Donor Cultivation Strategies for Advancement Teams: 10 Useful Ideas

Your alumni are an essential part of your fundraising efforts—their loyalty to your school and investment in seeing future students have opportunities to succeed in their educational endeavors make alumni some of the most impactful supporters of your institution.

However, to ensure that alumni get engaged and stay engaged with your fundraising work, you need to master the art of showing genuine donor appreciation. This goes beyond a simple thank-you note—in order for you to establish and maintain long-term relationships rooted in trust, connection, and collaboration, you’ll need tried-and-true best practices on your side. Let’s dive into some of our favorites!

1. Personalize your thank-you messages

No matter what form your donor appreciation takes, your thank-you messages should always be personalized. After all, generic is never genuine!

Personalizing your messages effectively will require you to have a strong understanding of your alumni and their needs and interests. Ensure you’re consistently collecting data on each donor and updating their profiles so that you have access to up-to-date details. (Bonus: This will not only help you with recognition but also as you invite future engagement!)

Here are some specific details you can personalize your thank yous with:

• Donor’s name or preferred name
• Donation amount
• The program or initiative the donation helped support
• Reason for donation, if known (such as giving a donation in memory of a loved one)
• Future engagement opportunities the donor may be interested in (such as volunteering or attending an event)

For major donors, you will likely have a bit more information to work with when personalizing your messages, especially if you’ve had multiple face-to-face interactions with them. Take advantage of this opportunity to demonstrate that your institution truly sees and values them and recognizes the significance of their contributions.

2. Share stories of impact

One of the best ways to demonstrate genuine donor appreciation is to show donors how their support impacts your school.

To do this effectively, you’ll need to gather and analyze impact data that tells the story of how your organization is using donors’ contributions to get closer to achieving its goals, whether that means launching a new alumni-student mentoring program or providing scholarships to students in need.

According to UpMetrics’ nonprofit storytelling guide, one of the best ways to share impact information is to craft compelling narratives that include:

• A character your alumni audience can root for
• A setting where the story happens
• A plot, or sequence of events that takes place
• A conflict, or an obstacle the character faces
• A resolution, the final outcome of the narrative

For example, you might share the story of a student at your school who was struggling to pay for their dream study abroad program and was able to be part of the program thanks to a generous scholarship from your alumni network. You could include statements from the student and photos or videos of them on their study abroad, as well as hard data about the scholarship program, to paint a full picture of your alumni’s impact.

You can share impact stories like these in several ways, but embrace your creative side to make them especially engaging. For instance, you might create a short video or an interactive web page.  

3. Host exclusive donor events

According to Double the Donation’s roundup of alumni donation statistics, 72% of donors discard physical tokens of appreciation, like letters and gifts. Further, 90% of donors prefer experiential recognition instead.

Experiential recognition, like fun and exclusive alumni donor events, allows your alumni to come together and feel like they’re part of a community larger than themselves. Plus, it gives your fundraising team the opportunity to interact with donors one-on-one, which can be valuable as you steward their continued support.

Here are a few fun ideas to consider for your next donor event:

• VIP alumni reception with your institution’s president during your school’s homecoming week ‍
• Virtual or in-person wine tasting
• Themed donor gala with live music, formal dinner, and entertainment  
• Golf tournament
• Campus tours

In some instances, it may be beneficial to expand your event audience to include students, faculty, and staff. This way, your alumni can interact with the community they support with their contributions, which can deepen their personal connection to your institution.

4. Invite non-financial involvement

Many fundraising organizations make the mistake of asking for additional donations far too soon—sometimes within their appreciation materials! This pitfall can make you seem “all about the money,” even if you have urgent funding needs.

Resist the urge to issue donation appeals as part of your donor appreciation efforts. Instead, invite continuous involvement that has nothing to do with donating. For instance, consider inviting your alumni to volunteer at your next on-campus service project, fundraise for you during a peer-to-peer campaign, attend special events, or participate in mentoring and networking opportunities with current students.

While this isn’t necessarily a traditional way to show your donors that you appreciate them, it will help them feel more involved and connected to your institution. As a result, you’ll increase the goodwill between you and pave the way for future support when the timing is right.

