Insights from CBA’s Coffee Chat Webinar on Mid-Level Giving. Watch the full webinar below, or read on for the key takeaways.

Most nonprofits spend their energy chasing major donors at the top of the pyramid or converting first-time donors at the bottom. But there’s a powerful group hiding in the middle, and the data suggests they’re being significantly underloved. At a recent Carl Bloom Associates Coffee Chat webinar, fundraising experts Christina McPhillips, VP of Client Partnerships at Carl Bloom Associates, and Carlyn Schulzke, Advancement Specialist based in Missoula, Montana, shared a practical playbook for identifying, cultivating, and stewarding mid-level donors. Here’s what every nonprofit fundraiser needs to know.

What Is Mid-Level Giving, and Why Should You Care?

A single dollar amount doesn’t define mid-level giving. It’s relative to your organization. A practical way to find your mid-level range: pull a report of all gifts over the last two years and divide them into three equal segments by amount. That middle third is your mid-level. For most nonprofits, this falls roughly in the $1,000-$10,000 range, though it could be $500–$7,000 for some and $5,000–$12,000 for others.

Here’s what makes this group so important: mid-level donors represent just 3–7% of your active file, yet they generate 35–40% of your total revenue — a figure corroborated by Giving USA, which found that for many organizations mid-level donors account for 35%+ of annual giving revenue while making up roughly 5% of the donor population. They’re giving significantly more than your average annual donor, but they’re often managed with the same generic mass communications. The Association of Fundraising Professionals has called them “the most under-leveraged segment in the file.” That’s a missed opportunity of enormous proportions.

The Numbers That Should Change How You Operate

A few statistics from the webinar, each backed by independent research, that are worth saving:

• 50% of first-time mid-level donors are making their very first gift at that level, but they’ve known about your organization for years, often having attended events or volunteered before. (Sea Change Strategies, “The Missing Middle: A Cross-Vertical Study of Midlevel Donors”)
• Mid-level donors are 89–90% likely to give the following year again, making stewardship the single highest-ROI activity you can invest in. (Sea Change Strategies, “The Missing Middle: A Cross-Vertical Study of Midlevel Donors”)
• Recurring donors, a significant subset of mid-level supporters, have an average donor lifetime of over 8 years, compared to just 1.68 years for non-recurring donors. (Giving USA, “Building a Resiliant Nonprofit: The Impact of Recurring Donors Explained”)
• Only 13% of mid-level donors have ever made a gift of $10,000 or more, underscoring that mid-level is a final destination for most — not a stepping stone. (Sea Change Strategies, “The Missing Middle: A Cross-Vertical Study of Midlevel Donors”)
• Notably, 52% of mid-level donors give to the same cause for over a decade, reflecting deep and durable loyalty. (360MatchPro Fundraising Statistics, 2026)

As Christina put it: “Whether they plateau at mid-level giving, there’s still a lot of room to grow that relationship and that donor’s involvement with your organization.”

Step One: Know Who’s Already in Your Pipeline

Before you can build a mid-level program, you need to know who your mid-level donors are. That starts inside your own database; no expensive wealth-screening software required.

Carlyn recommends pulling a report covering the last 3–5 years and looking for:

• Donors giving multiple gifts in a single year, especially if those gifts are increasing in size
• Donors who give every time they receive a touchpoint from you: a newsletter, a thank-you card, a mailing. This is a green flag.
• Donors sending seemingly random gifts throughout the year often signal a high emotional investment in your mission.
• Year-over-year cumulative giving increases, even if each gift looks small

Beyond your database, layer in free external research: Google searches, LinkedIn profiles, board memberships, bios from other organization websites, and yes, other nonprofits’ annual reports. Suppose your donor appears in a giving range at another organization, which tells you something meaningful about their capacity. Even checking Zillow for home values can add color (with the caveat that real estate doesn’t always equal liquid wealth).

