The Spinner Group

Nonprofit changemakers series: best practices in donor retention

Meeting and engaging new donors should always be a priority for your nonprofit, but it shouldn’t be the top one. For one thing, donor acquisition efforts are more costly and time-consuming than donor retention efforts. Keeping the same donors yields significantly more benefits than a focus only on acquiring new ones and is more cost effective. Having a strong focus on stewardship helps donors to develop a deeper commitment to your mission and can also bring in more donors as a result of word-of-mouth promotion. In the first episode of the Nonprofit Changemakers Series, Wendy Spinner has a conversation with Debra Phares, Executive Director and Senior Strategist for the UBS Family Advisory and Philanthropy Services team, about the best practices in retaining donors and building your donor community through. They discuss stewardship and the basic building blocks of customer service in the nonprofit world; knowing your donors and having meaningful interactions; the roles board members can plan and the 6 “Ts” of board membership – Time, Treasure, Talent, Ties, Testimony, and Truth; how to best show gratitude to donors; the value of site visits and events; and providing donors concierge service.