 Thank you all for joining me today as we talk about rising above the churn with winning strategies for donor retention in the nonprofit world. We're certainly glad that you all are here. Let's get this slide moving. All right, my name is Ashley Capilitas. I am one of the community development specialists here at Mighty Cause. Certainly excited to be with you all today. And as we get started, what we'll do is we'll take a quick moment just to learn who is Mighty Cause, but then we'll dive into our donor retention. We're going to take a look at why retention matters, setting retention goals and a plan to meet them, building trust, increasing knowledge, prioritizing donor satisfaction, and making it easy to donate to and stay involved with your organization. Again, just as I mentioned, we'll have a question and answer session at the end, so be sure to post any of your questions in the Q&A box. I will be looking at those during the presentation, but we'll have a few minutes at the end and also the webinars recorded. So if you need to come back to review anything, feel free to do that. So just real quick, Mighty Cause has been dedicated to serving nonprofits since 2006. We offer a year-round platform for all of your fundraising needs, and we're specifically designed for the small to medium nonprofit, but we certainly have our share of large nonprofits that we service as well. So not only do we process donations, but we also provide peer-to-peer fundraising pages, donor management tools, integrations, a number of other features. We also have, as I mentioned, a free resource center with blogs, webinars, eBooks, fundraising ideas, all kinds of things, but that's enough about Mighty Cause, that's enough about us. Let's get on to donor retention. So why retention matters? Most people in the nonprofit space have heard that it's easier to keep a donor than to gain a new one, and not only is it easier, it's more cost-effective and time-efficient as well. And if you retain donors and bring in new donors, now you're making progress and you're building your donor base, but if you're only bringing in new donors and you're losing your current donors, then really you're just treading water and treading water is exhausting. We don't want to be doing that. So another reason why retention matters is because it creates overall supporters for your organization. And when your donors are retained, then they become invested, and invested donors, they're more likely to become fundraisers to volunteer and then to promote your organization in other ways. So the truth is fundraising will always be a dance and a balancing act between attracting new donors and nurturing the ones that you have. And neither group is more important, but each requires specialized attention in order to create that robust and sustainable fundraising strategy. So let's learn how to increase that donor loyalty, reduce the donor churn, and cultivate a strong donor base. First, let's look at setting goals. Setting retention goals is often an overlooked but super important aspect of donor retention. And this is why we're going over it first, because without goals, we don't truly know if we're doing well at donor retention or if we're missing the mark by a mile. And goals also help us prepare for a plan of action, because simply saying that you're going to retain more donors this year doesn't actually bring any retention. So we need goals in a plan to reach those goals. But what does that look like? It begins with knowing your numbers. So you're going to start by looking at your current retention rate, and your donor retention rate is the percentage of donors who give to your organization year over year. And you can determine this by dividing the number of donors that you retained this year, by the number of donors you retained last year, and then multiply that total by 100, and you have your donor retention rate. Now this is where Mighty Cause comes in, because we'll do all that math for you. And if you've received donations through the Mighty Cause platform, you can download your donor retention report to serve as a springboard for all of your planning. And as time goes, you're going to use that retention report to track your progress and identify any problem areas. So that full downloadable retention report has all the donor details that you need. And not only can you filter by timeframe, but you can also curate that list of donors to see who's been retained, or you can focus just on those who have not been retained. So it's versatile that way. And also within our reporting, you can email your donors directly from our platform. So getting to know your retention data through that downloadable reporting enables you to create reasonable goals. And that's key. Every non-profit is going to have unique goals and a unique timeline for reaching those goals. And your goals might be to retain a certain percentage of donors, or to develop a certain percentage of your budget by retained donors. So you're looking to grow the percentage of monthly donors you have. Or maybe it's a combination. So like I said, every organization is going to have unique goals. And once you have those goals on paper, be realistic about how long it'll take for you to reach those goals. And perhaps it'll take you two years of cultivating donors. And that's okay. And that's great. If you want to have that, you can look at, what are we going to do for year one? What's going to be that goal? And to figure all of that out, you're going to look at your long-term goal, and you're going to work backwards. And as you're doing all that, don't forget to celebrate as you're reaching your milestones. Donor retention is