Step Two: Build and Manage Your Portfolio

Once you’ve identified potential mid-level donors, the next step is building a manageable portfolio. The sweet spot, according to the webinar, is 30 to 50 active, high-touch prospects per staff member, broken out into 1-, 2-, and 3-year expected cultivation timelines.

More than 50 becomes unmanageable, leading to surface-level outreach. Fewer than 30 creates too much attrition risk without a backlog ready to fill empty spots.

And the golden rule from Carlyn: “If it’s not in the database, it didn’t happen.” Every phone call, email, voicemail, event invite, and research note belongs in your CRM. Development has high turnover; logging your touchpoints protects both the relationship and the next person who picks it up.

Six Strategies to Cultivate Mid-Level Donors

Christina and Carlyn walked through six concrete, actionable strategies any organization can implement:

1. Pull a Monthly Multi-Gift Report

Review your donor database monthly to identify repeat givers and track giving behavior. Look at the number of gifts, recency, first-ever gift amount, and trend direction: are they upgrading, renewing, or downgrading? Each category gets a different response. Upgraders get regular high-touch outreach. Renewers get newsletters, phone calls, and event invites. Downgraders get a phone call; leave a voicemail —it’s perfectly fine—and a handwritten card.

2. Own the Outreach with Confidence

Here’s something Christina said that every fundraiser needs to hear: “If a donor is giving to your organization, you are likely one of their top three favorite nonprofits.” They are not overwhelmed by your outreach. They care about your mission. Walk into every conversation with that confidence, and don’t pull back on communication out of fear of bothering them.

3. Use Events as a Mid-Level Cultivation Tool

Don’t just use events to raise money. Budget for 6 to 10 complimentary tickets at your annual gala or signature event, and use them strategically — call your top mid-level prospects personally and invite them as your guest, along with a friend. That one-on-one touch, that feeling of being specially invited, is extraordinarily powerful and costs you very little relative to the relationship value it creates.

4. Balance High-Touch and Light-Touch Moves

Not every interaction needs to be a major ask or a sit-down meeting. Think of your outreach in two tiers:

• High-touch: Coffee meetings, building tours, VIP event invitations, personal calls from your Executive Director
• Light-touch: Handwritten thank-you notes, impact newsletters, photos or drawings from program participants, text messages

Both types reinforce that the donor is seen, valued, and connected to the work their giving makes possible.

5. Try the 3-Touch-in-9-Days Strategy

For donors you’ve been struggling to engage, try a more structured approach: three meaningful contacts across nine days, using different channels. For example: an email, a phone call with voicemail, and a handwritten note with your business card. The goal isn’t to pressure anyone; it’s to get a yes or a no. Both are useful. A yes opens the relationship; a no lets you redirect your energy. As Carlyn put it: “A no is my second favorite answer!” Keep this approach for warm prospects, people who have given recently or attended events, not brand-new or recently lapsed donors.

6. Develop a Formal Mid-Level Giving Program

The most impactful thing you can do is stop treating mid-level donors as if they were annual fund donors who happen to give more. Create a dedicated program with its own identity: a special newsletter, curated event invitations, exclusive impact reports, and unique stewardship experiences. When mid-level donors feel they belong to something meaningful, they stay, and they tell their friends.

A Self-Assessment to Start Right Now

Before anything else, take stock of where you are. Christina’s four key takeaways from the webinar as a starting checklist:

• Evaluate your file: What percentage of your donors are mid-level? What percentage of your revenue comes from them? Know your numbers.
• Pull a monthly gift report: Identify repeat givers and potential mid-level prospects hiding in your annual fund.
• Trim your portfolio: Build a workable list of 30 to 50 donors for focused, high-touch engagement.
• Test the 3-and-9 strategy: Start with 8 to 10 people and see what kind of responses you get. A no is fine. A yes is gold.

The donors are already in your database. They’ve already raised their hand. They need to be treated like the extraordinary supporters they are.