7 Keys to Rock Thank You Calls and Retain More Donors
You’ve got to make donor retention more of a priority to survive and thrive in today’s competitive nonprofit marketplace.
Research shows the average nonprofit in the U.S. loses 81% of donors after the first gift!!!!!
In and out a revolving door is too expensive to be sustainable.
To make matters worse, the probability a donor will make five consecutive gifts is only 10-15%. These numbers are just not sustainable for most organizations. By the time you’ve added a new donor most of your previous new donors are out the door.
And, by the way, did you know donor acquisition costs you money? Yup. On average, it will cost you $1.00 – $1.25 to bring in a new donor dollar. So… the value of a new donor to your organization is wrapped up in the concept of donor lifetime value. Once you have a new donor, the cost to renew them is much less expensive than the cost to acquire them. Just like in for profit marketing, keeping a current customer is easier than finding a new one. But… you have to actively engage in customer cultivation and renewal strategies.
If you don’t energetically renew and upgrade donors over time, you may as well never have recruited them.
Allow that to sink in a moment.
Might you effectively be wasting a lot of time, energy and money on acquisition? Could some of your resources be more effectively deployed to donor retention?
I’m going to go out on a limb and wager the answer is a resounding YES.
Do you know what your donor retention rate is? If you do, there’s hope for you to improve it. Read on.
If you don’t, you don’t even know there’s something that needs fixing! Read on.
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