Asking for $1,000 – the Circle Way

10 Mar Asking for $1,000 – the Circle Way

11 March 2025

By David Allen, Development for Conservation

I have come to believe that $100 is pocket change, more or less. It’s a very common withdrawal amount from an ATM for those of us still using cash at all.

$250 is not pocket change. It’s a threshold amount that many people use unconsciously as a “serious” number. They can afford it (it’s $20/month), but it’s not an amount that is spent casually.

And $1,000 ($20/week) is an amount that many feel they can’t afford at least in part because of all the $1,000-per-year things they don’t think about anymore – cell phones, internet service, cable TV, gasoline, alcohol, and so on.

I don’t wish to get into a debate about what people can or can’t afford. For most it comes down to an issue of personal values. “I’m deciding not to give $1,000 to the land trust because I am deciding to spend that money on something else.” OR – “I’m deciding to give $1,000 to the land trust because land conservation is one of my personal priorities. It’s consistent with my personal values.”

To put it bluntly: Many people could give $1,000 if they wanted to badly enough. And some do! When the right project comes along, many $100 and $250 donors give $1,000, $2,000, and even $5,000 or more to see it happen.

The challenge for conservation organizations is to find people who can and help them want to badly enough even when there isn’t a sexy project hanging in the balance. To find the reason that they might say YES to support the mission – to leave their gifts unrestricted.

For many organizations, donor circles have answered that challenge.

Many of us believe that it is critically important to conserve nature, protect wildlife and habitat, support local farms and farmers, strengthen climate resilience, and create access to the outdoors for everybody. We are supporting the work of the land trust through our committed gifts of $1,000 and more as members of the ______________ Circle (Club, Society, or similar).

Please join us.

I wrote last week about not naming all of your organization’s giving levels (See You Don’t Need to Name Giving Levels!). When you avoid this trap, you open the door for naming and carefully branding just a few of them.

For example, one starting at $1,000.

For many of us, $1,000 is a large gift, so it seems natural to want to see it restricted to a specific project or program. Donor circles encourage members to give relatively large sums of money, leave their gifts unrestricted, and expect an annual renewal.

Donor circles work because they offer the social equity that comes with being associated with people donors know and respect socially. According to David Landsdowne in his book, The Relentlessly Practical Guide to Raising Serious Money, “psychology has always played an incalculable role in fundraising”, and the reason donor circles work is purely psychological. “They fulfill a host of human desires and needs, not the least of which are our need to feel connected and our desire to be treated special.”

For most organizations, I recommend creating five donor circles, each with its own independent branding, materials, and activities.

• $365
• $1,000
• $10,000
• Monthly Donors
• Legacy Donors

If you don’t have any of these yet, consider taking it slowly.

Year 1 – simply remove all of the names you DO have and leave just the dollar amounts. I would also prioritize breathing life into your Legacy Circle right away.

Year 2 – Introduce the $1,000 donor circle with some fanfare, and tell those who give that thehy are “founding members.” I would also create a donor circle for monthly giving, perhaps with a minimum threshold of $20/month.

Year 3 –Bring in a circle at $365.

Some years later – Save the $10,000 circle for a time when you have at least 8-10 donors already giving at that level.

Donor Circles work best when the members themselves know each other and reinforce each other’s decisions to give, and keep giving, at that level. Best practices include:

• Assigning an annual “Host” or program chair (who could be a director). Ask that person to sign the solicitation letters and call those who do join or renew. In this way, donors are being asked to join “us” by a current Circle member instead of being asked to join “it” by the organization. I do not think the same person should be called upon to host more than two years running – you don’t want the program to become too closely identified with a single person.
• Including a list of current members in the solicitation and renewal letter packages. If your organization doesn’t already publish annual lists of donors including a range that starts at $1,000, I do not recommend starting one. But including a list of current donors when you are soliciting other donors will help drive results. Those who are new will be impressed by the number of current donors and anyone they recognize. Those who are renewing will enjoy finding their own names.
• Hosting at least one event every year to which ONLY circle members are invited. This could be a dinner, or a special field trip. It could feature someone who has benefitted from one of the programs or a landowner having made the decision to protect their property. Make it interesting. Make it fun.

One final point: the people already making $1,000 annual unrestricted gifts probably don’t need a donor circle to keep renewing. Donor circles create a reason for those giving far less to make the leap and an opportunity for current donors to influence them. For most organizations, asking people now giving $250-999 to start giving $1,000, and giving them a strong reason to do so, is the lowest hanging fruit available.

There are more people than you might think who can afford it. They simply haven’t been asked.

Cheers and Have a Good Week!

-da

PS: Your comments on these posts are welcomed and warmly requested. If you have not posted a comment before, or if you are using a new email address, please know that there may be a delay in seeing your posted comment. That’s my SPAM defense at work. I approve all comments as soon as I am able during the day.

Photo by didier aires courtesy of Pixabay