AFP and The Urban Institute recently published their “2013 Fundraising Effectiveness Survey Report”. The report summarized data from 2,840
nonprofits covering their fundraising efforts for 2011-2012. It contained some
very interesting and compelling facts:
- For every $100 gained through fundraising in 2011-2012, $96
was lost through gift attrition.
- Gains of 866,000 new donors were offset by losses of 909,000
lapsed donors for a negative growth
in donors of 44,000.
- Larger organizations fared much better than smaller ones;
organizations raising over $500k had an average net gain of 16.6%, organizations
in the under $100k group had an average net loss of -13.5%.
- The average donor retention rate for all categories is 41%.
- The retention rate for first time donors is even more dire:
22.9%, but if you can get the second donation it jumps to 60.8%.
- The total of philanthropic giving in the USA has remained at
2.0% of GDP for the past 40 years.
- It costs less to retain and motivate an existing donor than
to attract a new one. Taking positive steps to reduce gift and donor losses is
the least expensive strategy for increasing net fundraising gains.
It’s not rocket science and for most of us none of this
information will be that surprising. The report contains lots of statistics and
methodologies. It also has some trenchant advice for those of us looking at it
seriously. We work so hard to get donors in the front door; we need to work
just as hard to keep them from slipping out the back.So, remembering that what gets measured gets improved upon:
- Do you know your donor retention
rate?
- Have you established a donor
retention goal?
- Does the retention rate measure by
donors and dollars?
- Do you know downgrades as well as
no gift at all by donor?
- How often do you communicate with
donors directly? (An email doesn’t count.)
- Have you gotten advice from the
experts, Clair Axelrad, Dr. Adrian Sargeant and Tom Ahern specifically? Tom was
the keynote speaker at last November’s Philanthropy Day in Delaware. Adrian
Sargeant will be the 2014 Philanthropy Day (Delaware) keynote.
Think of ways to make net gains instead of always trying to
make up lost ground.
