Oftentimes, nonprofits solely measure Major Gift Officer performance year over year by total dollars raised, number of contacts, number of asks, number of prospects, number of gifts closed, etc. Though you should track these, what's usually missing is tracking the number of meaningful connections made.

Meaningful connections do not need to happen face-to-face and can take several forms. Donors that you have established meaningful connections with (after being qualified) should be added to the MGO's portfolio. All donors in the portfolio should have an individual goal and plan. By considering and tracking these more individualistic metrics, you can start to understand your MGO's performance in greater context: How many stewardship calls did this donor receive? How many asks did we make to this donor? How did this donor perform last year compared to this year?

Though this will vary based on your organization capacity and structure, make sure you decide how MGO performance will be evaluated before the evaluation period begins.