cultivation.

Perhaps most importantly, Julep enables you to customize data tracking to match your organization's specific needs. Want to track which donors prefer phone calls versus email? Create a custom attribute. Need to log when donors were last personally thanked? Set up an action code. This flexibility ensures your CRM adapts to your moves management strategy rather than forcing you to work within rigid constraints.

Build a Cohesive Strategy & Plan

The real power comes from combining these features into cohesive cultivation workflows. For example, you might:

1. Run a monthly search for new mid-level donors

2. Automatically assign them to the appropriate cultivation tier

3. Schedule a series of touchpoints over the next 90 days

4. Track completion of each move in their donor record

5. Generate reports showing moves completion rates and donor progression

This systematic approach ensures no donor gets overlooked while making efficient use of staff time. It transforms mid-level donor cultivation from an ad hoc activity into a strategic program with measurable outcomes.

For organizations just starting with mid-level donor programs, technology like Julep can help level the playing field. You don't need a large team to create meaningful, personalized experiences for hundreds of mid-level donors. You need smart systems that help you work efficiently and intentionally.

To learn more about developing a comprehensive mid-level donor strategy, download Julep's free guide: Love the Donors You Already Have: A Guide to Reaching Mid-Level Donors.

Making Mid-Level Donors a Strategic Priority

As the nonprofit sector continues navigating economic uncertainty and declining donor numbers, mid-level donors represent a source of stability and growth that organizations cannot afford to overlook. These supporters have already demonstrated their commitment to your mission. They've shown they have capacity to give at meaningful levels. They're statistically likely to continue supporting you year after year.

The question isn't whether mid-level donors matter. The question is whether your organization is ready to invest in cultivating these relationships strategically. The good news is that you don't need massive new resources to get started. You need intentionality, smart segmentation, appropriate technology, and commitment to treating mid-level donors as the vital constituency they are.

Start small. Identify your top 25 mid-level donors and create a basic cultivation plan for the next quarter. Track your activities. Measure engagement and retention. Learn what works for your specific donor base. Then scale your program based on those insights.

Remember that mid-level donors aren't just a pipeline to major gifts. They're valuable supporters who deserve recognition, meaningful engagement, and opportunities to deepen their impact on their own terms. When you approach mid-level donor cultivation with this mindset, you'll build a foundation of sustainable support that serves your mission for years to come.

The middle matters more than many nonprofits realize. It's time to give mid-level donors the strategic attention they deserve