Why it matters
Lifetime value shows why keeping donors matters more than any single appeal. A modest gift from someone who stays for years adds up to far more than a large gift from someone who never gives again.
It also tells you what you can sensibly spend to find and keep a donor. If an average donor is worth about a thousand dollars over their life with you, a few dollars on a thank-you call is an easy decision.
How to calculate it
Donor lifetime value = average gift × gifts per year × years retained
Your average gift is $100.
Your donors give 2 times a year.
They stay with you for 5 years.
$100 × 2 × 5 = $1,000. Each donor is worth about $1,000 over their life with you.
How Steward shows it
Every donor profile in Steward shows their Lifetime giving in the header, and clicking it opens the gifts behind it. The Donors list shows lifetime giving for each person, and Top donors in Reports ranks them by it.
Related terms
- Average gift Average gift is the total amount given in a period divided by the number of gifts in that period. It tells you what a typical gift to your organization looks like.
- Donor retention rate Donor retention rate is the share of last year's donors who gave again this year. It is the clearest single measure of whether your donors stay with you.
- Recurring gift A recurring gift is a donation the donor sets up once to repeat on a schedule, most often monthly, charged automatically to a card or bank account until they change or stop it.
The free Lost & Found audit reads a giving export in your browser and shows your lapsing donors and what they used to give. Nothing is uploaded. Then bring the same file to a 20-minute demo.