Of the 201 UK charities that completed the Major Donor Scorecard by June 2026, 56% hold a database of all their supporters, past and present. Only 24% have a prioritised list of potential donors, and 52% said they do not have one.
A database records everyone who has been in touch with you. A prospect list records the people you have decided to approach, with a reason and a next step for each. Most charities have the first and are waiting for the second to appear after the next piece of research, or the next screening report. It will not appear by itself, because it is a decision, and you can make it in an afternoon.
Source: Major Donor Scorecard, 201 UK charities, June 2024 to June 2026.
What makes a name a prospect
A name becomes a prospect when you can say why this person might give a major gift to your charity, and how you would reach them. That needs evidence of three things: they could afford to give, they care about your cause, and you have a way in.
I have written about how to score each name on capacity, commitment and connection, so I will not repeat it here. This post is about the work around the scoring: how you get from a long list to a short one, and what the short one has to look like before anyone can act on it.
How to build a major donor prospect list in three stages
Start by writing down what a major gift is for your charity. Every stage refers back to that number.
Stage one: remove. Take out anyone you cannot contact, anyone who has asked you to stop, and anyone who has died. Your database almost certainly holds a few of each.
Stage two: look for one sign of capacity. Keep the names where you can find a single sign that they could give at your level. Giving at or near your major gift level is the clearest. A senior job title, a directorship on Companies House or a postcode in a wealthier area are others. The Office for National Statistics publishes average house prices and earnings by area for free, so you can sort the areas from high to low and match them against the postcodes on your database. Screening tools do this faster and they are excellent if you can afford one, but you can make a start without one.
Stage three: score what is left. You should now have a list short enough to score by hand. Score each name on the 3 Cs, add up the three scores and take the top twenty. If two names tie, take the one with the higher connection score.
None of this needs a screening budget, and a screening report does not do stage three for you. It adds more information about more names, and someone still has to decide which twenty to approach.
What each of the twenty needs next to it
Use one row per person. Each row holds their score, the evidence behind it in a single sentence, who at your charity can reach them, the next step, who owns that step and the date it is due.
The next step is a specific action. Asking your chair to introduce you to a named person is one. Phoning someone who has given regularly for two years, to thank them and tell them what their gifts have paid for, is another. “Research further” is not a next step.
Where a name has no route in at all, my advice on how to approach a major donor you have no connection to covers the first contact.
Set a review date for the sheet and put it in the diary now. At the review, mark each step as done or not done, and move anyone whose score has changed.
Where to find names when your database is thin
Some charities start with almost no database. These are the places I suggest looking.
Your own supporters who give a modest amount, and the people who have signed up to your newsletter. Both have already chosen you.
Your local community foundation. Individual donors often give through it, and the foundation will know who they are.
The society pages of your county magazine. The same faces appear at every charity event.
The annual conference for your cause. Philanthropists who care about it tend to attend.
Each name you find goes through the same three stages.
A prospect list of twenty with a score, a reason, a next step and a date is something your team can act on this week, and most of it can be built from what you already hold.
Get from a long list to twenty names with a plan
Build your Pipeline is a twelve-week programme with a named consultant. You finish with your supporters ranked, a route in mapped for each prospect and a written pipeline plan for who to approach first.