Everything we know about her is in Sam's head
Your head of philanthropy has built relationships with a handful of generous supporters and a couple of family trusts. The history of each one sits across Sam's email threads, their calendar, a notebook from the lunch last spring and some notes in a Word file on their laptop. The CRM holds the gifts and an address, and not much else.
Sam hands in their notice. In the last fortnight there is a scramble to write handover notes. The new person inherits a list of names and a few paragraphs each, and one supporter is surprised to receive a generic appeal after being told her next gift would fund a named project.
Why major donor notes never reach the database
Major donor work is conversation, and conversation happens in email, meetings and on the phone. The database asks for forms to be filled in afterwards, which is exactly when the fundraiser has moved on to the next thing.
- Logging a contact in the CRM takes several screens and feels like admin, not fundraising.
- The important detail is qualitative: interests, family events, what they said about a project.
- Pledges and verbal commitments are agreed in conversation and not written down formally.
- Trusts and foundations have their own timelines that are tracked in personal calendars.
- The chief executive and trustees also hold relationships, and their contacts never get logged at all.
The issue is friction. If recording a contact is harder than sending an email, it will not be recorded.
What happens when the history is missing
Relationships with major donors depend on continuity: remembering what matters to them, what they were told and what was promised. When that is lost, the supporter feels like a stranger, and the gift that was being discussed may not happen.
Even without staff changes, a missing record means the charity cannot see its pipeline. Nobody knows which asks are pending, which pledges are due, or which relationships have gone quiet. Trustees asking about philanthropy income get a guess.
How we build the donor relationship record
- We connect to Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace so that emails and meetings with known major donors are linked to their record automatically, with the fundraiser's consent and under rules you set.
- After a meeting ends, the fundraiser gets a short prompt: two or three lines on what was discussed and the next step, which can be typed or dictated.
- Where helpful, a language model summarises a long email thread into a few lines for the record, which the fundraiser checks before saving.
- Asks, pledges and conditions are recorded as items with a status and an expected date, not buried in notes.
- A pipeline view shows each relationship, the last contact, the next step, and anything overdue.
- Contacts made by the chief executive or trustees can be logged from a simple form or by forwarding an email to a dedicated address.
- Everything is written to your CRM, such as Salesforce or Raiser's Edge, where it has an API, so there is still one supporter record.
| What happens | What is captured | Effort from the fundraiser |
|---|---|---|
| Lunch meeting in the calendar | Date, attendees, prompt for notes | Two or three lines afterwards |
| Long email thread about a project | Suggested summary for approval | Read and confirm |
| Verbal pledge for next year | Pledge item with amount and date | One short form |
| Trustee meets a donor at an event | Contact logged by forwarded email | Forward one message |
Private matters shared by supporters should only be recorded in line with your own data policy, and the prompts are designed to capture what is useful, not everything that was said.
How philanthropy work runs afterwards
Sam's successor, when the time comes, opens each supporter's record and reads a clear history: meetings, summaries, what was promised and what is pending. The head of fundraising can see the pipeline without asking for a spreadsheet. The chief executive knows, before a dinner, what the charity last discussed with the guest beside them.
Fundraisers spend a couple of minutes after each contact rather than an afternoon catching up on the database every month.
Recognise this in your fundraising team?
- Major donor history lives in one person's inbox or notebook.
- Handover notes are written in a rush when someone leaves.
- Pledges are agreed verbally and not recorded anywhere formal.
- Nobody can see the philanthropy pipeline at a glance.
- Trustee and chief executive contacts with donors go unrecorded.