Grow donors, not just donations.

Jul 03, 2024

You don’t need new funders...

… until you maximize the ones you have.

Because donor retention beats donor acquisition.

All day, every day.

Retention over acquisition is a well-known, well-practiced path to private-sector brand growth. But the unfair nonprofit starvation cycle causes leaders to chase more, more, more… new, new, new… better, better, better.

“Although acquisition of new donors is important, the numbers don’t lie,” says Amy Eisenstein, ACFRE. “The value proposition and financial benefit for your organization falls clearly on keeping the donors you have over finding new donors.”

So let’s talk about this vital fundraising data:

💡 Nearly 7 out of 10 donors will give once, and never again.
💡 Every $100 gained is offset by $96 in losses through donor attrition.
💡 Most major gifts are made after 18–24 touchpoints and five years of smaller giving.
💡 The cost to continually acquire new donors runs 50–100% more than the dollars collected.
💡 The recapture rate of lapsed donors is just 5% — if they stop giving, the chances of them ever giving again are minimal.

But there’s more to the story.

“Fundraisers are pressured to get in new donors in order to grow income,” says fundraising expert Michelle Benson.

“Non-fundraising colleagues make false assumptions that — donors are so thrilled to give they will automatically stick around, stewardship should be 100% at the charity’s internal convenience, fundraising is an overhead and needs to be cheap, fundraising can be fast it’s just the fundraisers who are slow — because there are loads of people who want to give you just need to ask them.”

“These false assumptions are just a handful of what fundraisers fight against.”

Then what’s the solution to keep and grow existing funders?

Create a priority audience — just for them.
Generate value propositions — just for them.
Develop a positioning strategy — just for them.
Execute a communications plan — just for them.
Understand the fundraising data — just for them.

In other words: brand strategy — just for them.

Because the grass isn’t always greener.
Nurture the garden you have.

No need to hunt for diamonds.
Sometimes, you’re standing on the mine.

💪🏽💛

(𝘋𝘢𝘵𝘢 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘴: 𝘈𝘴𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘍𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘴, 𝘉𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘔𝘢𝘫𝘰𝘳 𝘎𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘴)