John Haydon’s Legacy: Improving Donor Retention through Donor Care

Unfortunately, I’m coming to you with some sad news today.

This week, we lost a legend in the nonprofit sector. John Haydon lost his battle with cancer. You may know John’s work. He was a prolific writer, blogger, author, teacher, trainer, and speaker.

John Haydon’s Legacy: Donor Care

If you’re not familiar with John’s work, I have good news… In the last 3 months of his life, John decided to write a final book. That book is Donor Care: How to Keep Donors Coming Back After the First Gift.

It is all about getting donors to make gifts beyond their first… their second, third, fourth, fifth, even tenth gift.

In the nonprofit sector, we really struggle with donor retention. So, John’s legacy in his final book is all about trying to get us to improve our donor retention rates.

3 Steps to Improve Your Donor Retention Rates

As a tribute to John, to honor his memory and his legacy, today’s post is all about improving your donor retention rates. Here are three steps to do just that.

Step 1: Order John’s book.

Unfortunately, John didn’t make it to see the book actually get published. It’s going to be coming out in the next few weeks. Here’s a link to pre-order the book, or sign up to be notified when it’s available.

Step 2: Determine your donor retention rate, if you don’t already know.

If you don’t know how to determine your donor retention rate, you can find out how in John’s book, or in this Guide to Donor Retention by Bloomerang.

Hopefully your already know what your donor retention rate is — we’ve been talking about it for years. But as John points out, so many nonprofits still don’t know how many donors they are keeping year after year after year.

As a sector, our donor retention rate is abysmal. It’s under 50% for most nonprofits. That means you’re likely losing half your donors from one year to the next.

Step 3: After you’ve read John’s book, make a donor retention plan for this year.

You will find out how in John’s book, which provides inspiration and best practices. Learn more about gratitude and donor communication, and all types of ways to ensure your donors stay with you as partners year after year after year.

My Farewell Tribute to John Haydon

This is my farewell tribute to John. Let’s keep his legacy alive. I urge you to order his book as soon as possible. And always ensure that you’re working hard to improve your donor retention rate. That’s the best way that we can honor his legacy, and his life.

Share some memories of John in the comments below. Also, share what you will do to improve your donor retention rates this year.

Let’s all honor John’s memory and his important lessons about donor retention, together.