Q: Is the definition of mega gifts (>.1% of total giving in a given year) applied to our organization’s total giving to define what we would consider a mega gift?
A: Good question – Giving USA’s definition is based on 0.1% of total U.S. giving in a particular year—not of total giving to any one organization. This definition is interesting for tracking the growth of mega giving at the macro scale, but not a relevant framework for thinking about what a mega gift looks like for your organization. Some better questions to ask yourself might be: What kind of lead gift would you need to anchor a viable gift table for your next campaign (e.g. $1M to anchor a $5M campaign)? What is the “next level up” if you reached 2x, 5x, or even 10x beyond the largest gift you’ve ever received?
Q: Where do donor advised funds show up in the pie chart? DAFs show up under Individuals on the pie chart – as the donor gets “credit” when they fund the DAF.
A: If you look at another Giving USA chart that shows the recipients of the philanthropy – DAFs show up mostly under Public/Society Benefit because the “outflow” comes from the DAF holding institution (similar to United Way).
Q: Are Canadian statistics similar to U.S. for the stats you shared?
A: Good question – I don’t know. Anecdotally – Canadian households give higher than the 1.8% of their income seen in American households – but I don’t have the data to document that.
Q: Are there any statistics around how many of the increased megagifts/total giving are a result of legacy giving?
A: Giving USA looks at that data very closely, and while it varies from year to year – in 2023 $42B was given in bequests, a significant number of these gifts were at 8-figures and above, and $12B was given by individuals as mega gifts to single institutions.
Q: Since Baby Boomers are starting to age and pass, I assume that means larger gifts from less people
A: Yes – and they are distributing their wealth to their kids which means, in many cases, that the wealth is spread out to more people, who are holding on to it as their kids grow up.
Q: Right now, market uncertainty is the gorilla in the room. How will bequests be shaped when portfolios are down by half?
A: I remember 2008 and the hesitancy of major donors at that time. We are starting to see that hesitancy as well with mid-capacity donors who are not confident in their ability to fund their retirement. We anticipate that some people will thrive during this uncertain time and build their wealth – the secret sauce will be to engage them around the important issues.
Q: Is part of the decline the change tax reporting, standard deduction vs. itemized deduction? I used to itemize, but now we use the standard deduction, so we don’t report our giving on our taxes anymore, but our giving hasn’t changed.
A: It was assumed that this would be impactful but most donors report that they haven’t changed their philanthropy because of the change in tax codes.
Q: Elevating reputation and visibility can be both benefit and risk – how do you live up to that reputation with limited staff?
A: Fantastic and really important question! This is a huge organizational planning and strategy question. At a high level, elevate your reputation through stories that demonstrate the value of your work at the individual level. Pick 3 key strategies and do them really well. Don’t “spread the peanut butter too thin” – do the most impactful things you can and focus on them.
Q: If you aren’t actively in campaign, how often does the organization cultivate a mega gift that may not involve a set case statement?
A: Let’s unpack the relationship between “the case” and the proposal here a bit. Mega (and many major gifts) are solicited using tailored individual proposals—and often the bigger the gift, the more tailored the proposal. It’s easier to pull that material together quickly and well if you already have a solid case for support to draw from, but you can certainly create something from scratch—and as you note, this is probably more common outside of campaigns. Whether you’re creating a general-use case or a highly specific proposal, the elements we talked about in the webinar are the core building blocks to focus on.
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