Effective Donor Retention in Healthcare: 5 Strategies to Improve Engagement and Support
Bre Alexander
Published: 08/26/2024
This post is sponsored by Kindsight.
What is Donor Retention?
In simple terms, donor retention measures how many donors contribute to your organization after making their first gift.
According to NonprofitPro, in 2024, new retained donors fell by 12.1%, while repeat retained donors, who make up over half of all donors, saw a decline of 6.5%.
If your donor retention rate is low, you will have to work harder to acquire new donors to fulfill your mission. On the flip side, if your retention rate is high, you're doing a great job of attracting and keeping donors engaged and giving!
Retaining your donors is a more cost-effective way to fundraise than constantly recruiting new donors. As donor retention rates continue to drop, it's becoming increasingly critical to retain loyal donors.
How to Calculate Retention Rate?
To calculate your donor retention rate, use this simple formula:
Retention rate = (donors that gave this year ÷ donors that gave last year) x 100 (expressed as a percentage)
For example, suppose last year you had 200 donors, and this year, only 100 of those donors gave again. Here’s the calculation:
Retention Rate = (100 ÷ 200) × 100 = 0.50 × 100 = 50%
So, the retention rate would be 50%
Donor retention rates typically vary across types of nonprofits. It can be helpful to examine existing reports and understand these trends so that you know where your nonprofit stands relative to the average retention rate of your organization type.
In 2024, healthcare organizations face challenges with donor retention, down by 2.5%, and new donor retention has decreased by 4.8%. However, this presents an opportunity to boost engagement strategies. By focusing on personalized communication and donor recognition, healthcare organizations can improve retention and strengthen relationships.
So, what strategies can your organization implement to increase donor retention? Read on to find out!
Personalized Communication
Gone are the days of mass-blast, under-personalized communications. Donors expect tailored messaging. Instead of simply thanking your donor for their contribution, dig deeper, acknowledge their gift and tenured support (if applicable) to your organization, and outline when and how their gift will help fulfill your mission. Be mindful of not just sending out communications when you want something; celebrate your donors' personal milestones.
It's also important to be mindful of your donors' preferences. How do they want you to communicate? Consider sending surveys to your active constituents to ensure you deliver your messages in the way(s) they prefer.
We know that personalizing every piece of communication can be difficult. Consider using Generative AI, such as
engage. Engage allows you to generate authentic, empathy-driven content 16x faster with AI tailored exclusively for education, healthcare, and nonprofit organizations.
Annual Giving Programs
Annual giving programs provide a consistent touchpoint with your donors, helping them feel more connected to your organization and its mission. They typically include personalized communication, such as thank-you notes, impact reports, and invitations to special events. When you regularly engage your donors through an annual giving program, you can uncover those who may be interested in upgrading their giving level.
A few ideas include:
Matching Gift Campaigns: A matching gift is a corporate giving program that can double or even triple an employee's gift to an eligible nonprofit organization. Since this brings in more revenue for a nonprofit, this gift-giving can significantly benefit your organization and enable reaching your goals. Partner with corporate sponsors to create matching gift campaigns; consider enlisting the assistance of organizations such as
Double the Donation to get started.
Digital and Social Media Campaigns: Social media is an inexpensive way to stay connected with your donors. Consider leveraging social media platforms regularly to engage your donors. Be mindful that you're creating content that highlights how their annual contributions are used and offer simple ways for them to donate online.
Grateful Patient Programs: Hospitals often foster transformative experiences, prompting patients or their families to express gratitude through donations. A grateful patient program identifies potential donors from patient lists and guides them through the donor cultivation process. To maximize the success of your Grateful Patient Program, consider utilizing tools like
iwave. Iwave can help you identify potential donors from patient lists by screening and scoring them based on their capacity and inclination to give
Impact Reporting
Impact reporting is a crucial strategy in donor retention as it helps donors see the results of their gifts. Effectively implementing impact reporting includes various steps:
Stories and Testimonials: Sharing real-life stories of patients or medical breakthroughs made possible by donor support through testimonials from patients, families, or other healthcare professionals illustrates gifts' emotional and personal impact.
Visuals and Data: Create and use infographics, charts, and photos to paint a picture of how donations are leveraged. For example, you may show before-and-after photos of facilities, or a graph showing the improvement in patient outcomes.
Regular Updates: As we mentioned, you only sometimes want to ask for a donation when communicating with your donors. Providing periodic updates, including reports, that outline your organization's achievements and project status' keeps your donors informed and excited about the current state of their contributions. CRM, like
ascend, can automate the delivery of periodic reports and updates, ensuring that your donors are always informed about the impact of their contributions.
Reporting: If a donor has funded a project like new medical equipment, provide detailed updates on that initiative. Outline the project's progress, challenges encountered and overcome, and the overall impact of the equipment on patient care. Consider using digital reports with interactive features, such as videos from staff, virtual facility tours, or interactive elements that allow donors to explore various aspects of the impact. Additionally, compile a comprehensive annual report that summarizes all significant achievements and milestones of the year. This report should provide a broader view of how collective donor support has advanced the organization's mission.
Impact Metrics: Include data related to patient care while, of course, anonymizing patient data. KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) related to patient care, such as the number of patients treated, improvements in care, including recovery rates, and new treatments developed or available, help your donors feel more connected to your cause.
Engagement Events
Events that help build relationships showcase donations' impact, and expressing gratitude to your donors can support your overall donor retention.
Here are just a few types of events that can help your donor retention:
Volunteer Opportunities: Engaging your donors by inviting them to volunteer with your organization can help strengthen their connection to your cause, provide them with a peek behind the proverbial fundraising curtain, and make them feel like part of your team. (Because they are!)
Annual Giving Events: Events like galas, fun runs, and tours provide your donors with a way to renew their commitment to support year over year while encouraging new donors to get involved.
Donor Appreciation: Exclusive events aimed at your donors and volunteers, such as dinners, tours, and receptions, offer donors the opportunity to see the impact of their contributions. Consider having an awards ceremony where you can give small but meaningful tokens of your appreciation.
Thank Your Donors
Did you know 37% of donors are annoyed when an organization doesn't thank them? Expressing gratitude is crucial for donor retention. A genuine thank-you makes donors feel valued and helps lay the groundwork for lasting relationships. However, timing is key—sending notes too late can make donors feel overlooked.
Thanking donors doesn't have to be complicated. A personalized note highlighting their donation's impact can foster positive engagement. Yet, penning dozens or hundreds of thank-you messages can be daunting. That's where Generative AI, like engage, comes in. Engage creates messages 16x faster, crafting unique, personalized thank-yous in your organization's brand and tone.
Key Takeaways for Effective Retention
In healthcare philanthropy, donor retention is not just a financial strategy—it's about building lasting relationships that sustain your organization's mission. By focusing on personalized communication, impact reporting, and engaging donors through events and annual giving programs, you can create a strong foundation for continued support. With thoughtful strategies and the right tools, you can turn one-time donors into lifelong supporters, ensuring the long-term success of your healthcare organization.
About the Author
Bre Alexander is a content marketing manager at iWave. She has a diploma in Marketing and Advertising Management and has found her passion for empowering nonprofit organizations through her work. A self-proclaimed geek, Bre has used her unique skill set and experience to create engaging content and help implement new processes. Bre is outgoing, creative, and determined to continuously learn and grow.