The Agitator

APRIL 13, 2014

Debbi Barber at Grizzard, in a post last week titled One Simple Way to Improve Retention , hit the nail on the head. She recommended one improvement that would unfailingly yield higher lifetime value from any nonprofit’s donors.

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The Agitator

SEPTEMBER 9, 2014

Increasing the lifetime value of a donor file by increasing retention rates seems like a ‘no brainer’ when it comes to improving an organization’s fundraising performance. Or does your nonprofit follow more the scenario described in this post from Analytical. See here and here.

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The Agitator

APRIL 14, 2014

Yesterday I talked about the simplest step your organization can take to increase the lifetime value of your donors — tighten up your acknowledgement process. But then I got to thinking, how many Agitators readers might still not be sold on the fundamental importance of focusing strategically on donor lifetime value?

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Retention Nonprofit Management Values Management 92

The Agitator

OCTOBER 17, 2013

Commenting on Tom’s Ingredients of Retention Success post, Mazarine Treyz of Wildwoman Fundraising poses the intriguing question of whether retention of donors may possibly be related to an organization’s ability to retain its professional fundraisers. Mazarine asks …. ” Mazarine asks …. ” Look, I am a fundraising.

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Fundraising Fundraising Retention Nonprofit Management 104

The Agitator

SEPTEMBER 21, 2011

Visit our DonorVoice website to review our work, see our analysis of the data, and consider the fundraising and communications interventions we believe can significantly improve your organization’s donor retention performance (our Idea Bank, developed with our outside expert advisers).

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Values Retention Communication Fundraising 73

Bloomerang

JANUARY 11, 2022

People-first cultures are rooted in a philosophy that values people over profits. The ironic twist is that when employees are valued as whole individuals and provided the opportunity for well-being, connection, and fulfillment, companies are generally more innovative, resilient, and even profitable.” .

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The Agitator

OCTOBER 1, 2013

Yesterday I asked you as a fundraiser to consider: Are you a valued guide to your donors, or simply a nuisance paparazzi? He forwarded a recent piece he’d written titled: How are you managing the Donor Journey? How are you managing the Donor Journey? That question elicited a message from Tony Elischer at THINK Consulting.

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The Agitator

JULY 19, 2016

Why do so many nonprofit CEOs and Boards ignore ‘value’ when it comes to fundraising? In fact, why do so many fundraisers ignore it also? Tom’s The Boss Wants to See You!

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The Agitator

JANUARY 8, 2014

Lifetime Value of Your Donors. Don''t Miss these Posts donor retention DonorTrends fundraising marketing metrics nonprofit management nonprofits premium' Here are my candidates for a basic set of 2013 KPIs every fundraiser needs. You’ll need this fundamental and.

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Retention Nonprofit Management Values Management 88

The Agitator

JULY 9, 2018

Nonprofits need to exist as long as their issue exists. That’s why we preach retention above almost all other things – the donors you have are the ones who will sustain you. 8%: percentage of donor retention: long-term thinking. First, as Roger has advocated here , we need to tie compensation to long-term value.

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Retention Management Nonprofit Leadership Values 77

The Agitator

APRIL 30, 2018

Most boards, CEOs and even a lot of fundraisers would say Starbucks is foolish — until they learned that the 20 year Lifetime Value of a Starbucks customer is $14,099. Each of these programs adds to the Lifetime Value of a donor base. What if I told you Starbucks spends $1,400 to acquire a customer who starts off by spending $4.25

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Insurance Retention Values Leadership 86

The Agitator

JANUARY 16, 2018

That dashboard rightly highlights what I’d argue is the most “K” of fundraising KPIs: donor lifetime value. What you really want to focus on is: “what is the net value of a person’s donations to an organization going to be?” . Donor lifetime value’s partner in crime is net cost per new donor. Please don’t leave!

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Bloomerang

JULY 6, 2023

To do this, your organization will need to increase fundraising revenue by $10,000 by finding new outreach opportunities and strengthening relationships with existing supporters to increase donor retention. Meanwhile, you may assign another person to call new donors to thank them and increase your new donor retention.

