What Are You Doing About Donor Retention?

Before you read this blog I encourage you to take the awareness test by watching the video above.

Did you watch it? It’s amazing what we can miss when our eyes are so intently focused on something else.

So what does a moonwalking bear have to do with fundraising? It is a great reminder that if we only keep our eye on new donors coming in – we can forget about and miss the awesome donors we already have! 

The statistics on donor retention are bleak. The 2014 Fundraising Effectiveness Project reports that of the thousands of nonprofits surveyed, just 23% of first time donors gave to the same organization again. The overall retention rate is 43%. 

In that same survey, we learn that for every $100 raised in new donations, we lose $92 from last year’s givers who don’t give again. Compare this to the loss of donors and it’s even more alarming! For every 100 new donors nonprofits gain, 102 donors are lost from the previous year. 

We are so busy celebrating the 100 who came through the front door that we failed to notice the 102 who slipped out the back. We miss the moonwalking bear. It’s 100 steps forward and 102 steps back.

This is why fundraisers who work so hard to bring in new donors still feel like they can't make any real progress.  

So, how do you improve your donor retention rate? It is much simpler than you might think. Donors have provided the answer!  

Donors want their gifts acknowledged in a prompt and meaningful manner and they want progress reported back to them in measurable terms. (Check out Penelope Burk’s Donor Survey from September 2014 to learn more). 

What encourages your donors to stick with you is not a mystery. They want to know you got their gift, that it mattered, and what their gift accomplished. 

That’s something we CAN control! It’s time to change the statistics on retention!