Building a Resilient Major Gifts Portfolio in a Volatile Market
Scaling Major Gifts. Strategies, action steps, and ideas for scaling major gifts by Tammy Zonker, Major Gift Expert & Keynote Speaker.
If the last few years have taught us anything, it’s that volatility is the new normal.
Economic shifts, elections, new tax policies, and donor fatigue. It all ripples through philanthropy faster than ever.
That means a portfolio that looked strong last year could quietly be sitting on real risk this year.
Let’s talk about how to build a resilient major gifts portfolio, one that can bend with market change without breaking your organization’s momentum.
What to focus on next week
1. Assess your donor concentration.
In every portfolio assessment I do, I ask one simple question: If your top three donors paused giving this year, how much pain would that cause?
If the answer is “a lot,” you have plenty of company, but that also signals fragility. Concentration risk is real. When more than 40% of giving comes from a handful of donors, your program becomes exposed to the volatility of a few lives, industries, or decisions.
2. Map your portfolio by sector and geography.
Don’t just track gift amounts. Map where your donors’ wealth comes from. Are they mostly tied to real estate, healthcare, or tech? What happens if that sector slumps? Also note geography. Regional economies move differently. If most of your major donors live in one metro area, a local downturn could hit donations hard.
3. Evaluate your commitment types.
Cash gifts, stock gifts, DAF grants, or multi-year pledges. Each carries a different stability profile. When possible, nurture conversations toward multi-year commitments. They lock in partnership, not just generosity, providing resource predictability.
4. Introduce diversification conversations.
In my experience, diversification isn’t about adding more donors for the sake of it. It’s about balance. You want a mix across giving levels, sectors, and commitment lengths. For some fundraisers, AI tools can help forecast concentration by identifying lookalike prospects who resemble your most stable, loyal donors, allowing you to fill gaps intentionally.
5. Schedule regular portfolio checkups.
Twice a year, block time to do a mid-year and year-end review. Use that time to look for unseen risks (like aging donors without heirs or those who’ve shifted philanthropic priorities). It’s easier to catch early warning signs than to scramble when a donor unexpectedly steps back.
A Quick Story
Last year, I worked with a mid-sized healthcare foundation whose major gifts portfolio relied heavily on just six household names. Each tied to the hospital’s founding physicians. Their giving had remained steady for years, and leadership felt secure.
Then, one major donor shifted assets from private practice to retirement, another experienced business headwinds, and donations fell 23% in a single quarter.
We built a portfolio map together: sector, geography, gift type, and longevity. It was eye-opening. Leadership realized how much they’d leaned on legacy donors while leaving younger philanthropists and corporate partners untapped.
They started small: five new multi-year pledges and a mix of donors from different industries. By the following year, their revenue was not only recovered but more predictable. They called it “anti-fragile fundraising,” growing stronger through change.
Try this next week
Take 45 minutes to do a mini portfolio risk review:
List your top 20 donors and note their giving sector (industry), geography (local, regional, or national), and gift type (cash, stock, DAF, pledge).
Star those who’ve made multi-year commitments and circle any who haven’t given or engaged in the last 12 months.
Now, ask yourself: where am I overexposed? Is too much of my giving tied to one sector (like real estate or financial services)? Too many donors from one city or one board network?
Then, schedule a short meeting with your executive director or board fundraising chair to discuss what you see. Bring the map, not just the numbers. Visuals make concentration risk tangible.
If you’d like, you can use AI to give you a hand. Upload your donor data into a SECURE sandbox and use AI to cluster donors by risk factors or predict which relationships are most likely to lapse. The goal isn’t perfection, it’s insight. AI can surface what we might otherwise miss in a sea of names and numbers.
Want to take a deeper dive?
This week’s Intentional Fundraiser Podcast episode, “Making Your Major Gift Portfolio Shock-Resistant,” walks through a precise framework for portfolio resilience.
I share how to quantify and visualize concentration risk, structure multi-year commitments that benefit both donors and organizations, and leverage AI to forecast potential revenue gaps before they happen.
If you’ve ever wondered how to make your portfolio more adaptable and your fundraising less reactive, this episode is for you.
I’d love to hear from you
When was the last time you mapped your donor portfolio or discovered a hidden concentration risk?
Connect with me on LinkedIn and share what surprised you most when you looked under the hood. I read every message.
Resilience isn’t built in the quiet times. It’s reinforced just before the next storm. Keep building, one intentional relationship at a time.
You’re doing such important work, and I’m cheering you on.
Keep scaling,
Tammy Zonker
Author of Calling All Heroes
Founder of Fundraising Transformed
President of Modern Institute for Charitable Giving