Why it matters
Finding a new donor takes far more time and money than keeping one you have. When your retention rate slips, you have to raise more just to stand still. When it rises, every other number on your board report gets easier.
Read it in two parts. First-year donors and repeat donors behave very differently, so one blended rate can hide a problem. Track both, compare each year with the one before, and pick one change to make, such as a faster thank-you or a second touch within ninety days.
How to calculate it
Donor retention rate = donors who gave last year and again this year ÷ donors who gave last year × 100
Last year 300 donors gave.
This year 126 of those same 300 gave again.
126 ÷ 300 × 100 = 42%. Your donor retention rate is 42%.
How Steward shows it
Steward's Retention report, under Who stopped giving in Reports, shows each year's prior-year donors, how many were retained, the rate, the share of last year's dollars that came back, and first-year retention. You can read it by calendar year, fiscal year or the last twelve months, and clicking a figure opens the donors behind it.
Related terms
- First-year retention First-year retention is the share of donors who gave for the first time last year and then gave again this year. It measures how well you turn a first gift into a second one.
- Repeat donor retention Repeat donor retention is the share of your repeat donors, people who gave last year and in at least one year before that, who gave again this year.
- Attrition Attrition is the loss of donors from one year to the next. The attrition rate is the share of last year's donors who did not give again this year, the opposite of the retention rate.
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.