CARE USA shifts into fundraising overdrive when disaster strikes, but its day-to-day development plan keeps it at the forefront of humanitarian-aid organizations.

By Margaret Battistelli Gardner

To keep donors moving seamlessly up the giving pyramid to the major- and planned-gifts levels, CARE starts tending the flock early, analyzing its files of smaller donors (up to $1,000) to see who’s on their way to moving up to mid-level status ($1,000-$5,000). The mid-level-gifts manager works closely with the major-gifts fieldfundraisers to understand not only donors’ giving patterns, but also their capacity to give at a higher level.