definitely for the long haul, and you're going to want to celebrate some of those wins to keep you motivated. And let's see how this might work, how this could play out. First, you review and you interpret the retention success that you have. And you're going to ask yourself, is this success centered around a particular event or a time of year, or do most of your retained donors fall into a certain demographic? Information about your success will help you understand areas that you might be missing or areas where you can do better. Let's say most of your retained donors give during your spring fling event and are under the age of 35. Well, this means you want to review the promotion you do for your spring fling. And is there any way you can provide that kind of promotion for other events during the year? Or what about reaching different age groups? If most of your donors are around or under 35, then you're missing a huge portion of potentially retained donors. And so now you look at what other avenues you can use to engage your older donors and steward them toward giving again. So walking through this process is how you begin to build a strategy towards intentional retention. So on to building trust. Retaining donors is about building relationships with your donors. And relationships are built on trust. And we can't assume that donors trust you just because they've donated once or twice. And you must be intentional and preemptive about building trust. And to do this, you need to provide appropriation accountability and operation transparency. Appropriation accountability might sound kind of fancy, but it's really just answering the question, are funds being spent on your mission in effective ways? And this can be boiled down to two things. Are you spending your funds on the mission that you promote? And are you spending those funds wisely? So take a moment and put yourself in your donor shoes. They don't see the inner workings of your organization, but they do see news stories of organizations and fundraisers taking donations and using them for personal gain or on elaborate unnecessary spending. So you're battling the doubts that are being stirred up by a few bad apples. And the unfortunate reality is that we all need to be on our guard against fraud, which means you need to show your supporters that their gifts are being spent on the mission and spent in cost effective ways. Similar to appropriation accountability, you also need operation transparency. This means being sure that you're sharing enough of the right information. And it's easy to wait until the end of the fiscal year, put out a financial report and call that transparency. And it is transparent, but isn't enough to keep and build your donors trust. Sometimes we think that transparency is only about money. And although it's important to be transparent about finances, transparency also includes your organization's methods, values and operating principles. Donors care about who you are, they care about how you do things, almost as just as much as they care about your mission. And this transparency isn't something to be scared of. People aren't looking for dirty laundry. Donors want to trust you and that's partially why they donated to you in the first place. So when you share about how things are operating or the values that guide your decision making, you're strengthening that trust. So be confident in what you're doing, and then tell your supporters about it. This can be in your newsletters or social media posts, in-person events on your website, any literature or anything you use for outreach. Be sure to touch on how you operate as well as on your mission and your motives. So for example, when you're updating technology or you're creating new positions, or maybe you're restructuring your team, go ahead and tell your supporters and share about how these changes are going to make your nonprofit more impactful in your community and your mission. And if things are tough, share about that too. Donors live in the real world and they know things aren't always rosy and easy going. So don't pretend like they are. Go ahead and share the rough stuff too. And you don't need to go into fine detail in all of these areas, but you do want to be upfront about how you're operating and why. And as you share information throughout the year, you're now creating a partnership with your supporters. And the more donors see themselves as your partner, the more likely they are to stick with you through the highs and the lows. And that's that retention. And on total fairness, some donors aren't going to care as much about this as other donors, but the greater the size and the frequency of donations, the more a donor is investing in you and the more the donors associating with your reputation. So the less superficial and the more real you can be with your donors, the more likely you are to gain and to keep those partners. So let's take a look at increasing knowledge, understanding the multiple facets of your organization and knowing the impact you're making. That's going to strengthen your donors desire to see you funded and to see you flourishing. But what do I mean by this. What your organization provides an after school program for high schoolers, people may be under the false impression that all you do is provide a safe gathering place for youth after school. But if people begin to learn that you're also providing free tutoring, coaching for sports and music training on basic life skills such as handling money, cooking, navigating technology. Your donors have all the more reason to support you. And the more people know about what you do, the more invested they become. And