The Association of Fundraising Professionals recently released its tenth annual survey, the 2015 Fundraising Effectiveness Survey Report (FEP). While it’s not specifically geared toward private-independent schools, its findings—particularly those surrounding donor attrition and retention—offer some intriguing fundraising opportunities for organizations who care to pay attention.
More than 8,000 nonprofits responded with year-to-year fundraising results for 2013-2014. While overall giving grew by 5%—totalling $3.611 billion in gifts from new, upgraded current, and previously lapsed donors—the FEP estimates that organizations lost $3.438 billion through reduced gifts and lapsed donors.
That means that for every $100 an organization gained through fundraising efforts, it lost about $95 through gift attrition. These lapsed donors and downgraded gift sizes are from donors who had previously believed in the institution but now feel that the organization—for whatever reason—is no longer worth the increased gift. Had these organizations spent more time re-engaging its previous donors rather than chasing new donors, they might have almost doubled their donations this past year.
Furthermore, while the overall total of cash gifts increased, the number of actual donors has decreased by an estimated 3%. This indicates that fewer people are giving bigger gifts, which makes your top donors an even more important resource to cultivate and re-engage over the next giving cycle.
Finally, whether your school saw the increased monetary gifts indicated by the net cash increase of 5% is probably largely dependent on how much money your school brings in overall. The FEP indicated that organizations that raise more money experience greater rates of donation growth over smaller organizations:
- Organizations raising $500,000 or more had an average 10.4% rate of growth.
- Organizations raising $100,000 to $500,000 had an average 3.0% rate of growth.
- Organizations raising less than $100,000 had an average loss of 7.8%.
From the 2015 FEP, we have a few insights for schools looking to leverage this national data for their own use.
- Focus on donor retention through personalized and timely thank you programs, increased engagement efforts, and donor stories demonstrating how your school uses the money.
- Encourage donors to give smaller gifts more regularly rather than pushing for single lump-sums.
- Retain and cultivate your top 20% of donors, which should lead to greater per-person donations.
While the FEP provides an interesting and informative potential benchmark for your school’s development efforts, make sure you read this and similar reports carefully. Schools are unique in terms of fundraising, especially compared to national nonprofit organizations. Therefore, use this report as a general indicator of overall giving trends, and not directly applicable in its current form to your own school.
Discover the difference between "information" (giving out) and "communication" (getting through) in ISM's Summer Institute workshop, Millennials to Boomers: Marketing to a Multigenerational Audience, June 22-25. You'll learn how to segment your approach and appeal to all three generations of parents—Boomers, Gen Xers, and Millennials—to secure your next generation of donors.
Additional ISM resources:
The Source for Development Directors Vol. 10 No. 2 21st Century Development: It's All About Engagement
The Source for Development Directors Vol. 9 No. 2 Now More Than Ever—Tell Donors What Their Gifts Will Achieve
Additional ISM resources for Gold Consortium members:
I&P Vol. 27 No. 4 Charitable Giving in a New Environment
I&P Vol. 32 No. 4 Development Office Management: The ISM Stability Marker
