Retention

How the right data can help you look beyond the numbers and figure out how and why donors connect — and stay — with you.

Average first-year donor retention rates of 27 percent suggest that donors don’t have the best feelings about the nonprofits they’re supporting. With that in mind, I give you three longtime fundraising experts — Rachel Muir, Shanon Doolittle and Pamela Grow. They shared some very valuable insights below — stuff that gets right to the heart of the matter — the relationships we have with our donors and how to improve our donor retention rates.

Fundraising expert Adrian Sargeant says, "Improving attrition rates by only 10 percent can improve the lifetime value of a donor base up to 200 percent." Developing and sustaining relationships with your current supporters is often easier and less expensive than finding new supporters. After all, you've already found people who are interested in your organization.

At the DMA Nonprofit Federation's 2011 New York Nonprofit Conference, veteran fundraising consultant Tom Gaffny provided 10 timeless keys to fundraising success that he's crafted over the past two decades during his session, "The 10 Commandments: 10 Ageless, Irrefutable, Non-Negotiable Keys to Optimizing Your Fundraising Success."

Our role as fundraising professionals is a very special one as we nurture and often teach philanthropy. Never forget to celebrate each donor and each gift for the impact it will have — on those you serve, on them and on you, now and for years to come.

Do you ever wonder how to connect better with your donors? Do you wish you knew what would be really meaningful to your donors, that would make them engage and feel more connected to your nonprofit?

Why not try the five love languages?

Have you ever heard about the five love languages? It’s a book by Gary Chapman.

This book’s main premise is that there are five languages of love that each of us speaks. And our relationship struggles occur when our love language mismatches that of our partners.

Everyone is truly alarmed about the donor’s demise. And yet, there she remains, floundering in the water.

Donors are recognized in many forms from handwritten thank-you notes to names on buildings. As the recognition level increases in permanence, the stakes are higher for potential problems.

When donors are thanked and shown how their gifts made a difference, they are more likely to give again. Thank-you letters and notes are at their best when they make donors feel appreciated and let them know how and who they helped. How can you make your thank-you letters mean more than just words on the page? Tell stories. Particularly the story of one person, child or animal whose life was made better through the donor's help.

Time spent chasing promises to give online is better spent thanking actual donors.