For your nonprofit to have the greatest possible impact on its community, it’s essential to secure the backing of a loyal supporter base. As your organization expands its offerings and operations, you’ll need their contributions to support this growth. Plus, retaining an existing donor costs 10 to 20 times less on average than acquiring a new supporter, providing your nonprofit with additional financial flexibility and sustainability.
The key to building a dedicated supporter base is strategic donor cultivation throughout each individual’s entire relationship with your organization. Not only do you need to get to know your donors to effectively convince them to give for the first time, but you also need to continue developing your relationship with them after they’ve donated.
In this guide, we’ll discuss a few key ways to cultivate relationships with your nonprofit’s existing donors to retain their support for the long haul. Let’s dive in!
Share Impact Information
Donors will only want to contribute to your nonprofit if they’re confident that their support will actually make a difference for your mission. You can demonstrate this by regularly sharing relevant information about your organization’s community impact throughout your entire relationship with a donor.
There are a few different ways your nonprofit can showcase its impact to supporters, including:
Data. Especially for logic-driven donors, statistics and quantitative data can make your organization’s work more concrete. Let’s say you work for a women’s supportive housing provider that recently completed a campaign to open an additional housing facility. In your follow-up messages to donors, you could share how many more women will be housed each year or the percentage by which you expect positive outcomes to increase thanks to their generous contributions.
Stories. On the flip side, storytelling demonstrates the tangible impact of supporters’ contributions by engaging their emotions. Returning to the women’s supportive housing example, you might tell donors the story of a woman experiencing homelessness that your team was able to provide housing and supportive services for at your new housing facility. Knowing they were able to change the life of this individual thanks to their donations can inspire donors to give again.
Images. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and images can help you communicate both impact data and stories more effectively. Display statistics using charts, tables, and infographics to make them more digestible, and use photos to help donors connect more deeply with your stories.
When sharing your organization’s impact, always be honest and transparent to maintain donors’ trust. Present accurate statistics and data analysis, tell stories as they happened without embellishing the facts, and use real photos with the consent of their subjects.
Express Gratitude Promptly and at Scale
For your nonprofit’s relationship with a donor to continue past their first gift, they need to know you’ve received and appreciate their contribution within 48 hours. It’s also important to show your gratitude at scale—the size of your thank-you should match the size of the donation.
Here are a few ideas for how to thank each of your organization’s donors based on gift size:
Small donation: Thank-you email with an attached donation receipt, text message for mobile gifts, annual mass mailing
Mid-sized donation: Handwritten thank-you note, phone call, small gift (such as a gift card or branded merchandise), membership in a mid-level giving society
Major donation: Donor appreciation dinner invite, annual report mention, social media shoutout, public name recognition (e.g., adding them to a donor wall or naming a space in your facility after them)
Appreciation is the first step in moving donors into your nonprofit’s retention pipeline and laying the foundation for a long-term relationship with them. As DonorSearch’s donor retention guide explains, “Although stewardship and retention are separate steps in the traditional donor management lifecycle, they actually overlap. If donors know that your organization is grateful for their contributions, they’ll be more likely to give again.”
Develop Follow-Up Cadences
After you initially thank each donor, continue following up with them to encourage them to stay engaged. One of the best ways to do this for low-to-mid-level donors is to create an automated welcome email series triggered by the supporter’s first contribution. Winspire’s donor stewardship guide suggests structuring the series like this:
Email 1: Thank-you note with a donation receipt
Email 2: Overview of your nonprofit’s mission and current initiatives
Email 3: Update on the impact of the donor’s gift
Email 4: Upcoming opportunities to get involved (more on this below)
Email 5: Encouragement to give again and keep up with your organization by signing up for your newsletter or following you on social media
For major donors, develop tailored messages based on each individual’s philanthropic history and background and send them via the donor’s preferred communication channel. Either way, make sure supporters hear from you at least once a week after their first gift so your nonprofit remains top of mind.
Offer Multiple Opportunities for Engagement
If every message from your nonprofit is a gift request, supporters may experience donor fatigue and disengage from your organization. By alternating solicitations of monetary donations with requests to get involved in other ways, you’ll not only reduce the risk of supporter burnout but also provide opportunities for them to experience your impact firsthand.
Consider asking your organization’s donors to:
Volunteer for various mission-related projects and initiatives.
Attend fundraising events such as auctions, galas, or 5K races.
Contribute in-kind donations of goods and services.
Advocate for your cause in your community and online.
Take advantage of corporate philanthropy opportunities provided by their employers, such as matching gifts and volunteer grants.
Use the donor data in your nonprofit's database to recommend engagement opportunities each supporter will be receptive to. For example, if a major donor says they enjoy running in their initial meeting with you, note this interest and send them a personalized invitation to your upcoming 5K event. Or, screen your database to find out where donors work and target your matching gift marketing messages to donors whose employers have those programs.
As you implement the above donor retention strategies at your nonprofit, monitor their effectiveness through data collection and analysis to hone your approach over time. Additionally, ask donors for feedback on your various follow-up communications via recurring surveys. This will not only help you craft messages that resonate with them but also show them you value their input—yet another key tactic for retaining their support!
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