this in turn creates those retained donors. So how do you increase knowledge, you make it interesting, and you make it a little fun. You can share real life stories that display the different aspects of your organization. And that means anything and everything and be sure to highlight the impact and the importance of each donor, but you want to make it real. So you're going to use those real life stories. You can also incorporate a did you know feature as part of your outreach material and on your website, because people don't know things unless you tell them, and sometimes those easy bullet point did you know features can share a lot of information and stir up questions. So your donors want to get to know more information. And also, you can use a quiz you can post it on social media, you can put a new quiz in your newsletters or maybe periodically you have one on your website. So in that quiz you're highlighting things of what your organization has done, you're being interactive with your donors. But the key thing is, you're teaching your donors more about what you do and who you are. And no matter how long someone has been donating, there's always something more to learn, or something that a donor may have forgotten that you get to remind them of. It's going to be especially important when you're receiving those new donations. So beginning to teach donors, initially right as soon as that first donation comes in is crucial. This is particularly important for your peer to peer fundraising. If someone donates because their sister was hosting a fundraising page. That's it. That's what we want. That's why we have peer to peer fundraising, but chances are the donor has a limited understanding of who you are. And this is why your welcome series is so important for stewarding that donor from being a new donor to becoming a retain donor. So here are a few tips for welcoming and educating those new donors. First of all, too much information can be like drinking from a water hose. So, excuse me, from a fire hose water hose is okay we don't want a fire hose. And when, when you provide too much at one time, it's hard for your donors to really understand and process at all. So you're going to provide information throughout an email journey. And this means a smaller chunks of information through a series of emails. So in that series you're going to be highlighting your mission in all the different aspects of your mission, but you're also going to be making sure donors see how their donations are being used to meet that mission. And tip number three, what might be cause help you. The donor has has integrations with various email marketing applications. So let's say you use our direct integration with MailChimp. When a donor clicks the donate button that donor data is immediately integrated into MailChimp triggering your welcome series. And that's for your new donor. So anything that you want to share with your new donor that's already initiated just by that donor making the donation. You can do anything, and your donor is already on the path to learning how amazing you are. We also have integrations with hundreds of other donor management applications that'll make your donor engagement that much easier, that much more time efficient. So no matter where your donor is in relationship with you, when you present the scope of your organization and the impact of a donor's contribution, you're not only building trust, but you're making the abstract tangible. So now we're going to take a look at prioritizing donor satisfaction. Creating loyalty increases donation retention and loyalty requires that donors know their priority. And another term for this is donor satisfaction. And this might feel a little counterintuitive, because aren't donors supposed to be focused on the success of the organization. And yes, yes they are. But again, put yourself in their shoes. Donors may completely agree with your mission and see your powerful outcomes. But if it's perceived that you think donors are a dime a dozen, why should they continue to invest in you. I'm happy to take their funds to someone who quote unquote needs the funding more than you do. And organizations often tell supporters how important donors and volunteers are to the success of the organization. And this is completely true. Why are you actually treating your donors in a way that backs up such a declaration. So perhaps the question is, how do you show your donors that they are a priority. If you're going to segment your donors, and then you're going to talk to them with your mighty cause downloadable donation reports, you're going to have everything that you. You're going to review your donor data to create segments such as donation size and frequency supported campaigns designated funds. And if you want to go deeper, create custom questions and list those in your checkout flow. How would you like to be contacted. How did you hear about us. Maybe have your age. Are you interested in volunteering for the organization. Ask whatever questions you need, so that you can understand who your donors are, and how best to relate to them. Now that you have the data, you can create more pointed segments. And once your donors are segmented, you can create communications that are directly for those particular donors. And when creating your content. There's a few things to keep in mind. Your recurring donors must always be treated special, always always always, and recurring donors are different than retain donors. So recurring donors have committed to giving every month, every quarter or every year. And typically, and in the mighty cause conversation, a recurring donor has a donation set to