Donor Retention Rate
Your donor retention rate is the percentage of all donors who give in two consecutive years. This does not count new donors, but it will include upgraded and downgraded donors.
Donorbox Moments feature improves donor retention because you are informed about key donor events so you can amp up donor engagement, send personalized updates, and communicate more effectively with your donors.
How to use this calculator
To calculate donor retention rate, divide the number of repeat donors this year by those that donated last year.
Pro Tip
Strong donor retention rates help predict revenue for the organization and improve meaningful engagement, get larger donations, and help nonprofits budget better. While organizations with a high retention rate keep or renew many donors from year to year, those with a low rate must spend more to acquire new donors to keep their bottom lines above water.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a donor’s retention rate?
A donor retention rate is the percentage of your donors who give in two consecutive years.
Why is donor retention important?
Donor retention is important because it’s easier to solicit gifts from current donors than new ones. Communicating and strengthening relationships with your current donor base takes less time, effort, and money to raise critical funds when compared to brining in new donors.
Donorbox’s donor retention rate calculator helps you further understand your donor’s ability to give, program interest, and more.
What is the average donor retention rate?
According to a report by the Fundraising Effectiveness Project, current donor retention rates hover around 18%-20%. This is a significant drop from the 43% to 45% that it was for over a decade. Donorbox’s donor retention rate calculator helps you know where your nonprofit rates are in comparison.
How does the donor retention rate calculator work?
Using the donor detention rate calculator is simple - input the number of last year’s donors (be sure to include one-time, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual donors) in Year 1 and the number of these donors who gave again this year in Year 2. Click “Calculate Donor Retention Rate” and the tool does all the work for you!
How do I set donor retention rate goals?
You can set your organization’s donor retention rate goals by first understanding your organization’s rate. Donorbox’s donor retention calculator makes it easy to learn this percentage.
Now that you know it for the year, you can choose how much to increase your rate and what to do to reach it. You can make informed decisions by breaking down that rate for different campaigns and events, being sure to plan where to use your resources to get the best results.
Does Donorbox help me improve my donor retention rate?
Beyond the donor retention rate calculator, Donorbox has a list of several features that can help you improve donor retention rates.
Donorbox Moments lets you see key donor events so you can better understand your donors’ history and involvement with your organization. Our donor management software helps you track and personalize communications with your donors and strengthen long-term relationships, which lead to repeat donations.
Is it easy to sign up for Donorbox?
Donorbox makes it easy to sign up for our software. Nonprofits, businesses, and individuals can sign up for Donorbox and create their first campaign in minutes.
Just select your country, enter your contact information, organization type, description, and links to your website and email. Next, you’ll choose a payment processor, create your campaign, and add Donorbox to your website or share a link to your donation page on social media. It’s that quick!