Rummaging through some old files on a completely unrelated mission, I stumbled upon some interesting data from a comprehensive donor survey conducted for a prominent national US nonprofit a decade ago.

In view of the relentless hammering away The Agitator does on donor retention, I thought it might be worthwhile to share a couple of the findings.

In one question, donors were asked ‘How loyal can you imagine being?’ to a variety of entities or products, on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 representing ‘very loyal’. Here are the ‘high loyalty’ results (4’s + 5’s):

• 62% My doctor (5’s only > 31%)
• 55% A charity or cause I support (25%)
• 52% My current employer (30%)
• 45% A TV show (18%)
• 44% My make of automobile (18%)
• 44% A sports team (22%)
• 41% My primary source of news (15%)
• 40% A beer or soft drink (17%)
• 37% A political party (15%)
• 33% My telephone service provider (13%)

Those should be encouraging responses to fundraisers. Only doctors appear to earn more loyalty, my assumption as a result of the direct personal nature of the relationship in most cases. The same reason might be inferred for loyalty to one’s employer — the relationship is directly personal.

Each of the other situations is impersonal by comparison, although clearly high emotional content attaches to some (like sports teams, and possibly even a favorite TV show), while vast fortunes are spent to build loyalty to others (autos, soft drinks).

So, all in all, nonprofits would appear to start with impressively high ‘promise’ or potential as they relate to their donors — 55% are inclined to be highly loyal. Their telephone service provider would die for that potential!

But with donor retention rates in the toilet, what has happened to squander that potential?

The survey also asked donors ‘the most important’ reason why they decided ‘not to continue or renew your support for a charity or issue advocacy organization’?

In the first pass, like every donor survey I’ve ever seen, ‘can no longer afford’ was the top reason given. To the extent that’s true (as opposed to being the least potentially ‘offensive’ or revealing response to give the interviewer), I’ll concede it’s a tough factor for fundraisers to overcome. If the cupboard is bare, the cupboard is bare.

However, when that reason is screened out, the responses are, I submit, more revealing. Then respondents say:

• 17% My interests or priorities change
• 16% I’m not sure my contribution has made a difference
• 15% I found a different organization I thought might be more effective
• 14% I’m dissatisfied with the organization’s performance
• 12% The organization did something I disagreed with

So there’s the battleground folks!

Arguably, your nonprofit can’t set your donors’ priorities; obviously there are a lot of factors at play there. But without question, how effectively your nonprofit  communicates the importance of its mission on an ongoing basis can be hugely influential.

And for the other four reasons on that list, how well your organization communicates and how well it interacts with individual donors (think: customer service) is the paramount factor — and totally within your control.

I’ll posit that at least 15% to 20% of your donors who are presently defecting are absolutely winnable … retainable.

Not through tweaking your renewal contact tactics. Rather, by overhauling the content of your donor communications, respecting donor preferences, and not screwing up donor service (e.g. spelling their name wrong, not acknowledging their giving history).

The loyalty is there to be earned. How badly do you want it?

Tom