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Nonprofit governance and management Public and Nonprofit Management Nonprofit Administration and Development Nonprofits 117

The Agitator

APRIL 8, 2018

By now a fundraisers’ focus on retention should be as natural as breathing. The donor retention rate among both high dollar and low dollar donors continues to hover in the mid-40% range. There are 95+ posts in The Agitator on “retention.” Retain more donors. Sadly, it’s not. Create and grow a monthly donor program. ?”A

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Retention Philanthropy Public and Nonprofit Management Insurance 79

The Agitator

FEBRUARY 11, 2013

And he did just that at the Direct Marketing Association’s Washington Conference last week in a fact-packed session on Acquisition and Retention Trends. During the same period, first-year retention rates have significantly declined to the point where, on average, nearly 3 out of 4 newly-acquired donors leave by the end of the first year.

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The Agitator

MARCH 21, 2018

The other one, for those who like spoilers, was donor lifetime value.). But, if you look at value to the organization, the packages without the premiums acquired the types of donors who stick with you and create value without requiring a bevy of tchotchkes. And yet, CTA can lie. How does this apply to identity?

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The Agitator

JULY 31, 2018

And my book Retention Fundraising devoted a chapter to “Five Easy Retention Wins” and noting that saying “Thank you” is Retention Win #1. Are you undervaluing the value gratitude. To make the point on its importance we’ve noted the research indicating that failure to thank donors is a top cause of attrition ….we’ve

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Retention Psychology Universities Food 63

The Agitator

JANUARY 19, 2016

A drunk loses the keys to his house and is looking for them under a lamppost. A cop comes over and asks what he’s doing. “I’m looking for my keys,” he says. “I lost them over there.” ” The policeman looks puzzled. “Then why are you looking for them all the way over here?” ” It’s human nature.

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Values Nonprofit Management Retention Management 56

iMarketSmart

AUGUST 15, 2022

Nonprofit management books – sold to nonprofit administrators – repeat these cherished ideas. One popular management book explains, “The best thing supporters can do is to give resources that enable the institution’s leaders to do their work the best way they know how. The retention is poor. The revenue is flat.

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Public and Nonprofit Management Non-Profits Retention Management 98

The Agitator

FEBRUARY 29, 2016

However, it’s a shift well worth making because measuring the donor experience at various interaction points — and of course acting on what you learn — is one of the ways a nonprofit can grow. Good donor experiences bring greater donor commitment, higher retention rates, higher lifetime value.

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Retention Values Nonprofits Nonprofit Management 66

The Agitator

AUGUST 8, 2012

Too many direct response fundraisers, many of whom should know better, continue to resort to acquisition techniques that only serve to camouflage the erosion and dry rot destroying long-term donor performance and value. When will they understand that Retention is the New Acquisition?

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Fundraising Fundraising Retention Manufacturing 84

The Agitator

JULY 11, 2018

Regardless of on which side of that debate you fall, I’d like to argue that the incentive structure for most F2F firms gives them incentives that are different from your nonprofit’s incentives. 1000 donors with a retention of 60% or 800 donors With a retention rate of 80% (after clawback)? Which would they rather have?

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The Agitator

NOVEMBER 16, 2017

Chip Grizzard in a comment on Part 1 asked what kind of lift, or improvement in second gift conversion and retention is possible using various techniques. DonorTrends , our sister company, provides New Donor Conversion models and retention analytics. Moving the retention rate from 57% to 59% increased the net by $145,000 in a year.

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The Agitator

AUGUST 9, 2018

Your donors’ total lifetime value increases. For this last, let’s remember the lifetime value definition: the total amount of gifts a person will give over their lifetime (less cost of solicitation, communication and donor care.). Increase retention rate. That satisfies Success Criterion #1. A success. Go out of business.

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Fundraising Fundraising Retention Values 40

The Agitator

APRIL 26, 2018

Increasing retention post-first gift is a major part of this and we should pat ourselves on the back (not too hard) for this. But there are only two ways to grow: growing the value of donors or the number of them. They may have given a larger-than-average gift upon acquisition, but their value has built over time.

