As year-end giving is now upon us, discovering why donors stop giving will provide you a keen understanding of what you need to improve on to get higher fundraising returns.
A Bank of America report found that 28% of wealthy donors stop giving to a nonprofit that they supported in the previous year.
Here are the five top reasons:
- The donor received too many solicitations or the nonprofit asked for an inappropriate gift amount (38%)
- The organization changed leadership or its activities (29%)
- The donor changed philanthropic focus to support other causes (27%)
- The donor’s personal situation changed (financial, relocation, employment) (22%)
- The donor was no longer personally involved in the organization (12%)
These are facts we want to know and use to inform new donor management.
The bottom line is that being thoughtful and staying engaged with your donors, especially through personal contact and donor surveys, will keep you in the know about the changing landscape of your donors.
As a fundraiser for 40+ years, I often find that your donors do not know your organization as well as you may think. In many cases they don’t know you at all! This is a result of a lack of donor cultivation and engagement. Short videos, text messages expressing appreciation, phone calls and newsletters can fix that problem.
