Donor Retention Strategies
Hopefully you will bring a lot of new donors to your organization with your year-end giving strategy. But do you have a plan to retain those donors to give to your organization over the long term?
Nationally, fewer than half of all donors who give to an organization for the first time give again. Why? They do not feel appreciated, and they do not know what a difference their gift made.
So what, you might ask. While it costs $1.25 to $1.50 for every dollar raised from a new donor, it only costs 25¢ to retain a donor. You do the math – you can continually recruit new donors and lose money or retain donors and watch your revenue soar.
Fixing this problem simply means reversing that equation: making first time donors feel appreciated and showing them what a difference their gift made. But how can you do this? A few “simple” suggestions.
1. Send a personalized thank you within a few days of receiving the gift. When you write the thank letter, think less “form letter” and more “letter to grandma” or a friend. It can actually be a form letter, but it should not read like one. Make the language less institutional and more friendly and personalize the letter with, at a minimum, the donors’ name(s) – spelled correctly.
2. Follow up with a communication thanking them again and welcoming them as a donor to your organization a month or so after the initial gift. You can do this in a letter, with a brochure, postcard, card – any format will do. Use this communication to tell them more about what you do, your programs, and how their gift allows you to make a difference in the world.
3. About 6 months after their initial gift, send them an impact report. This can come as a letter or formal printed report, although the report should include a personalized letter to them as well. A handwritten post-it note works too! Either way, the report should liberally use the word “you” to show the receiver how they have impacted your mission.
4. Solicit them again. Time and time again I hear development professionals say that they cannot ask someone for money because “they just gave.” Guess what? They gave because they believe in your mission and your work; that makes them the ideal person to ask to give you a gift. They can decide how often they want to give; your solicitation reminds them about your organization and to send a check.
Depending on the size of the gift, you might also call to thank them for their gift and find out what brought them to support your organization. You might learn something about them that suggests they would make a good volunteer, major donor prospect, planned giving candidate, or board member. You might also include some more personal touches, like a visit from you, your CEO, or board chair.
I have also seen organizations who recognize recurrent donors. One of my alma maters sent me a card recognizing me as a second-year donor, a way to solidify that relationship and encourage me to give again. Why? Because statistically, once a donor gives for three years, you have them for life. Giving to you becomes a habit – the good kind.
A successful donor retention strategy does not happen by circumstance. It occurs because you planned for it up front so that everyone in your organization knows the steps to take with each new donor and when to take them. Some database programs even let you schedule reminders or automatically generate letters at the appropriate time. But they only work if you set them up.
What strategies will you employ to retain your new donors to grow your revenue in the next year?
