Donor Wall category breakdown

Lia Runyon:

We are looking to update our Donor Wall using less categories/grouping and I am interested to see how others do there Donor Wall.

Currently, we break down by giving levels of in-kind, less than $100, over $100, $250, $500, $1,000, $10K, $25K, $50K, $50K+, consecutive giving, and lifetime giving.  However, we are thinking to just keep the $10K and over ones and the rest just alphabetize.  Any thoughts?

Wow - that would be a big change. I am not sure I would recommend it. A donor wall or recognition as such is used to distinguish who gives what. If there is no incentive to move up to a bigger category until you get near $10K, why would you give any more than $20? If recognition motivates me, why would I move from $250 to $500 or from $500 to $1,000. Also, how many do you have in that under $10K category - probably lots. That group will be gignormous and overpower your wall, in my opinion.

We do not do a donor wall but we still list donors in our annual report. What we do is not list anyone under $250. No one says you have to list everyone. $250 is the minimum to be on the list. In that way, our list of categories is shorter than yours by two categories. At a previous organization the minimum was $100. You can set your own depending on what is the best number you want to be the entry level. Being listed is then a benefit for giving at that level.

Not everyone is motivated by recognition, so I do not want to make too big a deal of this. Many organizationd have completely done away with these kinds of listings at all. But some still are. And only you know your donors. Do they compare where they are on a list to their friends, neighbors, classmates? If so, I would keep some smaller categories than $10K.