What Is Donor Retention?
In general terms, “donor retention” refers to the strategies and tactics used to engage anyone interested in donating to your organization, or to re-engage people who’ve already done so. The exact methods are extremely varied – useful in different situations, and can have varying effectiveness for different people.
What is constant, though, is what’s considered an “average” donor retention rate. This number hovers around 45%, and hasn’t changed much over the past several years. And once someone does donate, the odds of retaining them for those all-important repeat donations is just above 60%. If you’re hitting those rates, you’re doing a great job! If not, it’s time to figure out a way to boost those numbers. And luckily, we have some ideas to help you upgrade your charity’s donor retention plans.
1. Take Care of your Donors
Everyone loves a good thank-you. Everyone loves to feel represented. But as it turns out, different groups of donors resonate better with different things.
For first-time donors, you want to make the idea of a repeat donation as appealing – and as accessible – as possible. If a donor needs to navigate through multiple pages or forms to make that return trip, you’ll see worse outcomes than if repeat donations could be done with a single click. So, set up donor accounts, and minimize the amount of times donors need to repeat themselves. Let them know how easy it is to return!
Welcome kits are also a tried-and-tested way of making new donors feel appreciated. Treat it like an introduction to a new group – be it a club, a family, or whatever works best for your charity’s area of expertise. The gifts in these kits can also be equally varied, changing in content and quantity between charities.
For repeat donors, fostering a growing relationship between them and you will go a long way towards keeping them around. Impact reports are a great way of doing this. Offer them updates on their own personal impact towards your cause, and make them feel like their donation mattered. A common reason why people drop off is because they think their support is either unneeded or impactless, so avoid this at all costs!
You can also deepen an existing relationship by maintaining a strong social media presence. It’s not just good for drawing people in! By becoming a constant presence for your donors, your activities will be all the more relevant to their lives – a relevance now shared by their donations to you.
2. Communication
It’s a two-way street. Your donors probably have something to say about your organization (they sent you money, after all!), and they’ll be pleased to hear from you every so often. Even something like sending them a thank-you postcard once in a while will keep you in their thoughts.
Each donor has a valuable voice, and you’d do well to give them a means to reach out. Something like a survey will let their perspective shine through, while giving you broader trends to work from when designing paths forward. Find out what they expect of you – and surpass those expectations. Make them feel as though their voice has been heard.
3. Encourage Donors to Reach Donation Goals
When someone has become a reliable source of income, how can you boost their investment? And how can you find others to bolster their ranks?
Sometimes, that answer is a referral program. Donors might know a few people who share a passion for your cause – encourage them to reach out!
Other times, that answer involves energizing your existing donor base. Begin smaller fundraising efforts for more narrow causes, and encourage people to donate to those, on top of their normal amount. Or, you can make a goal out of it, challenging donors to push things even further. You can even make it a competition with a prize for those who raise the most money.
4. Get Personal
Internet interactions can only do so much. It can feel so impersonal, just reading some text on a screen. Nothing to keep someone anchored to a specific relationship. And unfortunately, that kind of loose relationship is exactly the sort of thing you want to avoid. So, you’ll have to bridge that gap.
Whether it be personalized thank-you messages, hosting in-person events, or reaching out to donors who haven’t contributed in a while, there’s always something you can do to bring that human element back into your charity organization.
When it comes to thank-yous, there’s no real replacement for true personalization – one message for one person. But if that option just isn’t available or realistic, you can still get close. Leverage the information you have about your donors (this process gets easier if you follow our suggestion regarding surveys), and organize your donors into groups. Do they have a family member who is personally affected by the issue you aim to address? Can you sort donors into different age demographics? Are there any common traits between all donors that you can focus on? There are a lot of directions you can take, so find a direction that resonates with people and act on it.
In-person events can be special occasions meant for seasoned donors, or part of a recruitment incentive to get fresh new faces involved and feeling like they’ve joined a community. The ability to simply meet in person is one of the most human things you can do, and will humanize you to the strongest possible extent. Sometimes, the direct approach to humanization is the best one!
It’s much easier to get donations from people who’ve already donated; remember the stats from the beginning of this article? Outreach to new donors is important, but so is maintaining those recurrent connections. So, reach out! Let them know that their loss was felt, and how much their return would mean to you and your cause.