5. Express appreciation year-round

Part of showing genuine donor appreciation is expressing your thanks consistently, even when a donor hasn’t just given a gift. This shows your alumni that they’re always top-of-mind and seen as valuable to your institution, and not just for their wallets.

Here are a few ideas for expressing appreciation year-round, even when donors aren’t expecting you to:

• Mail small, unexpected gifts like merchandise branded to your organization.
• Write letters that let your donors know you’re thinking of them and give them general updates on your alumni association’s work.
• Send holiday cards and birthday cards.
• Phone donors and ask them for updates on their own lives, like recent family vacations or professional milestones.
• Provide regular updates on projects your alumni care about, backing them up with impact data.

To cultivate a strong alumni community, the way forward is to focus on people first and donations second. Use the list of ideas above to get started, but remember to reach out in ways that you know your specific alumni will respond to best!

Donor appreciation, especially when it’s actually genuine, is an art form. Use the strategies explored above to improve your institution’s approach to celebrating and thanking its donors, and remember to rely on your donor data to take your efforts to the next level!

The non-profit quarterly states that keeping a donor is five times more cost-effective than finding a new one. Loyal donors are like a circle of friends you can always rely on. However, for institutions, building that circle requires a proactive approach and genuine commitment that can sometimes prove difficult. This is why donor retention has steadily become more important over the years.

In this blog, we’ll take a fresh approach to defining donor retention and engagement that goes beyond the traditional ask. We’ll dive into creative strategies that truly integrates donors into your goals to make a permanent part of your journey.

What is donor retention?

Basically, donor retention is the ability of an institution to keep its donors coming back to contribute over the years. It is not just the numbers but also the genuine long-term donor relationships with people who appreciate your mission and enjoy being a part of that mission. It involves understanding their motivations, doubts, and the personal connection they feel as a giver and as an individual.

Making a habit of measuring your donor retention rate allows you to spot trends early and find new ways to keep supporters engaged. The data from the most recent Fundraising Effectiveness Project report shows that the first-time donor retention rate is 26%. In comparison, the average donor retention rate is around 46%, meaning most donors stop after contributing for the first time. Considering the unpredictable nature of the world today, keeping donors on board will be even more essential for the long-term success of K-12 and higher education institutions.

Factors influencing donor retention

Several factors can influence donor retention. Let’s take a look at some of them to understand what motivates long-time donors—big or small—to stay:

Donor Engagement:

Engagement is one of the key pillars for long-term donor retention. Your emails, newsletters, blogs, in-person events, and reports all play a key part in making returning and new donors alike feel connected to your institution. For past donors especially, continuous and meaningful interaction can reinforce their dedication to supporting your mission.

Trust and Loyalty:

Trust and loyalty drive any fundraising effort. Your donors come with their own expectations This can be achieved by a transparent demonstration of the impact of their contributions.  

💡Check out how Thomas Aquinas College holds one of the highest alumni donor participation rates across the country

Donor Management:

For retaining donors, donor management matters even more as it involves how you collect and analyze their data, as well as what you provide through communication, recurring gift enrollment, etc., to keep them interested and in the loop.

Feedback management:

To retain donors, you’ll want to be proactive in collecting and acting on feedback to show your commitment to how donors feel as well as what they can expect by sticking around. It will also help returning or past donors develop a sense of community and progress, making them feel like a vital par of your overall fundraising efforts.

Strategies to improve donor retention

Understanding the components of a well-rounded donor retention strategy is necessary to create a pathway for first-time donors to walk on and become repeat donors. These can include:

Strengthening Donor Relationships

Your efforts to reach out to the donors should go beyond fundraising needs. Send them timely thank-you emails, curate programs to identify and honor long-term donors for their valuable contributions, and conduct community meet-and-greet events that strengthen your bond and forge a trustworthy relationship.

💡Check out these 6 ways to take your donor relationships to the next level

Donor Management Tools

Try to get the most out of your donor management software for real-time engagement metrics,  deep integrations, live dashboards, automated communication tools, etc., to create an environment where donor interactions are recorded and analyzed to power future outreach and fundraising efforts.

