Retention

To get a handle on what’s in store for 2015, NonProfit PRO rounded up some of the nonprofit industry’s finest, who were kind enough to share their nonprofit trends for 2015. Here are five trends on donor retention.

Be a worthy cause, and be a group that people want to be associated with — from your mission to how you fulfill it to how you fundraise. And be sure that your donors, at every level, know that they are appreciated.  

Being a one-person nonprofit fundraising shop is a bit like butter spread over too much toast. It covers the bread but so thinly that the taste is barely there. Here is how to make it more manageable.

Saying thank you more than please, celebrating the joy of giving and helping donors fulfill their needs are all vital efforts and strategies. Just be sure that, at the end of the day, you are truly advancing relationships and being appropriate stewards of the culture and resources of your organization.

Doing the same thing over and over is relying on increased dollars, donors and gifts without expanding the number of prospects, number rated, number solicited, etc. Break out of Bill Murray's cycle in the movie "Groundhog Day" and the experience of déjà vu. Complete fundraising success depends upon your 360-degree view of the total fundraising process.

Pay particular attention to renewing your relationships with those loyal supporters as you reach out to potential new donors. Never make the mistake of thinking that one can replace the other.

Often, the hungrier a fundraiser is, in terms of needing to acquire and retain donors, the more he or she is willing to do to when it comes to donor service. And that's not a function of being a small organization; rather, as I read the emails, I saw passion for the mission as the driving force — an insistence on always improving because it really does matter.

Look at your donation receipting program top to bottom. What's working? What's a potential deterrent to donor retention? How can you fix it?

Let's face our gaps and challenges head on, and let's do something about them so we can be better fundraisers and marketers — because what we do is really important in this world.

How can you retain more donors in 2015? Start by resurrecting the lost art of saying "thank you." Be sincere. Focus on the donor. Make it sound like it was written just for her.