Large Individual Donor Model Tipsheet

What is the Large Individual Donors Model?

The Large Individual Donors Model involves building relationships with High Networth Individuals (HNIs) and Ultra High Networth Individuals (UHNIs) who have the capacity to make large philanthropic contributions (donations). Tapping into these types of donors involves a personalized approach and consistent engagement.

Key features of this model include:

Targeted Networking Strategy: Tapping into existing networks and/or building new ones that help provide connections to and interface with HNIs and UHNIs.
Personalized Engagement: Tailored communication strategy to build trust, develop a deep understanding of the donor’s interests, and clearly surface alignment of shared values and impact focus.

Two additional possible features of this model

Philanthropic Foundations: Many large individual donors manage their philanthropy through private foundations, i.e. the foundation is responsible for managing and disbursing their large donations.
Impact Investment: Some HNIs/UHNIs prefer to make strategic investments that generate both social and financial returns, known as impact investments.

When Should Your Organization Consider This Model?

Access to Influential Networks: Your organization has access to networks where you can connect with HNIs/UHNIs. This could be through your organization’s board members, advisory circles, existing donors, or any supporters/champions you might have in the community.
Capacity to Develop Long-term Relationships: Your organization has the necessary resources and capacity at the leadership team level to engage in building relationships over time.
Presence of HNIs/UHNIs: There is a presence of wealthy individuals and families in your community/region as well as a culture of making philanthropic contributions among them. Your mission and projects align with the specific philanthropic interests of the HNIs/UHNIs you are targeting, making it easier to demonstrate the impact of their contribution.
Professional Fundraising Expertise: Your team has experience in high-level fundraising or has the skillset to manage the complexity of engaging with HNIs/UHNIs. This includes top notch communication skills, ability to craft a persuasive narrative about your work, tailored proposal development, and ability to manage long-term donor relationships.

What Are Six Steps You Can Take to Establish This Model?

Identify target donors: Research HNIs/UHNIs who have demonstrated philanthropic interests aligned with your mission. You can do this by:
1. Reaching within your current network to identify influential and connected individuals.
2. Research other organizations that might have received funding from large individual donors to identify their funders.
3. In some regions/communities, organizations can use different online prospect research databases to identify donors or consulting firms and services that connect donors to nonprofits/community causes.
Build a Convincing Narrative: Strong storytelling and narrative is essential to attract and engage HNIs/UHNIs. Through your storytelling you can effectively demonstrate the potential value and impact that can be created through their donation. Tailoring your approach to their interests and goals can increase the chances of successful engagement. You can do this by developing narrative materials (website, pitch decks, short introductory and visual reports) that connect your organization’s work with the donor’s interests. Highlight your impact, the uniqueness of your approach, and how donor support can make a significant difference.
Establish Initial Contact: Leverage connections within your network that can help make a direct introduction to an HNI/UHNI. In some cases, you might to go through a few degrees of connections and multiple introductions to get connected to your target donor(s). If the philanthropic work of the HNI/UHNI is being directed through a foundation, you should keep the following in mind:
1. Often the foundation has a small team and the HNI/UHNI is involved in its day-to-day functioning. Your engagement and networking strategy would still be targeted at building a relationship directly with the HNI/UHNI.
2. In cases where the foundation is a large institution with a significant team, the engagement strategy needs to be focused on the foundation’s staff that is more directly involved with the allocation and disbursement of funding.
3. Through the initial meeting you can learn more about the donor’s goals, share more about your work, and explore areas of collaboration. The first 1-2 meetings should provide you a good sense of whether this donor is going to be aligned with your organization’s mission (mission-aligned).
Conduct your own Due Diligence on the Prospective Donor: At this stage, before committing more time and resources to building this relationship, your organization should conduct your own due diligence on the donor. The goal of this due diligence will be to identify any potential risks to your organization of engaging with this donor and/or accepting their contribution. Potential risks may include deception and scam where the donor is not who they say they are; donor is involved in, or their wealth comes from unethical activities that counter your organization’s mission; donor has a negative reputation which could paint your organization in a negative light.
Develop and Nurture the Relationship: Once you have identified and connected with mission-aligned donors, ongoing relationship-building is key to securing long-term support from HNIs/UHNIs. You can do this by providing regular updates about your work, sharing invitations to key events, etc. This can help build trust while helping them learn more about your organization’s mission and work. Through these interactions, you can also better understand the donor’s motivations and expectations regarding their philanthropic involvement.
Create Tailored Proposals and Follow-up: Based on what you learn, develop a bespoke proposal that aligns with the donor’s interests, addresses what they care about, and specifies the impact their contribution will make. At the same time, it should be grounded in your community’s needs and your organization’s mission and approach. Be transparent about how the funds will be used, provide clear outcomes, and discuss how you will maintain ongoing communications with them.

Additional Resources on Large Individual Donor Model

Resources on Large Individual Donor Model in India

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What is the Large Individual Donors Model?

Key features of this model include:

Targeted Networking Strategy: Tapping into existing networks and/or building new ones that help provide connections to and interface with HNIs and UHNIs.

Personalized Engagement: Tailored communication strategy to build trust, develop a deep understanding of the donor’s interests, and clearly surface alignment of shared values and impact focus.

Two additional possible features of this model

Philanthropic Foundations: Many large individual donors manage their philanthropy through private foundations, i.e. the foundation is responsible for managing and disbursing their large donations.

Impact Investment: Some HNIs/UHNIs prefer to make strategic investments that generate both social and financial returns, known as impact investments.

When Should Your Organization Consider This Model?

