Last updated October 7, 2026
A mid-level donor program is a dedicated effort to cultivate the donors between your annual fund and your major gift portfolio. They give too much to be treated like everyone else on the mailing list, but not yet enough to be assigned to a major gift officer, so in most organizations nobody is responsible for them.
A good program identifies those donors, assigns each one to a person who builds the relationship, and asks for an upgrade only after that relationship is in place. Catapult's Donor Engagement program does this through an 8-stage journey with a dedicated Engagement Officer, and clients typically see 20-30% average gift growth at renewal.
The other payoff is the pipeline. Mid-level donors are where your future major and planned gifts come from, and a program that knows them by name hands your major gift team warm, qualified prospects instead of cold names from a wealth screen.
Catapult service
Mid-level donor engagement. Catapult's 8-stage Donor Engagement program assigns an Engagement Officer to your mid-level donors and builds a qualified major gift pipeline.
Who counts as a mid-level donor
There is no universal dollar range. The right definition depends on your file: the band above your typical annual fund gift and below the level where your major gift officers start a relationship. Wealth screening and giving-pattern analysis help find donors in that band who have more capacity than their giving shows, along with loyal donors who have given consistently for years.
How to build a mid-level donor program
- Identify and prioritize the segment using giving history and wealth screening.
- Review the list with your team so nobody already in a major gift portfolio is contacted twice.
- Introduce the program with a personal letter from leadership.
- Assign each donor to one person who calls, listens, and learns what the donor cares about before any ask.
- Ask for a specific upgrade tied to the donor's area of interest.
- Fulfill, thank, and report quickly, then keep stewarding between asks.
- Pass donors who show major gift interest to your major gift team.
Mid-level donor program vs. a major gift officer
A major gift officer manages a portfolio of donors who are already identified as major gift prospects. A mid-level program works one tier below that, finding and warming up the donors who are not yet in any portfolio. The two work best together: the mid-level program feeds the major gift portfolio rather than competing with it.
Start with loyalty, not just wealth
Your most consistent donors are often your best mid-level and legacy prospects, even when a wealth screen does not flag them. Our free Donor Loyalty Assessment is a quick way to see how many loyal donors are sitting in your file without anyone assigned to them.
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