In this webinar Chuck Longfield, Senior Vice President and Chief Scientist at Blackbaud, discusses the importance of donors to your organisation and provides advice on how you can improve your donor retention. View the recording for this webinar online at: https://www.blackbaud.com.au/notforprofit-events/webinars/past

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RETENTION
Chuck Longfield, Chief Scientist, Blackbaud
July 29, 2013

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AUSTRALIA IS THE MOST GENEROUS COUNTRY IN
THE WORLD

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• Finding new donors is difficult and expensive.
• Growth in number of Regular Givers from 2011 to 2012 was 4%. This was
was significantly lower than the growth from 2007 to 2008 (~14%).
• Cost to acquire a new donor is 6-7 times that to retain an existing donors.
• Top 18 Australian charities had a massive 1% change in the number of
donors on file. They lost 28% and gained 29%!
>>> We estimate they spent over $60m to basically stand still.
• According to the 2012 SONI survey, of Australian donors
- 35% were willing to support 3+ charities with one-off gifts
- but only 16% were willing to support 3+ charities with regular gifts
• Young donors are less loyal than older donors
RETENTION VS ACQUISITION

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SO WHAT SHOULD WE DO?

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EMPHASIZE DONOR RETENTION OVER ACQUISITION

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• View current donors as valuable assets!
Acquiring a new donor is not a fair trade for losing a
current donor.
85% of existing, Regular Givers were retained but only 58%
of new, Regular Givers*
65% of existing, Regular Givers were retained but only 27%
of new, Regular Givers*
* 2011 donorCentrics analysis of large, multi-national, Australian non-profits
EMPHASIZE DONOR RETENTION OVER ACQUISITION

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• When acquiring new donors, factor in whether you will
retain the donor, and at what dollar level
2013 Australian donorCentrics First Year Retention Rates:
41% - Single Gift, Mail Acquired Donors
25% - Single Gift, Web/Digital Acquired Donors
7% - Single Gift, Event Acquired Donors
49% - Regular Gift, Face to Face Acquired Donors
77% - Regular Gift, DRTV Acquired Donors
78% - Regular Gift, Web/Digital Acquired Donors
EMPHASIZE DONOR RETENTION OVER ACQUISITION

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• View donors as valuable assets!
• When acquiring new donors, factor in whether you will
retain the donor, and at what dollar level
• Fill the holes in your leaky bucket!
• Why did the donor give? Stop giving?
• According to Adrian Sargeant, Ph.D. from Indiana
University’s Center on Philanthropy
“A 10% increase in donor retention can increase the
lifetime value of the donor database by up to 200% .”
EMPHASIZE DONOR RETENTION OVER ACQUISITION

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• Be willing to invest in your donors, e.g. thank you calls.
See Donor-Centered Fundraising – Penelope Burk
• Determine a donor’s potential early in your relationship
and allocate resources accordingly
• Be Donor-Centric, not Campaign-Centric
- Personalisation
- Segmentation
- Guided Moves Management
FOCUS ON LIFETIME VALUE, NOT RESPONSE RATES

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• Set goals and measure your results
• Find peer groups and benchmark your results
• Checklist Manifesto, by Atul Gawande
• Identify best practices
• Find ways to collaborate to maximize results
FOCUS ON RESULTS, NOT EFFORT

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• Organize yourself to recognize a donor’s passion for your
mission
• See yourself through the eyes of your donors
• Be willing to invest in your donors
• Test investments and track results carefully
INVEST IN YOUR MOST PASSIONATE SUPPORTERS

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1. Emphasize donor retention over donor acquisition
2. Focus on a donor’s lifetime value, not a campaign’s
response rate
3. Focus on results, not effort
4. Identify & invest in your most passionate supporters
KEY TAKE-AWAYS

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• Over 300 of the best fundraising ideas ever,
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• What three things will you do
differently, starting next week?
WWW.SOFII.ORG
A unique online resource of everything you could want to
know about fundraising from c.1500 BC to the present day

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The Raiser’s Edge for Retention can help your organisation to:
 Focus on donor retention & stewardship
 Improve visibility of fundraising results
 Manage regular giving
 Improve efficiency
For more information contact Rebecca.Shortern-Rule@Blackbaud.com.au.
It’s time to start treating your donors as your most
valuable asset

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QUESTIONS?
Chuck Longfield, Chief Scientist
chuck.longfield@blackbaud.com