💡If you’re looking for a new donor management tool, give Almabase a try

Personalized Communication

Tailor your communication to each donor to make sure you communicate your goals, acknowledge their impact, and make them feel appreciated. Emails, phone calls, handwritten notes, gifts, and event invitations are all viable communication channels to show how you can personalize your outreach to each donor.

Social Media Engagement

Keep your donor informed and engaged by providing updates on where their donated funds are being spent, any achievements arising out of them, and acknowledging their generosity whenever possible. Depending on how your donors use social media platforms, you can consider forming groups of similar donor segments to form giving communities.

Annual Reports

Annual reports are a time-tested way to communicate the impacts the beneficiaries achieve. These longer reports and real-life success stories inspire donor loyalty to the institution and the cause as they allow your donors to zoom out and view your overall fundraising mission as you do.

You can also provide subscription and recurring donation options or welcome different kinds of donor engagement through volunteering, referrals, and advocacy. At the end of the day, there are countless ways to retain donors, and what works for one institution may not work for you. Always consider your donors and how they they prefer to contribute to your cause.

Determining the success of Donor Retention

You can take a quick look at your overall donor retention rate using the formula below.

Donor retention rate = (Number of Donors who gave again / Total number of donors in previous period) × 100

With the wide array of tools available today, however, tracking your donor retention rate is a lot more extensive than it used to be. Making detailed segments of various levels of donor retention, however, will require more effort.

At its core, donor retention will take more time and investment from your team to get started and you’ll want to make sure you get a good ROI from your efforts. For this, you’ll first want to consider all donor retention expenses such as:

• Staff time and salaries
• Communication and engagement materials
• Events and stewardship activities
• Technology and software costs

It may be a bit difficult to narrow down your exact expenses for retaining donors but once you have a somewhat reliable estimate, you can use the following formula:

ROI = (net gain from retained donors / cost of retention efforts) x 100
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where Net Gain = Total donations from retained donors - Costs of retention efforts

Keep in mind that these are rudimentary calculations meant to give you a simplistic idea of your donor retention efforts. No two donors are exactly the same, and one retained donor might just be the right person who can snowball your efforts into a large giving community later down the line.

Challenges and considerations

Keeping the donors around throughout is not an easy task. Some of these challenges include but are not limited to:

• Lack of manpower or funding
• Donor fatigue
• Mismanaged or messy databases
• Inconsistent donor engagement
• Over-solicitation
• Changing donor expectations
• Lack of personalized outreach/generic communication
• Demographic shifts
• Inadequate stewardship
• Insufficient transparency and/or reporting

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Consider these key questions to improve donor retention strategies:

• Do your donors get to see and feel the impact of their gifts?
• Is your donor retention strategy appropriately scaled to your institution’s resources available?
• Which gaps in your fundraising strategy most often seem to cause donor fatigue?
• Do your existing digital engagement strategies and tools inspire donors to maintain interest long-term?
• Is your database/CRM suited to integrated communication, donor tracking, and analytics?
• Are your outreach efforts sufficiently customizable and scalable to enhance donor retention?

How Almabase helps you retain donors

Almabase offers digital engagement tools with features such as dynamic event management systems, personalized donor portals, and automated communication workflows to foster stronger donor relationships. Institutions such as the Merchant Taylors’ School and the Alumni Association of the School of Medicine at Loma Linda University have not just increased their donor base but have formed active online communities to power future fundraisers.

Finding the right tools to balance technology with a personal touch is crucial. That’s where Almabase’s engagement solutions come in—helping organizations offer both a personal and digital experience that makes donors feel valued, keeps them engaged, and drives sustainable long-term giving.

If you’re interested in learning more on how we can help, we’d love to not just tell you about us but also hear your problems and show you how we can help! Request a personalized demo and we’d love to get in touch with you ⬇️

As a fundraising professional, you understand the importance of building relationships with your valuable donors. They’re the ones who provide the funding that make it possible to provide new opportunities for students and alumni. Therefore, building relationships with them secures support both now and in the future for these fundraising programs to continue taking place. 

