The adage that it’s cheaper to retain a current donor than find a new one is bandied around a lot in fundraising, but I’m beginning to wonder if it’s really understood.
If so, why are so many charities seemingly more concerned about attracting new donors than taking care of the ones they already have – no matter how small that list may be.
Sure, growing our databases is important to our organisations’ survival and ability to have further impact, but unless we have literally zero donors, it will always be more important to retain the ones we have and develop those relationships. So how can we do this?
Donor care is critical. I cannot emphasise that enough. Small improvements in donor retention can have tremendously large improvements in the long-term success and stability of your fundraising.
A fantastic piece of advice from donor relationship expert, Simon Joyaux is to:
“First, believe deeply – in your heart and then in your brain – that donors matter.”
For more tips from other fundraising experts have a read of this article from npENGAGE here.