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Values Fundraising Fundraising Retention 76

The Agitator

MAY 1, 2016

Feedback that would enable them to improve retention rates and lifetime value. I’m continually amazed so many organizations ignore feedback from their donors. They simply hit the ‘mute’ button. How stupid can you get?

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Retention Values Nonprofits Nonprofit Management 56

The Agitator

JANUARY 21, 2018

Any discussion of metrics in The Agitator must include a nod to “ The Curse of Fundraising Innumeracy ” about an Agitator reader who tried to keep a straight face when someone said they had a 95% retention rate. Starting off simple, this is the answer to why we must invest in acquisition and retention. The leaky bucket.

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The Agitator

JANUARY 18, 2018

Anyone familiar with The Undoing Project or the works of Kahneman and Tversky can skip down to where “ retention rate” is written in bold. With that in mind, why do we talk about retention rate? Somehow in the mists of time, we’ve become numb to a 21% first-time donor retention rate. Word choice. Pictures.

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The Agitator

DECEMBER 20, 2015

The three most important questions: “What is our retention rate?”, “What is the 5 year Lifetime Value of our donors?”, Regardless of the answer, there are several questions that are far more important for the future of your organization, and there’s no better time than in these closing days of 2015 to ask and answer them.

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Fundraising Fundraising Retention Values 65

The Agitator

NOVEMBER 6, 2017

I guess I can understand it … Three weeks to NOT think about atrocious renewal/retention rates. Three weeks to NOT worry about the painstaking task of understanding ‘why’ individual donors give and what it takes to build enduring relationships that increase lifetime values. Three weeks of pure escapism.

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The Agitator

MARCH 27, 2012

YET… day in day out thousands of nonprofits pour the bulk of their marketing and fundraising dollars into a leaky retention bucket, seemingly oblivious to this gigantic waste that endangers their very future. Truth be told, the real reason is: “Because we really don’t know how to improve retention and fix the leaky bucket.”.

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The Agitator

JUNE 1, 2017

Particularly discoveries that have significant potential for increasing retention, donor commitment and lifetime value. We conceived the series for two reasons: We wanted to share some of the significant discoveries or findings that are emerging because of research.

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Retention Values Nonprofit Management Management 45

The Agitator

DECEMBER 10, 2017

Whether focusing on new donors from #GivingTuesday, the fall acquisition effort, or next year’s acquisition campaign it’s wise to remember that lousy first year retention rates are largely due to the horrible way donors are brought on board. Looking Ahead. And believe me the numbers are bad. What information should we seek from new donors?

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Retention Communication Values Fundraising 49

The Agitator

MARCH 13, 2013

[Or as Tom says: Retention. Being seduced by a consultant who claims to be able to acquire “higher value donors” and ending up getting too few donors to sustain your organization. Tom, if you made this #1, you would have earned an Agitator raise!]. This is Tom's #1. And closely related.].

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Fundraising Fundraising Retention Finance 109

The Agitator

JUNE 3, 2018

And so did others like Mark Phillips of BlueFrog with a 2008 study on Mid-Value Donors (and again in 2016 ) and Ken Burnett , those vision of fundraising in 2020 is must reading. For example, here and here. Mid-Level giving ranges vary depending on how you want to define them, but usually they’re in the $500 to $5,000 + range.

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Leadership Retention Values Fundraising 51

The Agitator

JANUARY 15, 2018

He told me that his retention rate is 95%. This free process is the quickest, most accurate way for you to not only get your organization’s fundraising vital signs, but to pinpoint weak and troubled areas that need improvement such as response rates, conversion, upgrading, reactivation, retention and lifetime value.

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NonProfit Hub

MARCH 6, 2020

There are a few key terms to remember once bidding opens and the auction officially begins: Minimum starting bid: This is the lowest amount that the first bidder can bid on an item, usually set at 30-50% of the market value. This is usually 10-15% of the market value. Effective communications are a crucial donor retention strategy !

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Retention Management Values Marketing 52