Considering the disruptions that everyone experienced (and continues experiencing) during the COVID-19 pandemic and how the industry has evolved since then, your relationships with many donors might appear to be volatile or different. When everyone changed up their strategies to incorporate the latest trends in engagement, some strategic aspects undoubtedly fell through the cracks. 

We recommend taking your approach back to the basics of engagement and donor relationships this coming year. Revisit some tried-and-true ideas that have been proven time and time again to bolster relationships with your supporters. After all, these are the strategies that are most often forgotten when we embrace new methods and change up our approach to relationships. 

The tips we’re covering in this article are ones that you may have seen before. However, they’re immensely important to maintain throughout the hubbub and chaos of the year. Without further ado, let’s dive deeper into these important and timeless strategies to help take your donor relationships to the next level. 

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For students, alumni, and donors, it’s painfully obvious when you send out emails or other communications that do not employ segmentation or other personalization strategies. Everything from a “To whom it may concern” introduction to the lack of personal details in the message makes it clear that you sent the same message to everyone on your email list. 

Generic, impersonalized outreach is the easiest to ignore and causes the downfall of many marketing programs. See how institutions such as Gann Academy increased alumni email open rates by personalizing their email campaigns. 

When it comes to your donors, you should include the same personalization strategies for outreach. 

The easiest way to start making the most of personalization is to use the same approach as Gann Academy: start with your email campaigns. Use the information in your donor database to fill in some gaps and to show your supporters that the message you’re sending is customized just for them. You can do this by: 

- Using the donor’s preferred name in the introduction. 

- Including details about the supporters’ engagement history. 

- Approaching specific segments of donors with targeted messages. 

- Sending messages relevant to the interests of the donor. 

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When you have access to an effective donor database, a lot of this information can be automated to save you time and energy in sending these highly targeted messages. This effective donor database buyer’s guide explains that automation features, when used correctly, can make personalization more effective and efficient. 

Your database can be used to auto-populate details into message templates and ensure you reach the right audience segments in your communications to enhance donor engagement.

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Building relationships is impossible if it’s a one-sided effort. Your institution needs to not only work to communicate and show your donors that you care, you need to invite them to engage back with you by providing ample opportunities. 

Since COVID-19, engaging opportunities look a little different than they have in the past. To create engaging opportunities amidst of a pandemic, many institutions had to adhere to social distancing guidelines by coming up with new virtual event ideas. 

We’ve come up with a list of our favorite virtual fundraising ideas that any educational institution, nonprofit, or other organization can make use of. While you can find the full list here, we’ll highlight some of the options below: 

- Online Gala - This is a great opportunity to encourage your major donors to get dressed up and network with one another using virtual conferencing software.

- TED Talk Events - Encourage your donors while enforcing your emphasis on education by providing TED Talk-style events to spread knowledge about certain topics. 

- Online Classes - Provide online class opportunities for donors as well as students. These may not be full-fledged courses, but mini opportunities to sharpen skills. 

- Annual Giving Days - Giving days encourage a great number of people (especially alumni) to give on a very specific day, similar to #GivingTuesday. 

- Matching Gift Drives - This is a great way to encourage more donations and maximize impact. Promote corporate giving opportunities and remind supporters to check their eligibility for matched gifts. 

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When your donors get involved with all of the opportunities you offer, they strengthen their ties to your institution. This makes it all the more likely that they’ll continue supporting you in your upcoming fundraising events.

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A phone call is an often overlooked relationship-building strategy because it can be somewhat time-consuming. However, it’s a valuable tool and makes a huge difference, especially when it comes to new donors. 

For instance, consider the new donor cultivation timeline below. It shows that a thank-you call within 48 hours of a donation can dramatically improve your donor retention rates. Plus, it’s the first step to begin a strong relationship with your donors. This is because you establish a personal connection with the donor while showing your appreciation for their contribution.

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Phone calls are a great way to start a relationship with donors on the right foot. However, don’t forget to employ the strategy with your seasoned donors as well! Call them to maintain regular contact and to express your gratitude for their continued support in your fundraising initiatives. 

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You’ll notice that on the cultivation timeline from the previous section that the step after a “thank you phone call” is sending a “signed thank you letter.” While email is likely your primary method of communication with the donors, the power of a physical letter of appreciation should not be underestimated, especially when it’s hand-written. 

