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Donor retention measures how well and how long nonprofits maintain relationships with their supporters. Most fundraising leaders consider this metric crucial to organizational longevity, and we’ll help you understand exactly why that is.
Acquiring a new donor is no small feat, but the effort is worth it when that donor continues to give again. Donor retention showcases a strong rate of return supporters compared to those who only give once.
While technically, donor retention means seeing repeat gifts, forward-looking nonprofits see even more potential. Donor relationships that last beyond a single donation can also grow to support volunteer work, event attendance, advocacy, and widespread campaign involvement.
In recent years, donor retention has become a necessity for many nonprofits. Donors have more choices about where to spread their generosity, and online fundraising capabilities broke down geographic barriers between supporters and organizations.
Your ability to secure a donor and watch that individual continue to take action year after year is a crucial element of a sound fundraising strategy. Below, we’ll explain a few reasons why.
Cost efficiency
Retaining a donor who has already contributed to your nonprofit's mission is typically less expensive (and easier) than acquiring a new one. A donor acquisition plan can involve a lot of marketing costs, so giving lulls can help to lean on donor retention instead.
Investing time to nurture relationships within your existing donor network can also continue to maximize the acquisition costs you've already incurred. Your return on investment only grows with each year you can keep an individual donating to your cause.
An essential component of donor retention is the experience you offer an individual and how involved they feel with your cause. Many people give passively or once to support a timely need.
The donors who get involved on a deeper level and become loyal to a single organization, or cause have strong relationships that pull them to do so. Nonprofits who keep in touch with thoughtful email updates and show they care about their supporters can see more of them stick around.
Sustainable funding
A robust donor retention strategy will include opportunities like membership programs and recurring donations. That's because these reliable fundraising methods help nonprofits predict income each year.
Retaining your donors' loyalty with meaningful relationship-building that helps them feel their value only entices them to stay involved. Pair that with regular invitations to get involved throughout the year, and you build sustainable funding to weather any storm.
A donor who's been involved with a nonprofit for a few years is far more likely to share their experience with friends, family, and co-workers. That level of advocacy can open new potential for donor acquisition, peer-to-peer fundraising, and corporate giving opportunities.
Advocating for your cause can also be an alternative to financial commitments for donors who want to continue to show support in hard times. Tapping into your loyal community for testimonials, outreach, and social media interactions can also help you attract new, like-minded supporters.
The current state of donor retention
Donor retention is more important than ever. Overall giving levels have been stagnant at best as the economy fluctuated, and individual income levels felt the impact.
Nonprofits who can keep their supporters engaged through uncertain times are in the best position to reach their fundraising goals.
Donor retention statistics
Luckily, new reports show that giving increases are ahead for 2024 and 2025. Donor retention will undoubtedly remain a part of a secure fundraising strategy.
Understanding how to calculate donor retention rate will indicate where you are today and how things evolve. You can calculate donor retention over any period that helps your nonprofit measure growth and effectiveness.
Donor retention rate formula: [(Current # of donors- # of donors acquired over a specific period)/ # of donors at the start of a specific period]/100
Monthly donor retention rate: [(# of donors at the end of the month- # of donors acquired during the month)/ # of donors at the start of the month]/100
Quarterly donor retention rate: [(# of donors at the end of the quarter- # of donors acquired during the quarter)/ # of donors at the start of the quarter]/100
Annual donor retention rate: [(# of donors at the end of the year- # of donors acquired during the year)/ # of donors at the start of the year]/100
Your retention rate showcases the relationships you can form and how likely donors are to stay loyal to your cause. This universal metric can help you benchmark against the social sector averages and your goals.
The average donor retention rate for nonprofits remains steady between 40 and 45%. Once you know where you stand, you can set specific goals for your donor retention efforts.
What causes donor lapse?
A lapsed donor is a supporter who stops giving. It's a natural part of running a nonprofit as people's lives and priorities change. While there are certain reasons you can’t control, there are many you can with a strong donor retention strategy.
