The Importance of Minimizing Donor Churn

Retaining donors is one of the most serious issues in American philanthropy.

The numbers from the Fundraising Effectiveness Project (designed to help boost nonprofits to raise above 2% of GDP) showed a 7.9% reduction in retention between 2019 and 2021. Organizations that are making effective use of monthly giving are seeing stronger retention rates, but there is still room for improvement.

Only 49% of American donors say they have a good understanding of how their donation dollars are used.

This stewardship gap represents an opportunity to investigate holes in the donor journey and execute tactics to keep donors renewing on time.

Leveraging skilled consultants, learning from the experiences of peers, and adapting practices of commercial customer relations tactics will be useful in planning these new approaches.