automatically charge once a month. Large donors are priceless. So treat them as priceless. Now, second, large donors should always be contacted directly, either over the phone throughout the year, and when you can meet face to face with them. Large donors aren't are important and they need to be shown not only that. Oh, this is how we use your donations, but you're a priority to us we want to hear your feedback. We want to engage with you, the donor. So our third tip donations that are made to a specific campaign. There, they, those donations should receive a follow up on the status of that campaign. So for example, if you are fundraising for new office equipment. Send a follow up to the people who donated to that campaign, send a follow up with pictures and fun commentary of your staff using that office equipment, show them their impact. And lastly, this might feel like a lot of extra work creating multiple emails and correspondence for different donor segments. A lot of this information is going to be used within each segment. It's just the nuances that you're changing to give special attention to your different donor groups, and the outcome of the special attention is going to make a huge difference for that donor retention. The last key piece is making it easy. And this is making it easy to donate, but also making it easy to learn about your organization. And this might seem like a no brainer, but it can take a little bit more thought than you might expect. You're going to want to go through your website and your communications and you're going to want to make sure that it's really as easy as you think it is. If you're on the inside of the organization, it's easy to get caught up in what all you already know, but your supporters are looking in from the outside. There's a lot of things they don't know, it's not intuitive to them. And they're also looking at you for a relatively brief time during usually a busy day. There's a lot of things vying for their attention. So what can you do to make it easier for your donors. If you haven't already introduced the recurring donation option subscription services are everywhere. So why not do this for donations also consider hosting a campaign geared towards recurring donations highlight the recurring donation option in your newsletter on your website on your social media pages. So these recurring donations, they're not only easier for the donor, but they also create a more steady income for you as the organization. Next, you must have an online presence. And it's essential that whatever is online is visually appealing and intuitive. And this goes for your website, as well as social media. So make sure that your donate button is placed all throughout your website, not just on the donation page and use your website and your social media posts to educate your supporters as to who they are, and also how they can get involved, and how they can donate. Your online interactions are the perfect occasions to cultivate trust and part knowledge and fuel that donor satisfaction. And we offer multiple ways to donate. So there's going to be text to give hyperlinks in your emails qr codes donate buttons full donation forms social media sharing. If someone doesn't donate it shouldn't be for lack of opportunity and mighty causes excited to provide everything that you need to make donating simple. Our pages are compatible with desktop and mobile devices. And we also have social sharing options text to give and customizable checkout clothes. We want to make it easy for you to make it easy for your donors to donate. So let's tie all of this together. I'm not going to stick to retaining donors, but being intentional to keep your donors engaged with your organization in building those strong relationships is going to do wonders. So learning where you currently stand and setting goals for donor retention. That's your first step. You're on building trust, increasing knowledge, prioritizing donor satisfaction, and making it easy to donate and easy to stay involved. These are those continual commitments that work together to steward your donors toward loyalty and toward retention with loyal donors funding your mission your organization is going to be able to continue impacting your community. I'm excited because great things are coming, but first, we're going to see if anyone has any questions. And I do see a question from Erica. She asked what is the industry benchmark for donation, return for a donation retention rate rate. And right now that's between 40 to 45%. The organizations, depending on the way they do their fundraising, let's say that they have larger. They have, I should say fewer but larger donors, you still want that retention, but it might look a little different, but in general the retention rates going to be 40 to 45%. So thank you for that question Erica. And we'll give it just a moment for anyone else who has questions we have just a couple of more minutes, we're going to try to stay at that 30 minute mark. And of course, any questions that come up along the way whether it's on specifically with donor retention, or if you have any questions about your donor retention report down the road or pulling your donation reports. You can always reach out to us at support at mighty cause calm. That's our email address support at mighty cause calm. And you can ask any questions that you have there will be happy to take care of you through our support forum as well. And Carrie has a question. So, Carrie, you asked, if you're currently using us that I don't know, I would need your organization I'm going to say, or unless I misunderstanding your question but yes that donation, or excuse me that