Handwritten notes are a classic way to show your donors that you will truly take the time out of your day for them. They want to feel like a priority for your organization, which is what a hand-written note should communicate. 

When you write these notes, there are specific elements that you should make sure to include, such as: 

- The preferred name of the donor. Just like in email communications, you should make sure to refer to the specific donor as you hand-write letters (be sure to double-check your spelling, too!)

- The activity they participated in. If your donor has just contributed funds, be sure to thank them for the specified amount. If they attended an event, thank them for their involvement and participation. 

- The president’s signature. Letters are generally better received when they come from the top office of your institution. Therefore, you should make sure the president of your institution’s signature is on each and every one of them.

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Just like phone calls, hand-written letters tend to be important strategies as you cultivate relationships with your new donors. However, don’t forget about the strategy for your veteran donors! 

Be sure both phone calls and hand-written letters are a part of both your cultivation and stewardship strategies to strengthen donor relations. 

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Don’t we all love stories? Your donors want to hear your inspiring story. They want to hear the reason behind all the great work that you do and the support that you provide to your community. Sharing these stories with your donors is a great way to show them what it is that their contributions support. 

One of the current trends in the higher education space is the use of images to communicate these types of narratives. This trend is important to keep in mind because there are so many different platforms on which you’ll be telling stories. For instance, consider the following examples: 

- Email - Whether it’s an email to a certain segment of your audience or a regular newsletter sent to many, include an image of an individual who attended your institution along with their story. This adds a face to the name and a personal touch to show the impact of donations. 

- Social media - Platforms like Instagram and Facebook are made for visual storytelling. Be sure to use an image that tugs at the heartstrings to gain the attention of your audience, then caption it with details about the story itself. If it’s a longer story, be sure to provide a link to where donors can read the rest of it. 

- Blog posts - Blogs are the perfect way to write long stories about individuals or about the progress of your institution. Showing images, faces, and specific names makes them even more powerful. 

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They say a picture is worth a thousand words. And it’s true! Be sure to leverage both text and image when you tell the story of your institution’s successes. ‍

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In the last section, we mentioned briefly that stories are a method of showing impact. Communicating impact is critical for donor engagement and continued support down the line. Think about it. If you give to an organization, you’re not contributing money for the sake of spending it. That would be silly! Rather, you’re donating to help accomplish a mission. 

Communicating the progress of this mission and the impact of specific donations is a great way to give your donors the warm and fuzzy feeling in the pit of their stomachs that was probably what drove them to contribute in the first place. You’re reinforcing the positive aspect of donating. 

Check out this nonprofit annual report guide that conveys the story of The Johnsons and how their impact was communicated to all contributors in an end-of-year report.

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Notice some key aspects of this example: 

- It shows a picture of The Johnsons

- The text uses a statistic showing the impact their contributions made

- The text is framed to put all of the emphasis on the Johnsons rather than on the efforts of the organization

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These aspects are some of the most important things to remember when you communicate the impact of specific donors. Generally, on annual reports such as this, it’s your major donors that you’ll highlight. However, you can still use these strategies in emails, letters, phone calls, and other methods of communication to show any supporter that they’ve made a difference. 

Building donor relationships is an incredibly important part of the fundraising strategy at your institution. Therefore, even as you explore all of the new and exciting ways to communicate and engage with them, don’t forget about the basics. Form a strong foundation for your donor relationships by using these tried-and-true strategies. Then, continue to cultivate and build these relationships to watch your fundraising soar!

About the author

Jay Love

Co-Founder and current Chief Relationship Officer at Bloomerang

He has served this sector for 33 years and is considered the most well-known senior statesman whose advice is sought constantly.

Prior to Bloomerang, he was the CEO and Co-Founder of eTapestry for 11 years, which at the time was the leading SaaS technology company serving the charity sector. Jay and his team grew the company to more than 10,000 nonprofit clients, charting a decade of record growth.

He is a graduate of Butler University with a B.S. in Business Administration. Over the years, he has given more than 2,500 speeches around the world for the charity sector and is often the voice of new technology for fundraisers.

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