Know Your Donor Retention Rate? You Should! Jay Love Explains

Jay Love, the CEO of Bloomerang and my friend and colleague, recently sat down with me for an exclusive interview for my Ask the Fundraising Expert series.

Interview Highlights (Transcript)

Here is a very bare-bones, mini-transcript of our conversation. Be sure to watch the video to get all the important details.

Critical Importance of Donor Data and Engagement

AE:   Why is donor data important, especially for major gift fundraising?

JL:   Data provides insights beyond past giving. Now we’re able to measure engagement.

AE:   Talk more about engagement – what do you mean by that?

JL:   Dr. Adrian Sargeant provided an algorithm which measures 30 – 40 factors, such as do they volunteer, and do they communicate with you, do they click through? Do they contact you?

AE:   Talk about what a development director does once they see high engagement.

JL:   It influences the likelihood of a gift, even more than the amount.

Watch the full interview for more on this topic.

Test Your Donor Database

AE:   What would you say to someone who doesn’t have a good database or records?

JL:   One of the tests I suggest is to take a look at the database they have and separate it into 3 sections (groups):

1. No gift in 2 full years
2. Giving is 10% of your total
3. Giving is 90% of your total

Do we keep any of the ones who haven’t given in 2 years? Put the 10% on automatic pilot (90% of your donors give 10% of your gifts). Finally, focus everyone’s energy on the 90% of income (top 10% of donors).

Watch the full interview for more on this topic.

It’s All About Donor Retention

AE:   Let’s move onto donor retention. Why is donor retention so important?

JL:   It takes so much less effort and less dollars to retain and keep an existing donor than it does to attract a new one. There is a huge difference between first time donor retention and people that have given more than once. How can we have 3 or 4 touches in the first 90 days in order to retain donors?

AE:   Talk a little more about long term retention and lifetime value.

JL:   If you can move the retention rate up, just a few percentage points, the difference in the amount is significant… the average donor stays with you for five or seven years longer… it opens up all these possibilities.

Watch the full interview for more on this topic.

More Great Advice from Jay Love

Watch the full video above to get endless invaluable tips from my conversation with Jay. And get more great advice from Jay Love on the Bloomerang blog.

Do you know what your retention rate it? Is it above 50%? What small steps can you take to increase your retention rate? Share your thoughts in the comments.