retention report is available if you have at least the essentials subscription with us, or if you have certainly an advanced subscription that retention reports going to be available with using Salesforce. We do integrate with Salesforce online. What we have within mighty cause is we do have our supporters tool. That's the CRM that mighty cause has, but we integrate with Salesforce quick books, constant contact MailChimp, a ton of others. So that's going to happen through our advanced subscription. I would say Carrie reach out to our customer support forum and that's at support at mighty cause calm. Go ahead and send an email and what we can do is get to paired up with someone to go through what the Salvation Army Grace Place has, and also the other opportunities that are out there that we can integrate with. Yes, so Victoria asked if we can provide the webinar slides to your emails we will be emailing the slide deck, and also a recording of the webinar to anyone who registered. So Peggy asked if I have any record if we have any recommendations for learning platforms for improving your giving via social media. I don't have any recommendations for other platforms. I can let you know that we have a slew of different we have some webinars but also some blogs of how to utilize social media well. We have some that focus on just for giving events such as for example giving Tuesday or if you're hosting an individual giving event just within your organization. We have also just in general, good social media practices we have some blogs on that as well. So I would say head over to our resource center to look that up Peggy I think you'll find some good stuff there. And Eric I see that we have another question one moment to read it. So there's so great question are there common themes around why donors don't come back to give. And there's a couple of common themes is the donor only intended to donate once. And what I mean by that is my sister was hosting a campaign. I'm supporting her and really my in my mind I'm supporting my sister, not so much the organization. That's part of it that's why those introductory or welcome emails are so important, especially when you can do the phone calls and when you can follow up with thank you handwritten thank you cards to keep the attention of donors. Another issue that donors will run into if it's not. I don't want to say in their face because that can sound offensive, but if it's not, they're not reminded of it often, they just don't think about it. And so that's one of the roadblocks is, and it's that balance that's why you want to be sending emails and it's why you want to be engaging with your donors because you don't want them to forget about you. If a donor goes to kind of just two more quick thoughts. If a donor goes to a website, or they look you up on social media, and there's not a lot of activity. If it's clear your website hasn't been updated, or if it's clear that on social media you only post when you're doing some sort of giving campaign that like the suggestion you had a relevant content. And what that says to donors is, I don't really know what you're doing because you're not updating us, you seem to just only when you need money, or you seem to not really be with, I'm going to say with the times. And it's not that you're not, you're not with the times it might just be that you're a small organization and you don't have time to be keeping up with all of these different things, but it can be a turn off for donors. It's similar. If, if a donor calls or if they engage in your organization and it seems that there's not a lot of customer service that turns donors off as well. And the reason why is when they call, they understand they might not get an answer right away. But if someone's kind of rude and nobody ever really gets back to calling that kind of thing. Then the donor is going to say, I can find someone else who's doing this type of work, or I'll pick a different mission that I'm passionate about and I'm going to give to them. So the, the, a couple of to kind of give a quick synopsis is going to be if the donor doesn't feel appreciated through that customer support or customer interface. If your technology doesn't seem up to date and it's hard for a donor to get up to date information about you. So Eric, I hope that's helpful and Carrie, yes, we are part of give big, we are the giving platform for give big. So when you can reach out either through the, the give big customer support, or if you want to email us at support at mighty cause.com, either way, we will be taking care of you and we can go over with you all of the features that are available to you. And what we have, and yes, so Carrie, I'm, I'm glad that that we've been easy to use so far. I believe will continue to be easy to use for you, especially when it comes to those retention reports and things. We are a little past 230 so what we're going to do is go ahead and close this out. And like I said, any questions that come up down the road, please feel free to reach out to our support team will also be sending you an email with the webinar recording in the slide deck. Also check out our customer resource center, and that you're going to find a number of other resources, you know, on all kinds of aspects of fundraising so take a look at the ebooks and the webinars and things like that. And it has been an absolute pleasure Erica it's always good to see you on our webinars. Jeanine you as well I remember you also. I hope everyone has a fantastic rest of the day, and that as you get moving forward you're going to see those those retention numbers grow. Thank you so much everyone have a wonderful weekend. Take care.