Retention? Enough Already!

1. Retention is not the only metric you should be concerned about — overall file health is often overlooked. Take a look at these metrics, too. Are you upgrading folks? Building a monthly giving program? Raising more money this year than you did last year?
2. Analyze what your donors are giving to and what they aren’t. What are they telling you by the results you already have about what motivates them to give to your organization?
3. Examine and re-examine your acknowledgment program. The best way to lose donors forever is to not thank them properly for the gifts they just gave you.
4. Evaluate your messaging. Don’t bring donors in on subject A and then only talk to them about subjects X, Y and Z. And tell them about the people, animals, planet or plants that they help. Please tell them with a story and not just facts.
5. Be accountable to your donors. Tell them how you spend their money. Make them feel good about the choice they made when they accepted your first offer to change the world. Tell them about the work you’re doing together and why their money makes a difference. Let them know you appreciate them and that without them your work could not be done.

These tips may not be sexy or cutting-edge or have fancy names. But they also don’t cost thousands of dollars to implement.