Donor Recognition: The Real Key to Retention

“Obviously these donors are passionate about the organization. By putting a stamp on the return envelope, it’s saving the nonprofit money,” Sayre says. “We’re tracking if the behavior is different for those donors who do that. We’re capturing even more data to help in retention and enhancing the acknowledgment.”

While Merkle is in the early stages of this micro data model, it has seen immediate impact already for its test clients and plans to roll it out further in the near future.

The key to a truly successful donor-recognition program is to use as much information as possible about the donor to let him or her know how much you appreciate and value the relationship. The more personal and targeted you get, the more likely that donor is to stick around.

As Sayre says, donor recognition is the biggest key to retention … so make sure you are doing everything you can to have the best, most timely donor acknowledgment program you possibly can.