Donor lapse can happen because of:
Financial changes and inability to give
Reprioritizing donations for other causes or nonprofits
Lack of communication or relationship with an org
Lack of updates about how donation money is being used
Mistrust or reputation damage to the organization
Lack of acknowledgment and appreciation
A negative donor experience
Health shifts that change lifestyle priorities
A shift in age and generational donation habits
Donor retention can prevent lapse from being a norm for individuals who want to stay involved. Next, we'll talk about the specific strategies your nonprofit can implement to build relationships that make people want to stay.
In the same way you think about ideal donors to inform donor acquisition efforts, successful retention starts with some clarity. The good news is you already have a leg up with far more information about your current donors than new ones.
It’s helpful to start by tapping into your donor management system to create specific segments of supporters to engage. This will give you the best chance of inviting them to take action again.
A few donor segment ideas to start organizing within your supporter community and build specific outreach around include:
First-time donors: Anyone who's just given their first donation to your organization
Recurring donors: Anyone who's signed up to give on a scheduled basis for a certain time (monthly, annually, etc.)
Major donors: Anyone who's given over a certain dollar amount that far exceeds your average gift size
Event participants: Anyone who's attended an event you've held
Volunteers: Anyone who gave their time and skills to support your mission without pay
Corporate donors: Any business or organization who's donated to your cause or sponsored an event
Generational donors: Anyone that falls within a specific age group, helping you identify lifestyle priorities and giving patterns
Mobile donors: Anyone who's given through a mobile device
Your supporters take their contributions personally. Maybe they have a connection to your cause or have chosen your nonprofit for a particular reason. Whatever the reason, it’s important for you to tailor communications to individual donors by acknowledging their past contributions, expressing gratitude for their ongoing support, and sharing personal stories.
People return to give when they feel valued as individuals instead of just another wallet. It's easy for people to pick up on mass email communications or generic messaging.
You can approach each donor segment more meaningfully as you gather key information about what makes them unique.
Personalization might look like:
Adding the donor's name
Referencing the donor's last interaction with your organization
Speaking directly to the stage of life the donor may be in
Noting the impact of the donation type the donor last gave
While tools like ChatGPT can be helpful to save time on your emails and social media captions, be sure to plug in these small details that go a long way in how a donor will receive your message.
3. Establish consistent stewardship programs
You'll want to establish a rhythm as you know who you're contacting with highly personal communications. Without consistency and cadence, messages and updates can feel haphazard and unintentional.
That's where your stewardship program can help. A strong communication strategy is used to plan when and what you will say to your donors. Regularly communicating with donors through email, newsletters, social media updates, and personalized messages will help keep them engaged in your nonprofit’s cause.
Here are a few questions your program should answer:
How many donor segments will you create retention strategies around?
What are the specific segments to build into your program?
How often will you reach out?
What content is most relevant to each segment?
How far between should updates and outreach be sent out?
What channels will you use to share updates and include various touchpoints?
-> Dive into everything you need to know for strong donor engagement.
4. Engage donors at events
Fundraising events can help you improve your donor relationships by introducing your cause, team, beneficiaries, and loyal supporters to your donors. Consider building events into your retention strategy as a great call to action for anyone looking to get more involved.
Events can also be geared specifically toward retention. For example, you can host a donor gala or annual fun gathering to bring your supporters together in one place as a thoughtful gesture of gratitude.
The earlier stages of your stewardship program might involve warming up to donors and gauging their interest in continued involvement. As you create a regular communication cadence, don't hesitate to include a relevant opportunity to give.
It can feel strange to ask for more from someone generous in the past, but this is how you can build awareness of your campaigns and increase retention. As long as your ask is relevant to the donors you're talking to, you always want to give a clear way to grow the relationship.
6. Make it easy to continue giving
Every piece of communication should focus on building a genuine, long-term relationship with your donors. Yes, you can include call-to-actions asking them to contribute but try not to make fundraising the central message of every communication your donors get.
