Alumni donations are one of your university’s most reliable revenue sources, and your organization likely hopes to build lifelong relationships with as many of these supporters as possible. However, long-term supporter relationships are prone to donor fatigue, especially if your school hosts many fundraisers throughout the year.

Donor fatigue doesn’t mean supporters are no longer interested in supporting your nonprofit. Rather, they are likely exhausted from giving in the same way or getting too many repetitive donation requests or uninspiring messages. Identifying the specific causes behind donor fatigue at your organization is essential for maintaining strong annual giving rates and planning larger fundraisers, like a capital campaign.

In this guide, we’ll explore four ways you can combat donor fatigue at your university.

1. Identify donor fatigue trends

The key to preventing donor fatigue is discovering which supporters are at risk. Donors experiencing fatigue are likely to lapse, and it’s far easier to re-engage a donor while they’re still an active supporter than to re-capture them after they’ve already ceased giving.

A few common signs of donor fatigue include:

• Declining email open and click-through rates. Monitor email engagement metrics to assess what types of emails get attention. If you notice a donor is specifically not engaging with fundraising-related emails, they are likely experiencing donor fatigue.
• Event attendance drop-off. Supporters experiencing donor fatigue may pull back from participating in a variety of engagement opportunities, including events. Take note of which donors attended your last fundraiser but decided to skip recent ones.
• Decreased interest in fundraising-specific opportunities. Some supporters may still want to engage with your university but are tired of donation appeals. For example, you might have donors who continue to participate in your alumni network but have decreased their giving frequency.

Leverage your donor database to flag potential signs of donor fatigue. For example, if a supporter hasn’t been opening your emails or attending your events, mark them as at-risk of donor lapse. By knowing who is likely experiencing donor fatigue, you can pivot your engagement strategy to connect with them.

2. Diversify engagement opportunities

If you only ever get in touch with your supporters to request donations, many of them will likely grow tired of seeing messages from your school. Prevent this by giving them a variety of ways to get involved, such as:

• Volunteer opportunities. Share how donors can support your school with non-monetary contributions. Volunteering can be a useful engagement opportunity for supporters who may not have the finances to donate meaningfully and for those who have made major gifts and want to continue participating in an organization they’ve already invested in. For example, many capital campaigns ask major donors to join their volunteer committees, giving these supporters some control over the campaign's direction.
• Events. Plan a wide range of activities outside of fundraising events. For example, you might host an academic lecture series, alumni back-to-campus events, cultural events, and more. Use events to show off what your school does with donors’ contributions, rather than just as a chance to ask for more donations.
• Online activities and resources. Make engaging with your school easy, no matter where donors live, by providing a range of online resources. For instance, you might host online networking opportunities, provide an alumni job board, or share recordings of lectures hosted at your school.

Even if a supporter is not actively giving to your school at this time, other engagement opportunities can help you stay in touch with them and open the door to earning future donations.

3. Showcase impact

If donors give repeatedly, but don’t know how your school used their gifts, they may start to question whether their support is making a difference. When donors doubt the impact of their gifts, they may cease giving and become dubious about future fundraising appeals.

Prevent this scenario by regularly showcasing your impact. Demonstrate to supporters that your school is putting their gifts to good use by:

• Creating student stories. Work with current students to get stories about positive experiences they’ve had at your school thanks to donor contributions. For example, ask students who receive scholarships from major donors to write personalized thank-you letters.
• Sharing photos and videos. If you have tangible evidence of how your school has used donor gifts—such as purchasing new equipment for a science lab, starting construction on a new facility, or hosting a special event—take photos and videos. Then, add these multimedia elements to your donor messages to provide a visual of how exactly your school uses donations.
• Providing data visuals. Data is useful for remaining financially transparent and laying out how your school uses its funding. When sharing financial reports, be sure to add visuals that can help donors understand your data at a glance.

In addition to combating donor fatigue, showcasing impact can help your school gain support in various other ways. This includes building trust and laying the groundwork to earn buy-in for bigger initiatives. For instance, your capital campaign case for support will be stronger if you’ve already demonstrated your school’s commitment to providing quality experiences for students.

4. Adjust messaging cadence

While it’s good to keep in touch with your donors, over-solicitation can cause some supporters to start scrolling past your emails. If you’re experiencing a decline in email open and click-through rates, consider adjusting your messaging cadence.

For example, you might regularly send donors:

• A monthly newsletter to provide updates on the latest campus news. Individual departments might also have their own newsletters to provide specialized updates, such as if faculty have won any awards or alumni have achieved significant accomplishments.
• Thank you messages whenever they donate or support you in other ways. These messages should be specific to each donor and be sent regardless of other messages you have scheduled to send.
• Solicitation messages that promote various ways to get involved. Change up your donation request messages by sharing volunteer opportunities or educating supporters about unique ways to give back, such as matching gifts.

For your solicitation emails, segment your audience to ensure you send messages at appropriate times. For example, a supporter who is already part of your recurring giving program might be open to increasing their gift rather than making a new donation.

Additionally, ensure you always have accurate contact information for your supporters. 360MatchPro’s alumni data appends guide recommends regularly updating your data to ensure you can email, call, and mail content to your alumni even as they change addresses, get new emails, and otherwise change their contact information.

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Conclusion

Donor fatigue can happen at any school. Identify signs of it at your university and take deliberate steps to combat it by flagging affected supporters, engaging your donors in new ways, and tailoring your messages to your donors’ interests.

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