When it comes to holding on to donors most fundraisers, like fur-less hamsters, seem to treading their way to nowhere.

As the Agitator noted last week in our post on the 2015 Fundraising Effectiveness Project Report, just as in past years the number of new donors gained is surpassed by the number of existing donors lost (100 too 103). And every $1.00 gained is offset by a $0.95 cent loss due to attrition.

It’s time to get off the treadmill. Time get far more serious about donor retention.

As a starter you might want to print several copies off this Bloomerang Infographic  summarizing the dire news in the Fundraising Effectiveness Report and plaster it around the offices in your organization.

After all, retention is everyone’s business. No just the responsibility of fundraisers, but also of communications folks, program people, boards and CEOs. The organization that’s not all-in on the care of its donors is doomed.

Given the fact that median donor retention has not changed over the past decade — it’s ranged from 46% down to 40% and is now back “up” to 43% — few organizations take the issue of holding on to donors very seriously.

In fact, each time we post on the subject of retention there are invariably comments from Agitator readers noting that when they inquire of colleagues what their retention rate is, they more often than not are met with blank stares.

Seems like asking most nonprofit folks to deal knowledgably with the issues of retention and donor care is somewhat akin to asking a vegan to design a food pyramid.

So, in hopes you’re in a missionary mood and want to spread some retention gospel, I commend Mark Phillips’ post titled, It’s Time to Listen to The Hamster of Fundraising Wisdom. 

Mark brilliantly describes his boyhood travails — and his mother’s — over the pleadings it took to first get a pet a hamster; then his mom’s cajoling to make sure he took care of it.

As Mark confesses: “In short I discovered that having a hamster wasn’t like having a toy that could be put away and forgot about…. It was as much about care as fun. And the more care I put in, the better my relationship and the more fun we would both have.”

Of course donors aren’t hamsters. But Mark’s point is basic to understanding retention: To get the most out of donors you need to look after them. Nurture them. Not treat them like living ATM machines only to be called upon when your organization needs money.

Mark provides some valuable insight into the care of various types of donors and what to avoid if you really want to keep them. Read his full post.

Of particular note:

• All of us ‘share’ donors;  so a bad experience provided by one organization can hurt us all.
• Older donors are more forgiving than younger (middle-age) donors. “They actually don’t expect much from us.”
• “As a sector we are in danger of building a feeling among the next generation of donors [the middle-age group] that we really don’t care about them.

Finally, this  friendly advice from Mark’s Hamster of Fundraising Wisdom:

Post that around your offices as well.

Roger