One of the easiest ways to turn a first-time, one-time, or lapsed donor into a loyal supporter is to offer a membership or recurring gift option. Sometimes, people look for the easiest way to give back that won't require them to keep checking emails and looking for new campaigns.
An established program that helps your donors set up a monthly contribution at a cost they can afford is a great way to generate sustainable income. People feel involved even when they can only commit to a smaller amount of time and money, and they always have the choice to increase their impact over time.
In addition to an automated thank you letter after a donation, take the time to show donors that their support is essential to your mission. Depending on the size of your nonprofit, you can send a handwritten note, make a personal phone call, or offer a special perk (tickets to your next event, dinner with your founders, etc.).
And, if they’re okay with it, sharing donor stories through well-timed newsletters, annual reports, and events is an excellent way to keep donors connected and engaged.
Here are a few ideas to get creative about:
Host a donor appreciation event
Showcase loyal donors on your social media and website
Celebrate milestones like months of consistent giving, years of consistent giving, and the number of campaigns supported
Surprise repeat donors with an annual holiday gift to honor their commitment
8. Track your success
From reports on how donor contributions are being used to which communications get the most clicks or inspire the most donations to which fundraising events engage the most donors (existing and new)—it’s essential to include measurable outcomes in your donor retention plan.
In addition to the donor retention rate, the following metrics can fully capture what's working well and where you may focus your attention each month.
Donor lifetime value: An estimated value that an individual's contributions have on your organization
Average donation amount: The average gift size you receive over a specific period
Donation frequency: The average number of donations you receive over a particular period
Donor engagement: Qualitative measures such as email open rates, event attendance, social media interactions
Top engagement channels: The places you find the largest response or interactions with your donors (email, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.)
By continuously monitoring your donor retention rates and analyzing the factors that contribute to donors' engagement, lapsing, or re-engagement, you’ll be able to refine your donor retention strategies.
You can also go straight to the source and ask your loyal donors what keeps them returning to support you. Feedback can be uncomfortable to hear, but that doesn’t make it less necessary to seek out.
Some donors will give it freely, others will happily provide it if asked, and some may not give feedback. Either way, it is worth asking, and it doesn’t have to be complicated.
Ideas to collect donor feedback and inform your retention strategies:
Ask for feedback in the footer of your newsletters and emails
Call up current or lapsed donors
Send out a survey
Add questions to your donation forms
Host a roundtable conversation
Most people will happily share their thoughts, experiences, and preferences. What you find might be empty, unconstructive, too personal, etc. But asking and actively listening doesn’t mean implementing.
Most donors want to be heard, so engage them in conversations about the organization's goals, challenges, and plans. Hearing from your community can give you more detailed insight that helps you shape donor retention strategies. This way, you're only prioritizing your time and energy on what matters to people who are passionate about your mission.
FAQs to support your donor retention strategies
The donor retention rate in 2024 remains at an average of 40% to 45%. Rates have remained lower and steady between 2022 and 2023, with some projections showcasing a rise ahead as the year continues.
The difference between donor retention and donor acquisition can be seen in a few areas:
Goal: Donor retention focuses on keeping a donor around for a longer time, while donor acquisition focuses on attracting someone new to give to an organization for the first time.
Cost: It is often less costly to retain a donor than it is to capture the interest of a new one through marketing and promotions.
Strategies: Acquisition is about establishing a relationship and engaging donors, while retention is about maintaining that relationship for a long period.
A donor retention plan is a strategy that nonprofit organizations develop and implement to keep donors happy and engaged. It encourages donors to continue supporting a nonprofit by building strong connections, acknowledging contributions, and reminding donors of all the good their contributions have done.
Behind the scenes, a donor retention plan’s primary purpose is to increase donor loyalty, reduce donor attrition rates, and maximize the long-term value of your donors.
You can measure donor retention using the following key metrics:
Donor retention rate
Donor lifetime value
Average donation amount
Donation frequency
Donor engagement
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