How the Donor Journey Opens Pathways to Success for Annual Giving

Every annual giving fundraiser can benefit from understanding the most common donor journeys. Because circumstances out of our control, such as the economy, can alter expected donor behavior, it’s even more important to understand what might be within our control. Do we know when our messages, timing, channel of choice, and segmentation are driving certain donor behaviors? 

In this post, we’ll focus on three main donor behaviors in annual giving.

1. Acquisition: The first time someone gives to your organization
2. Retention: When the donor has given two or more years consecutively (ideally upgrading)
3. Renewal: When there has been some sort of lapse in giving and the donor has come back

When you understand these patterns, you’ll be better able to prioritize your fundraising efforts where they’ll have the most impact. Any one constituent can be positioned at any of the above stages at any given time in their philanthropic relationship with your organization. The donor journey can tell you where the supporter is; a donor persona can tell you who the supporter is. Using the two together can provide you with outstanding guidance in identifying and tracking your annual fund supporters on their pathway to giving.  

Engaging Annual Giving Supporters at Common Donor Journey Stages

Annual giving programs use direct marketing to try to send as personalized a message as possible to the masses. Unlike major giving, where relationships are deeply personal, annual giving requires a strategic approach to understand and influence donor behavior across large groups.

Let’s look at three common donor journeys for annual giving supporters:

The One-Time Giver: Acquired but Has Never Given Again

Sometimes you acquire a donor and then—crickets. If they never give again, it’s important to understand why this might be happening.

• Who is this type of person? 
• Why was their commitment to your organization’s mission fleeting?
• Did something change in their life?
• Did your organization not have a solid donor retention strategy in place?
• Did you have a good strategy but lacked the staffing or budget to execute the plan?

First, we need to understand who your organization is losing. It is expensive to acquire a donor, so you want to do as much as possible to retain their commitment to your organization.

Meet Taylor. A 26-year-old fitness instructor who gave to your organization four years ago for the first and only time, Taylor donated on a Day of Giving but has not been inspired to give since. Why? A three-step strategy can help you figure out how to reconnect with one-timers like Taylor.

1. Look for donors who have made only one gift. Ever. Focus on those who have made their gift within the last three to six years, but then never gave again. This focuses your analysis on:
   • The most current constituency with donor behavior based on recent messaging (so you’re including lapsed donors from recent history in a fairly volatile fundraising environment)
   • Only those donors who are not too-soon-to-be-lapsed; time filters will exclude any donor so recent that they just haven’t had a chance to make a second gift
2. Consider the amount of their one gift. Add the gift amount as a column and sort the list from highest to lowest for this one-timer group. Now, remove the bottom half of the list so you can focus on the donors who gave an acquisition gift above the median gift size. This will ensure your analysis is focused on the type of donor with the resources and commitment to give a gift that would justify the ROI of retaining them and have potential to move up the donor pipeline.
   • For example, if Taylor spontaneously gave $5 as part of a text-to-give campaign, it’s likely she gave out of convenience rather than true philanthropic intent. Organizations might overspend trying to retain this donor who never had much inclination or capacity in the first place. 
3. Analyze the commonalities in your narrowed list of one-time donors. What does this group of one-and-done donors have in common, if anything? Did they give via a particular channel or respond to a type of message? Did they give to a specific designation? Did your organization try to retain them with the same strategy as others who did give again?

Use what you learn in these three steps to fortify your retention strategy. Moving forward, focus your efforts on those with the potential to retain their giving for a second and third year, to build the habit.

• Steward them in a way that ties to the message of the appeal that compelled them to give their first gift.
• When you try to retain them the following year, use messaging (and timing and channel) similar to the outreach that inspired them with their first gift.
• Be as personal as possible and focus on the impact of their gift.

The Ideal Retainer: Acquired and Retained Year After Year (Forever!)

In an ideal world, if a donor is acquired, they are inspired to give every year. If we’re in an ideal world, let’s also expect them to increase their giving and move up the donor pipeline. This requires extra attention to retain them in that second and third year of giving to ensure that donating to your organization becomes part of their habitual philanthropic pattern. The more years a donor gives, the more you can start to trust that they understand and care about your mission.

Meet Casey. A retired teacher who first gave to your organization during year one of the pandemic, Casey has continued to give every year since. How do you find more donors like Casey?

1. Identify which type of donors have given consecutively for four years or more. Try to understand what you can about the donors who exhibit the ideal retainer behavior to help you find more like them and reinforce positive donor behavior. Research specific cohorts who were acquired at certain times in the organization’s history. For example, which type of donor (like Casey) was acquired during the pandemic and have they continued to give?
2. Find more constituents who “look like” the ideal retainer and pursue them.  The easiest way to do this is by using predictive models. University of Georgia leveraged advanced segmentation and scoring techniques to identify “lookalike” constituents aligned with donors in their Presidents Club. This strategy quadrupled the response rate and increased the number of Presidents Club donors via direct mail by more than 900%.
   • Tip: If your organization doesn’t have the budget for predictive modeling, you can still search your constituency for non-donors who have things in common with the ideal retainer to focus acquisition efforts on them.
3. Expand your fundraising efforts to double down on any of the messages or campaigns that seem to resonate with the ideal retainer. Keep doing what’s working and make that a louder, bolder focus of your annual giving communications plan.

The Comeback Donor: Acquired, Lapsed, then Renews

This donor journey combines what we’ve learned from the first two donor journeys. We need to understand why the donor first gave, why they lapsed in their giving, and what has re-inspired them to give again. 

Meet Eli. A 42-year-old social worker who has given three times in the last 13 years, but never consecutively, Eli has made each of his gifts in response to messaging about emergency funding to help children under the age of 18. He has donated when the economy has been uncertain. Eli’s gifts are under $50 but he clearly sees your organization as helpful in unstable times.

Likely, you will find that the reason your organization is losing out on retaining “the one-time donor” will be similar to why “the comeback donor” has lapsed in their giving. What is most important about researching “the comeback donor” is understanding what inspires them to give again after a lapse of a year or more.

1. Analyze how and when they returned. Look at what messages, timing, and channels work to bring these rebound donors back into the mix.
2. Roll out the (re)welcome mat. Treat their first year back like an acquisition year and prioritize establishing consecutive-year donor behavior.

By focusing on what drives donor behavior, you can build a more resilient, responsive, and ultimately more successful annual giving program. Start by identifying one donor segment today. Analyze that group’s behavior, test a new approach, and take one intentional step toward stronger, more sustainable donor relationships.