Major Gifts-An up hill battle?

I have recently been asked to speak at the Connecticut Fundraising Day in the Fall. My topic is major gifts-from concept to gift or something along those lines. My initial thought was to deliver a standard - good stewardship, cultivate, ask, follow up, and thank a million times-type speech. However after a recent conversation with my wife I am re-thinking the entire approach.

When discussing a major gift challenge that one of my clients is currently facing she remaked "you guys face an uphill battle in your business"! Upon a bit of probing she elaborated that in her opinion only 10% of the people that we KNOW would even consider a major gift-to ANY organization (major in this case was $10,000 or greater).

Is that true? Only 10% of the people in our entire reference group-most of whom would be considered major gift prospects for all but the wealthiest of charities. Is the universe of major gifts prospects really limited to 10% of the affluent? What percentage of the truly wealthy? And is the precentage even measurable for the middle class?

While I am a bit skeptical of the 10% figure it has given me pause. Would/Do? my friends make major gifts? Is there really just a fraction of a fraction of people willing to make major gifts to qualified organizations. This warrants further investigation and likely a shift in topics for my fall presentation