Lift Donor Retention Rates

Amergent i-fund News

Donor Stewardship: Making Virtual Friends for LifeAt Amergent, we’re talking about Donor Stewardship. In July, we released a white paper on the topic and hundreds of your fellow fundraisers have downloaded this valuable resource. Get your copy of Donor Stewardship: Making Virtual Friends for Life today!

Over the past several years, Amergent has analyzed millions of gifts to nonprofit organizations and made several key discoveries concerning ways to improve donor retention.

Fact: Donors who are willing to give you an email address are valuable.

In fact, having that email address on file not only enables you to message the donor through multiple channels, but it could indicate a stronger level of relationship.

Donors with email outperform in every significant metric! Looking at comparative data from 2010, email donors have
  • a slightly higher retention rate,
  • a rate of gifts per donor that is 50% better,
  • and an average gift that is 67% higher.
The sum of all of this is an annual donor value that is 2.5 times as high. This 5:2 ratio of annual donor value holds true across all donor segments.
ifund chart 8.17
How can you get more email addresses for your donors?
  1. Ask for them on reply slips
  2. Create an online interactive campaign and promote it through your offline AND online channels – newsletters, social media, etc. We’ve had success with photo contests, online pledges and even matching gifts for online giving only.
  3. Ensure that every person in your organization is trained to ask for email address when talking with donors.
  4. Try appending email addresses. This finding is one of many that can help you retain more of your valuable donors. The white paper is FREE, but we’ll ask for your email address to get it. Download Donor Stewardship: Making Virtual Friends for Life.