As a nonprofit professional, you’re likely always thinking about ways to improve your supporter retention rate. Your retention rate measures how many supporters (donors, volunteers, ambassadors, community partners, etc.) continue helping your nonprofit over time. For example, you can calculate your donor retention rate by dividing the number of repeat donors you have this year by how many donors gave last year.
The most effective way to improve supporter retention is to build strong relationships with your audience. When you engage with new supporters and make authentic connections, you can encourage them to support you over the long term.
However, strong supporter relationships don’t just appear out of the blue—it takes intentional relationship-building efforts to retain supporters year after year. In this guide, we’ll explore five effective ways to grow your supporter relationships and improve your retention rate, including:
Whether you’re looking to maintain donor support after a capital campaign or turn new volunteers into dedicated, long-term helpers, these tips will help you get to know your supporters and maintain their engagement.
Your stewardship team will drive your supporter relationship-building and retention efforts forward. Each member will play a unique role in engaging with supporters to give them the best supporter experience possible.
Consider recruiting these individuals to your stewardship team:
Meet with your stewardship team regularly to assign responsibilities and ensure everyone is on the same page. To jumpstart your team, set a few goals, such as a target for your donor or volunteer retention rate. This gives your team something to work toward and a way to measure progress.
One of the most critical elements of supporter retention is expressing gratitude and reassuring supporters that their involvement makes a difference. When supporters know your organization appreciates and values them, they’ll be more likely to stay engaged with your cause.
Use these tips to build a more engaging appreciation approach:
Show your appreciation for supporters all the time, not just after they give. Whether they attend an event, participate in a volunteer opportunity, or retweet a Twitter post, let supporters know that you appreciate their engagement, no matter what form it takes.
Along with personalizing your thank-you messages, it’s worthwhile to use the supporter information you gather to customize your other follow-up communications with your supporters. Track supporters’ involvement and interaction histories using your nonprofit CRM. Then, send follow-up messages relevant to supporters’ interests and motivations.
For example, perhaps a certain supporter gives several times throughout the year and attends a couple of volunteer events. You might send this individual information about your monthly giving program to give them a way to standardize their recurring gifts, as well as ongoing updates on your volunteer opportunities.
You can also create supporter segments using the data in your CRM. Segmentation involves grouping supporters based on their shared characteristics. This allows you to send more personalized email content to each group without creating an individual message for each supporter, saving your team’s time.
Engaging with supporters across communication platforms can help you develop a more well-rounded supporter stewardship approach. Virtual communications aren’t the only necessary component of your supporter stewardship strategy—in-person interactions are just as essential.
According to Double the Donation’s fundraising statistics, 67% of donors worldwide also volunteer locally in their communities, and 56% regularly attend events. Your virtual communications allow you to deliver important information to supporters, while in-person interactions provide a chance to get to know supporters on a more personal level.
With that in mind, here are a few channels you might consider using to steward supporters both virtually and in person:
Engaging with supporters over multiple channels ensures you aren’t overwhelming them with communications on just one or two platforms. This helps make your relationship-building efforts more natural, leading to more genuine conversations and interactions.
Supporter appreciation events allow you to thank all supporters at once and encourage supporters to get to know one another and your nonprofit’s team members better.
Here are a few ideas for appreciation events that supporters will be excited to add to their calendars:
The focus of these events should be on expressing your gratitude—not recruiting supporters to help out with your next fundraising campaign or volunteer initiative. This shows supporters that your relationship-building efforts are genuine, not just something you do to earn more funding or volunteer support.
If your organization’s relationship-building strategies need a more intense revamp, consider hiring a fundraising consultant. These professionals can help with anything from conducting a planning and feasibility study to creating a more well-rounded supporter stewardship strategy.