Tuesday September 30- Retention

Hi !

Rey Curtis: What’s cookin this week

In this week’s enews…

• You can learn from everyone

• Working on boosting retention

• Learn from the good: Address the myths in your mission area

• Great post: Turn one-timers into ongoing supporters

• Hate it when that happens

The solution to the Triple E (enews easter egg) from two weeks ago: Characters from The Goonies, an alltime movie fav.

Before I get into this week’s edition, I want to thank everyone who took the time to respond to what I shared in last week’s email. Loads of great feedback, food for thought and strong opinions. I’ll be coming back to what I shared and your responses in a future edition.

When we look at the fundraising and marketing content we share with our audience, it’s hard to think about it from the reader’s perspective. After all, we have messages we want to get across and that’s what we concentrate on.

But it’s easy to forget that our audience is made up of people who are… just like us. When you read something, you don’t automatically jump at the chance to buy or donate. It takes more than that.

You all know what happens when you assume. And that’s why this week’s pain point is going to look at donor retention and two specific issues we need to keep in mind.

As year-end gets closer, let’s dive in and see what you can do to encourage more people to give again and again and again.

Lennie Briscoe: Learn from everyone 

I subscribe to a LOT of enewsletters. The goal? To learn from a wide and diverse group of people and companies.

And yes, topics.

Just because I work with nonprofits doesn’t mean I should avoid content from the for profit world. The opposite! There’s plenty to learn from the business world that I can carry over to the nonprofit sector.

I subscribe to publications that discuss marketing, email, finance, ecommerce, the psychology of buying, tech, copywriting and more.

One of my favorites is All Things CX and Retention by Eli Weiss. He writes about retention and customer experience (CX) in the ecommerce world. It’s one of the best publications I receive weekly- the content is fantastic and Eli’s writing style keeps my attention from start to finish.

Best part? I learn a TON about CX and retention that I can share with clients. Both issues are ones nonprofiteers grapple with and knowing how to provide a seamless donation (customer) experience while retaining donors over the long haul is critical to your organization’s growth.

Back in February, Eli sent an enews which really stayed with me. I’m sharing it now because of the proximity to both year-end campaigns and planning for 2026 growth. Here’s the intro from his enews:

Sound familiar?!

Let’s look at two issues Eli raises and their relevance to giving and retention.

Mike Logan: Boost retention

1️⃣ We expect customers to buy immediately- but that’s not how we shop

Think about all the letters, emails, social media posts and more that we send out. Does every campaign have an ROI of 300%? Does every campaign succeed? Does everyone on our list respond to our request to give?

No, no and no.

Sure, there are people who make impulse purchases and they’ll give when they weren’t planning on donating. But think about your own giving to nonprofits- odds are you’re not giving every time there’s an ask.

In fact, it’s a process.

You can throw all the URGENT in email subject lines and emotional tugs in letters to mobilize giving. But again, we have to keep in mind how people make decisions.

Yes, a matching campaign does raise more money from more people (the same way a 20% discount could encourage more people to buy a certain shirt). Some of those people may not have been interested in giving that day but the chance to have their gift doubled or tripled served as a trigger.

But again, it’s not 100% success.

So instead of NOW NOW NOW let’s consider pacing the conversation we’re having with current and potential supporters. Let’s create a path that builds to a point where someone wants to give.

More gratitude. More storytelling. More sharing of impact data (qualitative and quantitative). More creating value for people. More touch points prior to an ask. More relationship building.

At year-end you’ll be trying every which way to encourage people to give. But it’s important to remember: A donation is just the beginning of the road. Now you have to shine in the gratitude and reporting part after the donation.

This is how you boost retention. This is how you provide a positive donor experience. This is how your organization grows and thrives.

As Eli says: “Sometimes, the best growth strategy isn’t “how do I get them to buy today?” It’s “how do I make sure they want to buy from me when the timing is right?”

2️⃣ We ignore customers for months- until we want something from them

Unfortunately, nonprofits do this all the time.

A person donates, gets a thank you reply and then… 🦗 

They don’t hear from the organization until the next time they’re needed. And by then it’s too late- out of sight, out of mind.

The donor has moved on elsewhere. Which is why it’s critical to deal with this pain point:

Ignore people at your own peril.

People have a lot of choices when it comes to giving. If you’re not working to build a relationship and the only time people hear from you is money time, they’ll bounce. And your retention goes down.

My question to you: What’s going to be your lead-in to your year-end campaign? You can’t just maintain radio silence and then bombard people with twenty fundraising asks in December.

My second question to you: What will you do post-December to maintain the relationship with those who gave? How will you make them remember the experience of giving as a positive one?

The sector data on retention (and the ridiculously low first time donor retention rate) are pain points many organizations suffer from. It costs them a lot of money, time and effort.

Growth happens when more people feel connected to your work, programs and impact. If you want 2025 to end on a high note and 2026 to be a year where your organization grows and thrives, work on how you’ll stay in touch.

Ed Green: Address the myths

In this section I will share with you something good being done by a nonprofit that you can learn from.

As you engage people, talk to them and connect, you’ll begin to hear and read how people view your mission. What’s important is to listen for myths/untruths people hold about your work and address them.

Feeding America does a good job of this with a two-pronged approach. First by email:

They know one of the myths floating around out there and they share the reality.

The second thing they do is drive traffic to their blog where people can learn more. They have a guessing game, a post with more info and an embedded video to help readers learn more.

Don’t be afraid to face things head on. If there’s misinformation out there about your organization, mission, work or services, correct it by educating your audience!

Phil Cerreta: A little of this and that

In this section I’m going to share with you great content I’ve picked out that you can learn from.

1. Tips to improve the returns on your direct mail campaigns (Moceanic)

2. How to covert one-time donors into ongoing. MUST READ! (Nonprofits Source)

3. The design of your online donation form matters (re:Charity)

4. Which colors will boost click thrus on your emails? (Westfield Creative)

5. How to promote matching gifts at year-end (Click & Pledge)

Anita Van Buren: Typos kill me

I hate typos. I hate misspelled words. I hate finding them in emails AFTER hitting send.

But sometimes ya gotta laugh. Which is why you’ll enjoy these typos from Mitch the intern.

I’ll be back in your inbox next Thursday. Have a great weekend!

🎶 This week I wasn’t just listening to 80s songs. I was also doing this.