Why it matters
Repeat donors are the steady core of your file. They stay at a much higher rate than first-year donors, which is exactly why a drop here deserves attention. When a long-time donor stops, it is rarely an accident. Something changed, and a personal call usually tells you what.
Tracking repeat retention apart from first-year retention also keeps your overall rate honest. A good year of new donors can mask a slow loss of loyal ones, and the reverse is true too.
How to calculate it
Repeat donor retention = repeat donors from last year who gave again this year ÷ all repeat donors from last year × 100
Last year 220 donors had also given in an earlier year.
This year 154 of those 220 gave again.
154 ÷ 220 × 100 = 70%. Your repeat donor retention is 70%.
How Steward shows it
Steward's Retention report shows overall and first-year retention side by side for each year, and clicking a figure opens the donors behind it. Drift on Home flags a regular donor who has gone quiet past their own giving pattern, before they lapse.
Related terms
- 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.
- 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.
- Drift Drift is Steward's term for a donor moving away from their own usual giving rhythm before they lapse: they are well past the date their pattern says their next gift was due, but not yet gone.
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.