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Once a supporter starts their donor journey with your organization, how do you engage with them and keep them invested in your mission? How do you inspire them to give again or to get involved in other ways?

 

With donor retention rates dropping across the nonprofit sector, the answers to these questions are more important than ever. It’s not only crucial to build donor engagement and retention strategies directly into your fundraising campaign plans—you also need to develop a dedicated, data-driven donor retention plan to steer your efforts long-term.

 

However, starting a donor retention plan from scratch or moving your approach in a different direction can feel daunting. That’s why we’ve compiled this list of the most important elements to include in your plan. Let’s dive in so you can start surpassing your donor retention goals!

1. Your donor pyramid

Every fundraising professional knows that it takes more than just generalized appreciation messages to retain donors. After all, your nonprofit’s donors are diverse, and different groups within your support base want to hear from and engage with your organization in different ways. To navigate these differing needs and get a better understanding of your donor base as a whole, create a donor pyramid tailored to your unique supporters.

 

A donor pyramid is a fundraising tool that helps you visualize distinctions within your supporter base by dividing your donors into categories. Most nonprofits categorize donors by giving level, but you can go further to ensure your strategies address multiple aspects of a donor’s relationship with your organization.

 

For example, you might design your donor pyramid with the following levels from top to bottom:

 

• Planned givers
• Annual major donors
• First-time major donors
• Engaged mid-level donors
• First-time and unengaged mid-level donors
• Monthly donors
• Engaged minor donors
• One-time minor donors

 

With these distinctions in mind, you can develop specific stewardship and retention activities that speak to the giving and engagement levels of each group. While annual major donors warrant individualized attention and personal insight into your organization’s plans, for instance, first-time donors at the minor gift level should receive general information about your nonprofit and a welcome package so they can learn about all of the opportunities you have to offer.

2. A stewardship matrix

Once you have a donor pyramid and can place supporters at each level, create a stewardship matrix that outlines a variety of engagement activities aimed at helping you retain donors within each group.

 

Meyer Partners defines a stewardship matrix as “a chart that records when and how a nonprofit plans to engage each of its donor segments.” Your stewardship matrix should include each of the segments from your donor pyramid, a list of engagement and outreach activities, and a timeline for when or how often each activity should occur. Then, indicate which donor segments you plan to engage with each activity.

 

Activities designed to boost retention for different groups might look like:

 

• Sending personalized thank-you emails to all donors within 48 hours.
• Sharing your annual report with all donors annually via email.
• Highlighting recurring mid-level and major donors in your newsletter on a quarterly basis.
• Inviting planned givers, major donors, and engaged mid-level donors to your annual donor gala.
• Mailing welcome packets to first-time mid-level donors and sending welcome emails to first-time minor donors.

 

By including a stewardship matrix in your donor retention plan, you’ll ensure that your retention efforts remain consistent and relevant to each donor segment. This matrix shouldn’t be set in stone, either. As you start seeing results from your stewardship matrix, revisit your planned activities and update them based on their success rates and any feedback you receive.

3. Multi-channel outreach

As you decide which activities to include in your stewardship matrix and overall retention plan, consider outreach across multiple communication channels. This way, you’ll engage donors with different communication preferences and ensure that the format of your messages aligns with their content. For instance, a major donor impact update would be much better suited to direct mail than a text message (whereas a text might be more effective for thanking a one-time donor for registering for an event).

 

Consider the strengths of each core communication channel to decide which messages you should send using each one. These include:

• Direct mail’s personal touch and tangibility. Direct mail fundraising appeals, thank-you letters, and impact reports have the unique ability to touch donors’ hearts in a highly personalized way and keep your nonprofit top-of-mind. Since donors receive less physical mail than emails and can hold your letters in their hands, important messages are bound to make a significant impact when sent via direct mail.

• Email’s speed and bulk sending capabilities. For messages you need to send quickly to large swaths of your donor base, email is a low-cost, often effective option. To make your retention emails stand out in crowded inboxes, use personalized, compelling subject lines and make your email content easily skimmable. Bold the most important parts of the message, and include large, clickable calls to action to inspire engagement.

• Social media’s reach and versatility. When you want to recognize donors publicly, share appreciation videos, or engage donors with unique interactive content, social media can give you a wide reach. Social media platforms’ versatility allows you to get creative with your donor retention tactics and interact with supporters in new ways.

 

In all of the multi-channel outreach you send, remember to keep the focus on donors’ impact. Leverage storytelling techniques, compelling images, and concrete data to communicate the real impact donors’ gifts create and how much further good they can do by continuing to support your organization’s mission long-term. Include details about individual donors’ impacts in fundraising appeals, thank-you messages, and beyond to remind them why they became donors in the first place.

4. Personalized donor appreciation

Finally, include plenty of data-infused donor appreciation strategies in your retention plan. Appreciating donors effectively not only helps you maintain quality relationships with individuals but also contributes to a positive donor community where everyone feels valued, useful, and empowered to help you work toward more change.

 

To personalize your appreciation and recognition efforts, refer back to your donor pyramid. Start by choosing appreciation tactics that align with each donor’s giving and engagement level, then add personal details from your donor database.

 

For example, say that you want to recognize a first-time major donor in the hopes of inspiring them to turn their donation into an annual gift. Because of the size and impact of their gift, you might add their name to a donor recognition wall in your program facility or share their story on a digital wall on your website. To personalize the recognition, OmniAlly recommends using vivid imagery of the donor alongside stories about their impact and history with your organization.

 

By combining all of these elements, you’ll create a robust, flexible donor retention plan to guide your stewardship efforts and help you retain more donors over time. If you need additional help creating or updating your retention plan, remember that there are a variety of resources you can tap into for extra support, from online templates to expert advice from nonprofit consultants.