3 Signs Your Donor Stewardship Efforts Are Underperforming

Donor stewardship—the practice of engaging and building relationships with your nonprofit’s donors—is one of the most important aspects of fundraising. Proactive stewardship strategies help you not only retain donors but also upgrade their support and dedication to your organization over time.

However, finding the most effective stewardship strategies for your nonprofit can be a process that involves trial and error. If you’re unsure of what warning signs to look out for that mean you need to shift your approach, look no further. 

We’ll explore signs that your donor stewardship strategy could need adjustment and strategies to get your relationships back on track. Don’t be alarmed if you see these trends in your nonprofit’s data, as it’s a natural part of the fundraising process!

1. High numbers of lapsed donors

When you spend so much time and effort on acquiring new donors, it can be discouraging to see a large portion of those donors don’t give again. While it’s normal for many of your donors to lapse—the average donor retention rate is only 35%, after all—an especially high number could mean it’s time to revisit your donor stewardship efforts. 

First, try to determine why you could be losing more donors than usual. Some common reasons donors lapse include:

• They don’t feel appreciated by your organization.
• They don’t feel like a part of your nonprofit’s community.
• They feel their donations don’t make enough of an impact.

If you’re not sure why donors are leaving, consider sending a survey to donors who recently lapsed to ask them directly. This feedback can help you zero in on which stewardship strategies need improvement. 

Strategies to retain more donors

The key to successful stewardship is understanding your donors and what matters to them. Once you know details like their favorite programs and communication preferences, you can implement strategies that take these into account.

If donors’ main concerns were appreciation and seeing the proof of their impact, for example, you could try the following strategies: 

• Prioritize appreciating donors often and in the ways they prefer. NXUnite suggests creating a donor recognition plan that outlines different appreciation guidelines based on giving level and individual preferences. Some donors may prefer a public shoutout for their contributions, while others would rather have a handwritten letter. As soon as you learn someone’s preference, record it in your database for future reference.
• Ask donors for their feedback frequently. Asking for feedback shows donors that you value their input and invites them to take an active role in your nonprofit’s community. Consider sending out surveys regularly, such as at the end of every fundraising campaign, event, or program.
• Share impact reports with donors. Sending your annual report to donors is a good starting point, but it takes more than that to truly show donors how their gifts make a difference. Branch out by sharing testimonials from beneficiaries or reports on your organization’s wider social impact. For example, for National Donate Life Month, you might share testimonials and metrics about how many people donors with rare blood types helped.
• Provide opportunities to increase their individual impact. If donors are concerned that their donations don’t make enough of an impact, steward them by promoting opportunities to give more at no extra cost. Volunteering, in-kind donations, and matching gift opportunities all allow donors to increase impact without spending more.

Tailor these ideas to your audience to cultivate stronger donor relationships, increasing the chances they stay invested in your organization long-term.

2. Low levels of online engagement

Ideally, you want to improve your stewardship efforts before you start actively losing donors. One sign that indicates donors could be at risk of lapsing is lower online engagement levels. 

This isn’t always the case, especially if your donor base doesn’t normally engage with your organization online, but you should investigate if you see engagement levels decline. You may notice that donors aren’t opening your emails, your website has high bounce rates, or you aren’t getting much interaction on social media. 

Lack of online engagement could mean your donors are losing interest in your nonprofit, or your messages simply don’t hold their attention. In the long term, this could hurt your relationships and cause donors to lapse.

Strategies to increase online donor engagement

Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to encourage donors to connect with your nonprofit online. Start with the following tactics, and build your strategy from there: 

• Create donor segments to send more personalized emails. Segmenting your donor base into groups with similar characteristics allows you to send more tailored communications, increasing the chances donors will engage with your emails. Consider segmenting by giving level, involvement history, or charitable interests.
• Ensure you’re using the best channels to connect with donors. A multichannel marketing strategy is the best way to reach as many donors as possible, but only if you use the channels your audience prefers. Determine which online platforms donors are most active on, and focus your attention there.
• Consider highlighting donors in newsletters or social media. Publicly shouting out donors shows your appreciation for them, builds community, and encourages other donors to engage with the content. 
• Evaluate if your website provides enough relevant information and engaging content for your donors. Comb through your nonprofit’s website to check if you’re really providing relevant content for your donors. Remove anything that’s outdated or no longer aligned with your mission.

As you revisit your digital marketing strategy, consider ways traditional tactics can support online stewardship. For example, Meyer Partners’ direct mail fundraising guide recommends adding QR codes to direct mail so recipients can easily access your nonprofit’s website, social media profiles, or event registration pages. 

3. Decreasing event and volunteer participation

Another clear sign that donors could be feeling less engaged is a lack of participation in your involvement opportunities. Fundraising events and volunteer outings are valuable times for your board and staff to connect with donors face-to-face, so increasing participation should be a priority. 

Before you update your event marketing strategy, make sure that you’re offering involvement opportunities that interest your donors. Send out a quick survey asking donors what their favorite events have been, what kind of events they’d like to attend in the future, and what your organization can do to improve your involvement offerings. 

Strategies to increase donor participation

Once you’ve gathered feedback to ensure your events and volunteer opportunities will interest donors, consider the following strategies to increase participation:

• Personalize invitations with donor segmentation. Create additional donor segments in your database to promote opportunities that align with specific donors’ interests. For example, you might create a segment of donors who’ve volunteered locally and a segment of those who supported environmental campaigns. Then, send each donor in both groups a personal invitation to your upcoming tree planting day.

• Send post-event surveys to gather feedback from donors. These surveys can provide insight into your donors’ preferences and help you improve your events. When you implement someone’s suggestion, send them a personal note to let them know and thank them for their input.
• Make events and opportunities more accessible. Sometimes, you offer the right opportunities and promote them effectively, but donors simply can’t attend. Work around this roadblock by adding online or hybrid elements to your events so more donors can join, no matter their geographical location.

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