If you are a nonprofit raising funds, you must know how crucial donor retention is to your fundraising strategy. Still, if you are new to the term, donor retention is a measure that helps you know what percentage of your donors have contributed more than once or are continuously supporting your fundraising efforts every now and then. 

Here is the simple formulae to calculate your donor retention for the year:

Let’s say you have 500 donors who donated to your organization last year and only 200 turned to donate again this year. Then your donor retention rate is 40% (Donor Retention Rate = 200/500 *100).

This is not just limited to the donors who are actively donating to you but also the donors who have supported your organization for over a while and somehow are no more inclined towards your cause or your organization. We call them ghost donors.

Let us first understand why is Donor Retention important?

Donor acquisition is a costly affair - both in terms of time and costs involved. Would you rather spend your time and effort to

1. Educate, inform and convince new people to donate to your cause? Or,

2. Build a strong strategic donor retention policy that allows you to spend less money and effort in finding new donors while building long-lasting relationships with your current ones.

We are sure it is the latter. Now that we have the basics sorted, here are
7 tried and tested Strategies to Increase Donor Retention

1. Encourage Monthly-Giving 

Monthly giving allows donors to make monthly donations to their chosen cause/ organization allowing both the donor and the organization to make a lasting impact.

• Here is why it should be an essential part of your overall fundraising strategy

• a. After major donors, monthly donors are the biggest annual contributors giving 7x more                           than one-time donors.

b. For most donors, it is easier to give a small amount each month than to donate a large                             amount at once.
c. The cost of bringing new donors can easily run 50% to 100% more than the donations                                 collected from them.

2. Show Gratitude (and of course, feel it too)

Your nonprofit is floating because your donors choose to part with their hard-earned money for the cause they believe in.  

• Thanking donors has two benefits- it reminds them about their good work and encourages them to keep supporting the cause. It also helps you build a personal relationship with the donors. 
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• Tell them how thankful you are for their support.  Send a personal thank you note to each donor every time they donate. Or send an update about every major achievement your nonprofit makes.   

• Things you can mention in your ‘thank you’ mail
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• It’s never too late to say thank you! Start right away!
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3. Donation Receipts

Donor receipts are the written acknowledgment of the donations that have been made. They can be shared via letter, card, or e-mail with the organization's name, amount of donation and donor’s name mentioned on it.  

Why is it important?

Also, it is mandatory for a fundraiser to share donation receipts with donors every time they donate (irrespective of the size of the donation amount).

Most fundraising platforms generate donation receipts once the amount goes through. For instance, at Crowdera we provide widgets that automatically share donation receipts to the donor's registered emailing address.

4. Fundraising Events 

Fundraising events play a key role in giving a lifecycle. Fundraising events have become all the more rage in the past few years, as a leading fundraising strategy.

• a. Events bring your cause to life. It is a great opportunity for donors to come together and connect with your cause, employees, and other supporters in real-time
• b. Events give a 49% boost to the donations for the campaigns as compared to solo fundraisers.
• c. Events build donor bases 2x faster and stronger than other methods.
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5. Webinars

They are safer, less expensive, and much easier to execute. They can be done using online meeting software like Zoom, Google Meet, and Social Media Live. They can help you:

Here are our Free Fundraising Webinar templates that you can use right away

6. Diversity In Payment Options

Give your donors as many options as possible. Period.

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• As per recent data, the average recurring donations happen with -
• 22% credit cards, 21% debit cards, 24% digital wallets (Paypal/Gpay etc.).

Every digital consumer has at least one payment aggregator with which their account is linked. Here are the top chosen fundraising payment options your donation page should have.

• 1. Debit Cards
• 2. Credit Cards
• 3. Google Pay
• 4. Payment Wallets, UPI payment (google pay/paytm/BHIM), Paypal (for international payments), Stripe (for international payments)
• 5. Cheque

7. Utilize Social Media Wisely

Having more than one channel to approach and engage donors is a wise decision, but before establishing your social pages, keep a few things in mind:

•         a. What message do you want to spread?
• b. Type of donors that are more active on that social channel
• c. Average donor age and demography
• d. Where to drive the donors from that channel
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• Fun Social Media Facts to know:
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  1. Facebook drives 83.4% more social media traffic to crowdfunding pages than other platforms.
• 2. Instagram gives a long-term engagement to your supporters and
• can be utilized in more diversified ways.
• 3. LinkedIn has the highest conversion rate on mobile at 30%, compared to any other platform.
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• That’s it, folks!  Let us do a quick recap.
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Top 7 Ways to Increase Your Donor Retention

We are positive these tried and tested steps will help you achieve success in fundraising.

How Can Crowdera Help You?

At Crowdera, we are dedicated to making the world a better place by empowering nonprofits and charities with the latest fundraising technology and solutions.

If you want personalized solutions and advice, get in touch with us. We can build a valuable donor retention system right into your fundraising strategy through expert advice and actionable best practices.