December 12, 2018 |

7 Ways to Improve Donor Retention with DonorPerfect

When you run reports on how many of your constituents donated to your organization this year, it’s nice to see a large number. It’s especially nice to see new names come up in those reports. But a common misconception is that it’s the quantity of donors that matter. Sure, you can acquire new donors at your events, maybe on #GivingTuesday. But what about those donors you already have? What are you doing to make it so they want to donate to you again and again?

Read on for more donor retention advice from fundraising guru, Pamela Grow, in this new free e-book, Your Donor Retention Toolkit.

Here’s how to improve donor retention with DonorPerfect:

Make it easy to donate.

Technology is on the rise, and people are using cash less and less. In fact, according to Capital One’s research, one in four Americans “rarely or never” carries cash at all. Bring your nonprofit up to speed by providing your supporters a way to donate via credit card with DonorPerfect Online Forms, or onsite at your events with the free app, DonorPerfect Mobile.

Offer a recurring gift option.

Donors who give on a recurring basis give 42% more annually over those who give one-time gifts, according to Network for Good. That’s a big deal. Monthly giving revenue went up 40% last year, compared to 2016. That’s a bigger deal. Don’t be afraid to ask your supporters to become monthly donors – it’s what’s trending! And it’s as easy as making it an option on your DonorPerfect Online Forms, along with suggested amounts to donate. Get the Monthly Giving Starter Kit to help you along the way.

Actually process recurring gifts.

Sounds obvious, doesn’t it? You’d be surprised. Too many times, donors pledge to donate to an organization on a recurring basis, but the staff forgets to process their gifts, after the initial donation. Don’t let this happen to you! Use DonorPerfect’s Automatic Monthly Giving feature to process payments for you – automatically!

Record donor information.

Enter your donor data into a safe place so you can ensure that thank yous, invitations, and newsletters get to the right people. Whether you collect data from online forms, in Excel (to later be imported), or by receiving donations from new supporters with your mobile app, DonorPerfect makes it easy to safely store this information – virtually eliminating data entry error and duplication.

Thank your donors ASAP.

“Thank you.” Those are nice words to hear! It’s important to be prompt about thanking your supporters for their donations. Data shows that donors who receive a thank you give 43% more in their next gift.

Automatically send your donors an acknowledgement email, at the time they submit their electronic donation, through DonorPerfect Online Forms – but don’t stop there! Use this as an opportunity to share your success with your supporters. Tell them exactly where their donation is going and encourage them to sign up for your newsletter!

Prefer to send a letter? No problem! As soon as you log in, DonorPerfect’s alerts prompt you with a popup to get those letters generated for any gifts that have not yet been acknowledged – right from within your system.

Be extra.

Define what a major gift is for your organization. When you get a gift of that amount or greater, give that donor a personal phone call! These days it feels good to get phone calls that aren’t from telemarketers. Use DonorPerfect to email the assigned staff member the moment those sizeable gifts come in. That way, they’ll know to pick up the phone right away and call them. Best of all, they won’t have to guess. The email will tell them the donor’s name, number, and gift amount.

See how you’re doing.

You can’t know where you’re going if you don’t know where you’ve been. Using the Association of Fundraising Professionals’ metrics, DonorPerfect’s AFP-FEP report breaks down your retention rates between the individuals and organizations within your system. Find out your number of new donors, how many donors who increased their giving, stats on your overall revenue, and more!