There’s little doubt in my mind that, when it comes to ‘retention’, the powers-that-be in most organizations will view any serious efforts to improve donor loyalty and commitment (retention) as disruptive.

In turn, they will either deliberately or subconsciously move to subvert any efforts at improvement.

All organisms contain antibodies — cells in their immune systems that identify, attack and neutralize foreign objects. The same holds true for nonprofit organisms. Here the antibodies take the form of those folks who resist any innovation, change or new approach that differs from the traditional ways the organization has met revenue targets.

It’s not that these ‘antibodies’, these defenders of the status quo, the immune system battling change, are evil or even stupid. In many cases they truly believe they are protecting the organization from itself by preventing the expenditure of time or money on something new or different.

Nonprofit antibodies ensure that maximum spend goes to acquisition and hard asks, and that minimum spend is ‘wasted’ on what they truly believe to be the ‘fuzzy’ or ‘soft’ stuff … like donor communications, donor service and the other essentials of strong retention. Most antibodies truly believe they are ‘helping’ the organization by resisting this retention nonsense.

You don’t need a microscope to spot these antibodies. They’re the ones that spring forth denouncing new ideas and new approaches with the first line of defense: “It’s not in our budget”.  Should the idea get past that first line, you’re sure to hear: “But we’ve never done it that way and right now we have too much on our plate anyway” — in one version or another.

Tom and I’ve been struck by the insights and comments produced by this week’s posts on retention. So, rather than send you off into the weekend with calming, placid thoughts, why not a brief guide on how to identify the retention ‘antibodies’ in your organization.

Whether you work in a small, low-budget organization or with a high-income, large organization there are two simple diagnostic tests for spotting the ‘antibodies’ to retention in your organization.

These ‘tests’ also have the immense advantage of utilizing two of the lowest cost, highest yielding, most proven techniques you can pursue in boosting retention.

Test #1: Telephone Thank You’s. Following a rule doesn’t get any easier or simpler than this: “A three minute thank you call will boost 1^st year retention by 30%.”

Best of all there’s not an organization I’m aware of that doesn’t have the ability to pick up the phone and thank a new donor. All you have to do is make the call quickly — in close proximity to the incoming gift. And yes, utter the words “thank you”, but also ask questions about why they supported you, what else you can do to help them feel good about their involvement … listen, be responsive … you know, have a conversation.

It is beyond the scope of this post to spell out all the particulars, but suffice to say there should be call parameters, talking points and goals, not a hard and fast script. You can do it with staff, volunteers or paid callers. Do not ask for an additional gift.

Not only will a telephone thank you boost your first year retention rates, it boosts second gift conversions, upgrades gift averages, and importantly, its effect lasts into the second and third years of a donor’s relationship with you.

Here, from an earlier Agitator post — Telephoning Works — is a helpful compendium of facts and figures to spray on the antibodies.

Test #2: Continuity Counts. The biggest killer of retention is the absence of continuity in nonprofit communications. If a new donor contributes to Issue A and you acknowledge their gift by talking about Issue B, you’ve lost them right then and there.

This is why the organizational silos — where the direct mail acquisition folks don’t talk to the online acknowledgement folks who are all ignored by the major gift folks — are the deadly enemy of good retention.

So, come next week’s staff meeting, raise your hand and volunteer to take charge of the first three or even five donor communications that follow a new gift, explaining that you want to ensure the messages are consistent with each other.

Yes, you’ll have the antibodies swarming all over you, but if you prevail, you will produce a remarkable increase in your organization’s retention rate.

And as the antibodies line up to neutralize with all their immune defenses and phrases (you’ll recognize ‘em because you’ve heard ‘em every time change and innovation are proposed), just remind them of Adrian Sargeant’s golden admonition:

“A 10% increase in donor retention can increase the lifetime value of the donor database by up to 200%.”

Have a good weekend.

Roger