Report Shows Gap Between Donor Expectations and Nonprofit Actions
Bloomerang, a fundraising, donor, and volunteer management platform, released its "Mission Retainable: Research-Backed Strategies to Inspire Donor Loyalty" report, revealing key challenges and opportunities in donor retention. The study, which surveyed more than 380 fundraisers and 1,000 donors, highlights a critical disconnect: while donors give because they feel connected to a mission, many nonprofits struggle to sustain that connection beyond the first gift.
“Changes in federal funding priorities have rocked the nonprofit sector over the last few weeks, underscoring how important reliable revenue is for charitable organizations,” said Dennis Fois, chief executive officer at Bloomerang. “Building sustainable streams of revenue for the months and years to come will require not only funding diversification, but a renewed focus on donor retention. By building trust and demonstrating impact through the strategies detailed in Mission Retainable, nonprofits can begin to increase their donor retention rates and build meaningful relationships, ensuring donors feel valued and connected.”
Key findings from the Mission Retainable report include:
- Donor trust influences retention. Nearly one in four donors (24%) stopped giving due to a lack of transparency about how their contributions were used.
- Resources, not donor fatigue, is the biggest hurdle fundraisers face with retention. 82% of fundraisers cite limited staff and resources as their biggest challenge to increase donor retention rates. Donor fatigue was ranked as the greatest challenge by only 30% of fundraisers.
- Text messaging is an untapped engagement tool. Despite ranking as donors’ third most preferred communication channel, only 13% of fundraisers use text messaging to engage supporters.
- Impact updates are key but underused. While 65% of donors want regular updates about their impact, only 36% of nonprofits provide them.
- Nonprofits aren’t maximizing their customer relationship management (CRM) solutions. While 94% of fundraisers use CRMs, only 47% fully leverage them, and just 38% track first-time donor retention rates, making it harder to tailor engagement strategies.
- Advanced technology remains underutilized. Nearly one-third (32%) of fundraisers don’t use AI, machine learning, or analytics for donor engagement, leaving untapped potential.
“The best retention strategies combine technology and human connection,” said Joshua Meyer, vice president of market engagement at Bloomerang. “The right giving platform helps nonprofits personalize outreach, scale engagement, and build lasting relationships. In today’s digital age, donors expect seamless, meaningful interactions, and meeting those expectations is key to turning first-time donors into lifelong supporters.”
The Mission Retainable report explores the future of donor retention, the challenges and opportunities nonprofits face, and how leveraging technology can drive stronger, more personalized relationships with donors.
Access the "Mission Retainable: Research-Backed Strategies to Inspire Donor Loyalty" report here.
The preceding press release was provided by a company unaffiliated with NonProfit PRO. The views expressed within do not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of the staff of NonProfit PRO.
