Nonprofit Tools
Gift Range Chart Generator
Enter your campaign goal and get a printable gift range chart: gift levels, gifts needed, prospects to cultivate and cumulative totals — the standard planning table for capital campaigns.
Your campaign
Campaign consultants recommend a lead gift of 15–25% of goal. Smaller lead gifts mean many more donors needed below.
Qualified prospects needed per closed gift — 4:1 is the classic capital-campaign assumption at the top of the chart.
Gift range chart
What a gift range chart is for
A gift range chart (also called a gift table or gift pyramid) is the reality test behind every capital campaign. It converts a big round goal into a concrete claim: “we need one gift of this size, two of that size, four of the next…” If your organization cannot name plausible prospects for the top three rows, the chart is telling you the goal — not the donors — is the problem.
The standard model anchors the chart with a lead gift of 15–25% of goal, then roughly halves the gift size and increases the number of gifts at each step. The top ten or so gifts typically account for half to two-thirds of the entire campaign — which is why campaigns run a “quiet phase” securing those gifts before any public announcement.
Using the chart in practice
- Write names in the rows. The chart becomes a working document when each top-level row lists actual prospects and who will ask them.
- Announce at 50–65% raised. Go public only after the quiet phase fills the top of the chart; the public phase fills the bottom.
- Test against your donor file. Your biggest campaign gift is usually 5–20× a donor’s largest annual gift — if nobody gives $10,000 annually, a $500,000 lead gift is a stretch.
- For annual campaigns, the flatter model in our fundraising goal calculator is the better fit.
Gift charts are planning conventions, not physics — feasibility studies and your own giving history should calibrate the final version.
Gift Range Chart methodology
The gift range chart generator builds a campaign table using common capital-campaign planning practice: a small number of large gifts carry a significant share of the total, and lower gift levels fill out the rest of the campaign.
Planning example. Before announcing a campaign goal, a board can use the chart to see whether real donor names exist for the top rows. If the top gifts are not realistic, the goal or prospect list needs work.
How to use the result
- Use the number as a planning estimate, not a final accounting or legal conclusion.
- Check the assumptions against real quotes, actual donor data, board policy or grant requirements.
- Copy or print the result for a board packet, committee meeting or internal planning note.
Common questions
Does Nonprofit Tools store my inputs?
No. The calculation runs in your browser and the numbers are not uploaded to Nonprofit Tools.
Can this replace professional advice?
No. Use the result for planning, then confirm final financial, legal, audit, grant or tax decisions with the appropriate professional.
Where can I review the general source approach?
See How Our Nonprofit Calculators Work.