Having a good bond with your donors is important, but mistakes made along the way make that hard. If you have a nonprofit, you might be making a mistake if you aren't thanking your donors personally whenever they contribute.
Failing to use data can also make you miss the chance to grow.
According to the Association of Fundraising Professionals, the number of donors nonprofits retain from one year to another went down from 18.3% in 2024 to 18.1% in early 2025. That may seem like a small change, but donor management is very crucial.
You shouldn't be losing people who support your cause just because you failed to use the right strategies to keep them interested.
What Is the Donor Management Process?
A donor may reach out to you for the very first time after seeing you helping someone or doing something good for our world. You can also connect with potential donors when you host an event in Pittsburgh to raise money.
The donor management process after the first interaction is pretty simple. Make these steps part of your nonprofit fundraising strategies:
- Get them to gift your nonprofit
- Send them updates about what you're doing
- Keep them around by showing them they're valuable
- Motivate them to bring in more people to support you
Never skip some steps in the donor process because, in the long run, they may influence whether people want to keep supporting you.
What Is a Donor Management System?
You can apply the best donor engagement tactics once you have the tools that will make work easier for your team. In the past, you had to record every meeting or interaction you had with donors manually, but there are now many tools to help you do that.
Gaining more control with tech makes your cause easier to run and improves the success of your nonprofit. Use a donor management tool to do things like:
- Store donor contact details
- Record how much each of them gives
- Send them tailored messages
- Keep an eye on how your campaigns are doing
- Create reports so you can track trends
Nonprofit donor relations can sometimes make you feel like you aren't doing enough, especially if you haven't been getting the results you set at the beginning of the year or when you started a cause.
Tools like MightyCause's Donor Management Software help you keep track of every time you engage with your supporters.
Common Donor Management Mistakes
You may already have a team that is quite focused on your cause, and still make mistakes. Once you know what you have been doing wrong, it becomes easier to fix it and move forward.
Treating Donors Like Transactions Instead of People
Your donors are human, too, and they would love to see that someone actually appreciates what they have been doing. Many nonprofits just send a generic message to everyone after an event or after getting the transaction message.
A simple thank-you message will help you build a great bond, so you should always send one every time someone sends a gift.
Appreciating people is important, so find a way to make it more heartfelt. Effective donor communication always includes messages that feel like they are just directed at the person reading them.
You can thank a donor and make your message matter more by mentioning how you used the funds they gave you. Inspiration mostly comes from seeing how our work or money is making a difference in the world. Don't just thank your donors online with a generic message.
Ignoring Data
Nonprofits should be relying on numbers and important details about their donors, but unfortunately, many aren't doing that to date. Whenever donors interact with you, you'll be able to collect information such as:
- The causes they want to support
- When their birthday is
- How much they contributed in the past
If you notice that it's your donor's birthday, send them a happy birthday message and thank them for supporting you. You can use tech to avoid monitoring everyone's special events manually.
Show you care about your donors' lives and who they are as people in general by always advising them to support causes you already know they care about.
Overlooking Donor Retention
Asking someone who doesn't know much about your cause to support you will be harder than going back to someone who already donated before.
Nonprofits often make the mistake of focusing on bringing in new donors instead of building better bonds with those they already have. Improving donor retention should be a key focus because it's often cheaper and less stressful for your entire team.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Can My Small Nonprofit Improve Donor Management?
Managing donors becomes so much easier if you simply make a few changes to how you're currently running some things. You can
- Send thank you notes automatically instead of manually
- Organize your data better to have more insights
- Track your donors' details and preferences
Keep in touch with donors more frequently instead of calling them only when they send a gift too.
How Often Should Nonprofits Communicate With Donors?
It depends. The best frequency will depend on how you work, but regardless, it's always good to be consistent.
When you check in, let's say once a month, donors won't feel used if you reach out three months later asking for a donation.
Every connection takes time to build, and being consistent will work to your advantage.
Can Nonprofits Reconnect With Lapsed Donors?
Yes. Someone may stop supporting you because they feel like you didn't appreciate them or that your goals no longer match their values.
Sharing your new mission or cause can motivate someone who once supported you. Never forget to be grateful, too, because donors want to support organizations that value their supporters.
Build Stronger Bonds With Donors
Donor management sometimes becomes hard because you aren't using the right technology or interacting with people in a way that makes them feel valued.
When you personalize messages, your donors won't feel like you're just after their money because you can connect even on a casual day. Data also helps you tailor messages, so make good use of simple details like birthdays.
Explore our news page to discover more ways to grow your nonprofit.
This article was prepared by an independent contributor and helps us continue to deliver quality news and information.
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