Keep Your Donors – You Earned Them

Welcome to July—a new fiscal year for many organizations, and with that comes new fundraising goals.

Wait, what is that? You still need to close out last year? And you feel overwhelmed doing both at the same time? I get it! That’s a lot to manage at once.

Don’t freak out! Just like I walked you through how to show the impact of a gift in my last blog post, I’m back to help again.

This time: I’m going to help you single task your way through this transitional part of the year so that you can focus on what’s important: keeping your donors.

Tip #1: Focus on donor retention now, so you don’t need to focus on finding new donors later.

Did you know that one of the most cost-effective tools you can focus on to increase funding is donor retention?

What is donor retention, you ask?

Simply, donor retention is a measurement of how many donors continue to donate to your organization year after year.

If you think those rates are really low, you’re right! Organizations that have low donor-retention rates need to continuously find new donors.

Tip #2: Know the numbers. (aka: It costs HOW much to acquire a new donor?!)

That’s a huge return on investment! And we all know how hard it is to find a new donor in the first place, right?

Tip #3: Remember the second golden rule of fundraising: you can never thank your donors too many times.

Taking that advice, thank your donors now, thank them again later, and then thank them again. (And again.)

BCG worked with Kimball Union Academy, a private, co-ed, preparatory, boarding school in Meriden, New Hampshire, on their stewardship campaign. At the end of their fiscal year they thanked donors by showing the impact of their gift through specific metrics.

Looking for more examples of stewardship programs that work? Want to learn more about how BCG can help you keep the spectrum of your donors? Check out our portfolio for more great ideas and contact us to learn more.