Access to Influential Networks: Your organization has access to networks where you can connect with HNIs/UHNIs. This could be through your organization’s board members, advisory circles, existing donors, or any supporters/champions you might have in the community.

Capacity to Develop Long-term Relationships: Your organization has the necessary resources and capacity at the leadership team level to engage in building relationships over time.

Presence of HNIs/UHNIs: There is a presence of wealthy individuals and families in your community/region as well as a culture of making philanthropic contributions among them. Your mission and projects align with the specific philanthropic interests of the HNIs/UHNIs you are targeting, making it easier to demonstrate the impact of their contribution.

Professional Fundraising Expertise: Your team has experience in high-level fundraising or has the skillset to manage the complexity of engaging with HNIs/UHNIs. This includes top notch communication skills, ability to craft a persuasive narrative about your work, tailored proposal development, and ability to manage long-term donor relationships.

What Are Six Steps You Can Take to Establish This Model?

Identify target donors: Research HNIs/UHNIs who have demonstrated philanthropic interests aligned with your mission. You can do this by:

Reaching within your current network to identify influential and connected individuals.
Research other organizations that might have received funding from large individual donors to identify their funders.
In some regions/communities, organizations can use different online prospect research databases to identify donors or consulting firms and services that connect donors to nonprofits/community causes.

Build a Convincing Narrative: Strong storytelling and narrative is essential to attract and engage HNIs/UHNIs. Through your storytelling you can effectively demonstrate the potential value and impact that can be created through their donation. Tailoring your approach to their interests and goals can increase the chances of successful engagement. You can do this by developing narrative materials (website, pitch decks, short introductory and visual reports) that connect your organization’s work with the donor’s interests. Highlight your impact, the uniqueness of your approach, and how donor support can make a significant difference.

Establish Initial Contact: Leverage connections within your network that can help make a direct introduction to an HNI/UHNI. In some cases, you might to go through a few degrees of connections and multiple introductions to get connected to your target donor(s). If the philanthropic work of the HNI/UHNI is being directed through a foundation, you should keep the following in mind:

Often the foundation has a small team and the HNI/UHNI is involved in its day-to-day functioning. Your engagement and networking strategy would still be targeted at building a relationship directly with the HNI/UHNI.
In cases where the foundation is a large institution with a significant team, the engagement strategy needs to be focused on the foundation’s staff that is more directly involved with the allocation and disbursement of funding.
Through the initial meeting you can learn more about the donor’s goals, share more about your work, and explore areas of collaboration. The first 1-2 meetings should provide you a good sense of whether this donor is going to be aligned with your organization’s mission (mission-aligned).

Conduct your own Due Diligence on the Prospective Donor: At this stage, before committing more time and resources to building this relationship, your organization should conduct your own due diligence on the donor. The goal of this due diligence will be to identify any potential risks to your organization of engaging with this donor and/or accepting their contribution. Potential risks may include deception and scam where the donor is not who they say they are; donor is involved in, or their wealth comes from unethical activities that counter your organization’s mission; donor has a negative reputation which could paint your organization in a negative light.

Develop and Nurture the Relationship: Once you have identified and connected with mission-aligned donors, ongoing relationship-building is key to securing long-term support from HNIs/UHNIs. You can do this by providing regular updates about your work, sharing invitations to key events, etc. This can help build trust while helping them learn more about your organization’s mission and work. Through these interactions, you can also better understand the donor’s motivations and expectations regarding their philanthropic involvement.

Create Tailored Proposals and Follow-up: Based on what you learn, develop a bespoke proposal that aligns with the donor’s interests, addresses what they care about, and specifies the impact their contribution will make. At the same time, it should be grounded in your community’s needs and your organization’s mission and approach. Be transparent about how the funds will be used, provide clear outcomes, and discuss how you will maintain ongoing communications with them.

Additional Resources on Large Individual Donor Model

.Donor Due Diligence. An example of CAF (Charities Aid Foundation).

Ultra-High Net Worth Philanthropy 2024, Altrata. A report providing an overview of UHNI philanthropy globally – how they donate, what areas/themes they are focused on, etc.

Effectively Prospecting the Ultra Wealthy, Altrata. This report provides specific strategies around three principles: Discover, Research, and Engage, to help turn hard-to-reach prospects into long-term clients or donors through meaningful and strategic interactions.

Private Philanthropy for Development, OECD Centre for Philanthropy. A high- level databased report that analyzes philanthropic contributions by geography, sector, and thematic areas. to learn more about global trends in philanthropy.

Series of Reports Analyzing philanthropic trends across some Countries – from OECD Centre for Philanthropy; from Bain and Company; from OECD Centre for Philanthropy; from OECD Centre for Philanthropy; from OECD Centre for Philanthropy.

Resources on Large Individual Donor Model in India

Indian NGO Fundraising Bright Spots Report: Lifting-up What Works in Raising Money from Individuals in India, Samhita and UC Berkeley. This report explores successful fundraising strategies used by Indian NGOs, highlighting innovative approaches and key factors that have contributed to their financial resilience and sustainability. It also features case studies of Indian NGOs that have achieved fundraising success through community engagement, corporate partnerships, and leveraging local resources to build sustainable financial models. .

India Philanthropy Report 2024, Bain & Company. This report examines the current state and trends of private philanthropy in India as well as current gaps and challenges. .

Wealth With Purpose: A Report on Private Indian Philanthropy, AIP and BCG. This report explores the motivations, challenges, and strategies of ultra-high-net-worth individuals in India and provides insights into the diverse philanthropic archetypes. .