Blackbaud Institute Retention Toolkit Provides Guide for Keeping New Donors

On the heels of 2020, donor stewardship and retention has become especially important. During what was arguably one of the most challenging years, a spirit of generosity emerged as supporters responded to urgent needs and expressed their desire to help the causes they cared about. And for only the second time in at least a decade, social good organizations experienced a spike in new donors.   

Retaining these newly acquired supporters is a significant opportunity, but it requires immediate and strategic effort. The Blackbaud Institute found that nearly two-thirds of  first-time donors never make a second gift.  

The new Retention Toolkit: Your Ultimate Guide for Building Lasting Support provides an outline for retaining new donors and growing their value. This piece is the latest release in the Toolkit Series from the Blackbaud Institute, which brings together leading-edge research and strategic insight to accelerate the impact of the social good community.  

Readers can find best practices and tips for building relationships that keep donors engaged. Included in the toolkit are five practical worksheets that provide the essential steps for: 

• Benchmarking performance 
• Analyzing donor metrics 
• Creating a new-donor welcome series 
• Expressing gratitude effectively 
• Building a strong sustainer program 

The toolkit can help organizations build a robust retention program that accelerates over time and increases the lifetime value of donors.  

Download the new Retention Toolkit from the Blackbaud Institute for free here.