A tiny fraction of your donor base is carrying your budget. Just 5% of donors gave $1,000 or more cumulatively throughout the year, but those supporters generated 40% of total online revenue. At the same time, the smallest gifts under $25 represented 10% of all donations but delivered only 1% of revenue.
This isn't about chasing major gifts. The $1,000+ threshold includes donors who gave $500 twice or made multiple smaller gifts that added up. These are committed supporters showing their loyalty through cumulative giving, not necessarily wealthy donors writing single large checks.
Why it matters
Your donation form may treat all donors the same, but your revenue doesn't come from all donors equally. The concentration at the top means that modest improvements in how you serve your highest-value 5% can dramatically impact your bottom line, while obsessing over optimizing $25 gifts yields minimal returns.
This creates a strategic question: are you investing 40% of your donor stewardship energy on the 5% generating 40% of revenue?
Do this
Segment your donor file by cumulative annual giving, not single gift size, to identify your true high-value supporters who may be giving $200 four times instead of $1,000 once. Create dedicated cultivation tracks for donors approaching the $1,000 threshold to encourage that next gift. Track the percentage of revenue from your top 5% quarterly as a key performance indicator, because shifts in this number signal fundamental changes in donor loyalty before they show up in total revenue.