Opinion | Don’t Be So Quick to Reject the Gift Pyramid
October 4, 2023 | Read Time: 2 minutes
To the Editor:
Drew Lindsay’s article, “The Donor Pyramid May Be Bad for Giving. Can We Do Better?” (September 6), provided helpful insights to reduce fundraisers’ focus on big gifts and engage more small gift donors. However, it conflated two different things: One is an unhealthy culture focused on a small group of wealthy supporters, while the other is a tool that can help guide strategy.
Any organization whose relationships are “based on the gifts as opposed to the humans,” as described in the piece by Jen Love of the Agents for Good consultancy, is an unhealthy culture whether or not it uses a gift pyramid. A gift pyramid does not prevent an organization from “showing appreciation to all donors, regardless of their gift size” as Joe Peacock, chief philanthropy officer at the Cincinnati Opera, stated.
These two calls for thoughtful donor engagement are good examples for any development office to adopt and unrelated to the use of a gift pyramid, table, or chart.
A gift pyramid is simply a tool: Like a hammer, it’s useful when properly applied but damaging to an organization’s culture when misused.
We tell our clients that the gift pyramid is descriptive: It illustrates a pathway for arriving at a fundraising goal and provides the metrics needed to measure progress. It is neither restrictive nor prescriptive. As observed by another development director quoted in the piece — Yvette Guigueno of the Pacific Opera Victoria — the final tally may be quite different from the gifts illustrated in the chart. Like any journey, it may include detours and side trips, but setting out with a clear destination in mind keeps the journey on track.
The gift pyramid must also be used alongside other tools, including inclusive measures of donor engagement, creative ways of acknowledging gifts, and thoughtful approaches to people management.
It’s worth noting that the gift chart has been a basic fundraising practice since at least the 1940s — earlier than the article cited. Harold J. “Si” Seymour described the “gift table” and its use in the earliest modern fundraising campaigns in his 1966 book “Designs for Fundraising.” The gift pyramid must reflect modern influences, such as wealth distribution and inclusive engagement. But let’s adapt, not discard this helpful tool.
Laura MacDonald, CFRE
Principal and Founder
Benefactor Group
