Unfortunately for many nonprofits, it can feel like we have an invisible revolving door that is causing our donors to disappear from view, never to be seen again. It's clear that retaining donors is essential for organizations to survive and thrive, but how do we increase the likelihood of retention?
What a week it was! Among other adventures last week, I met and learned with famed fundraiser Roger Craver at the fabulous Engage Conference. Roger is a guy who doesn’t hold back. He shares what he knows, sees and suggests with absolutely no restraint. You may agree with him or not, but his bold, evidence-based recommendations are a huge gift to the rest of us. Roger’s main message today is that organizations like yours are losing seven of 10 donors every year due to fairy-tale fundraising. Here’s what you should do about it.
Ian Adair, executive director at the Martinez Foundation and part of the Donor Retention Project, shares why you need to be paying attention to millennial donors. Since they are different from the donors you may be used to, Ian also shares three ways you can engage and steward them.
In her January 2011 DM Diagnosis article, "Baby, Come Back," fundraising copywriter and creative director Kimberly Seville shared what happened when she deliberately became a lapsed donor.
Did you know that nonprofits as a whole have a donor retention rate of 49 percent? Retention rate refers to the percentage of donors who make another gift or have an ongoing relationship with a nonprofit.
There’s no question that poor donor communications is a core driver of poor retention. This is something most organizations can fix. But let’s raise the ante a bit. Let me posit that too many nonprofits out there are not making a difference. Or, putting it more charitably, maybe their performance has peaked! Look at your organization closely. Do you need better communications or a poison pill?
In our May 2012 issue, Donor Voice CEO Kevin Schulman mapped out the "Anatomy of a Committed Donor."
Sustainable fundraising is about keeping your entire house in order. A focus on donor retention will raise lots of money. Period. Everyone knows by now (I hope) that it’s a lot more expensive to acquire a new donor than to retain an ongoing donor. Nonetheless, too many nonprofits still focus the lion’s share of their resources on (1) upgrading a handful of major donors and (2) getting new donors in the door. Don’t get me wrong. Tending to those things is important. But it’s definitely not all there is.
American Bible Society, a faith-based organization dedicated to bringing the message of the Bible around the world, is one of the three featured organizations at Engage. In our May 2005 issue, Stratmark's Max Bunch described how ABS retooled its message and survived two years without acquisition mailings by taking "A Well-Calculated Risk."
Fundraising researcher Adrian Sargeant found that “improving donor retention by just 10 percent can double the lifetime value of your donor database.” So how do you capture those lovely LYBUNTs (Last-Year-But-Not-This-Year donors)? We suggest more strategic and more frequent or targeted communications (surprise!). Here are some approaches you should try at home.
