Free Major Gift Proposal Template
A donor proposal template that starts with what the donor cares about. Download it for Word. No form required.
What is a major gift proposal?
A major gift proposal asks one donor for one gift, for one purpose, in writing. It usually follows several cultivation visits, and it puts in writing what the donor and the gift officer have already discussed: what the gift will fund, how much it will cost, and how the donor will see results.
What's in the template
The sections put the donor's own interests first, then the opportunity, then the ask.
| Section | What it does |
|---|---|
| 1. A personal opening | Starts with what the donor told you they care about. If they have given before, it starts with what their last gift accomplished. |
| 2. What becomes possible | One page on the change this gift would make, before any detail about how |
| 3. What the gift funds | One specific thing with a price: a scholarship fund, a lab, a faculty position, a program year |
| 4. Proof it will work | What people have already done: students enrolled, patients treated, audiences reached |
| 5. The ask | One amount, one purpose, one timeline |
| 6. Ways to give | Gift structures that fit the donor's timing, such as a multi-year pledge, a pledge paid in stages as results arrive, a challenge gift that matches others, or a naming opportunity |
| 7. How you'll hear about it | What the donor will receive after the gift, from whom, and when |
| 8. Next step and contact | The single next step, and the person the donor can reach |
Write it once, adjust it for each donor
Sections 2, 4 and 7 stay largely the same for every donor to a given priority. Write them once and reuse them. Sections 1, 3, 5 and 6 change for each donor. This keeps every proposal personal without starting from a blank page each time.
See it filled in
The download includes a finished example that continues the story from our stewardship report template. The donor is Diana Castle, who endowed the Castle Fellowship in Aligned AI at the invented Ovrture Institute of Technology a year ago. Every name and figure in it is made up. Here is how three of its sections read:
A personal opening. Dear Diana, In its first year, your fellowship supported two doctoral students in aligned AI. In March, Marcus Webb published his first paper as lead author. You have seen what two fellows a year can do. I would like to talk with you about four.
What the gift funds. Two new Castle Fellowships in Aligned AI, each endowed at $600,000.
Ways to give. You could fund both fellowships over five years. Or you could fund the first now and the second when the first new fellow completes a first year, so you see the result before you complete the gift.
How to write a major gift proposal
- Start with the donor. Open with their interests and, if they have given before, their own results. The institution's plans come second.
- Name one thing to fund. Give it a price. A donor should never finish the proposal wondering what exactly they would be paying for.
- Prove it with what people did. Show enrollment, patient visits or attendance. A donor can check a number. A description of quality asks for trust.
- Offer a structure. Spreading payments over several years, or tying them to results, lets a donor commit to more than one payment would allow.
- Promise the stewardship in writing. Tell the donor what they will hear and when. Then keep the promise with a stewardship report.
When a template stops being enough
A template gives every proposal a strong start. Personalizing one by hand for each of hundreds of prospects takes weeks.
Ovrture turns the data in your CRM into a personal website for every major donor, from the report that honors one gift to the proposal that asks for the next, at a scale any team can carry.
Pair it with the stewardship report template
Our free stewardship report template includes the report Diana Castle received a few months before this proposal, so you can see how the two connect.