Fundraisers should not presume that major donors want thank-you letters after making a donation, and charities are losing out on lucrative mid-level philanthropists, a philanthropist told a room of fundraisers yesterday.

Philanthropist Melanie Edge said that charity feedback to major donors should be “targeted and well-judged” rather than formulaic expressions of gratitude. “I think thank-you letters are getting a bit over-done,” she said.

Edge, sitting on a panel of major donors at the Institute of Fundraising's National Convention on Monday afternoon, also said that the potential giving power of high-income earners who have made their own wealth is often ignored by both charities and those potential donors themselves.

Unlike people of inherited or extreme wealth, these top earners in the City and other lucrative professions, “are an under-represented group”, she said.

“They don't give as much as they ought to give and [fundraisers] should get your hooks into them.”

She said that while this group may not be able to give millions or hundreds of thousands of pounds, they definitely can afford to give something in the region of £50,000 a year.

“There is no culture of giving” in this group, Edge argued.

Architect and fellow major donor Terrence O'Rourke added that the word 'philanthropy' itself was a barrier to giving for people, like himself, of earned wealth.

“The word philanthropy gets in the way,” he said. "It conjures up images of exceptionally wealthy people giving away money which they never deserved. I wish we had another word for it.”