The Importance of Donor Communication

Think your donors are tired of hearing from you? Think again. Common belief in the nonprofit world: donors are overwhelmed by too many requests. But what if I told you that donor fatigue isn’t about the number of asks? Instead, it’s about the lack of true engagement and value. Here’s the truth: Donors aren’t worn out from hearing from you —they’re disengaged by generic, one-size-fits-all communications. When we fail to connect on a personal and emotional level, we lose the opportunity to build something meaningful together. So, how to break the mold and keep donors engaged? 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Tailor your messages to reflect each donor's interests, purpose and past interactions. Show them that they’re more than just a name on a list. (note: superficial personalization such as just scraping their name, alma mater, etc. from a database is actually worse than no personalization at all) 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗖𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲: Highlight the impact of their donations with compelling stories that immerse them in tangible outcomes. Make sure they see the difference they’re making. Better yet, make sure they feel it. 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗕𝗲𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝘀𝗸: Foster a sense of community by involving donors in events, updates, and volunteer opportunities. Show genuine appreciation and interest in their input. Create opportunities for multi-faceted dialogue. Fatigue doesn't happen when someone is truly invested. Donors aren't tired of outreach. They're tired of bad outreach. So go ahead and challenge the status quo and transform how you engage with your supporters. Because it’s not about asking less—it’s about connecting more. #fundraising #nonprofits #philanthropy

Your major donor just called and listed out all of their frustrations. You won't like what they had to say. It wasn't about money. It wasn't about competing priorities. It wasn't about the economy. It was about you. "They never told me what my gift accomplished," they said. "I gave $25,000 and got a form letter thank you. Then nothing for eight months." "When I finally called to ask about impact, they couldn't give me specifics. Just vague statements about 'helping the community.'" "I realized they didn't see me as a partner. They saw me as an ATM." ‼️ The organizations losing major donors aren't victims of donor fatigue. They're victims of donor neglect. ‼️ Your major donors don't leave because they can't afford to give. They leave because you can't afford to care. Pull up your major donor communications from the last year. For each donor over $10,000, ask: 👉 Did they receive specific impact reports tied to their gift? 👉 Did someone call them personally within 3-5 days? 👉 Did they get invited to see their impact firsthand? 👉 Did you ask for their input on organizational direction? If you answered "no" to any of these, you've got a problem. The most successful major donor programs I work with treat donors like investors, not transactions: 👉 They provide quarterly impact reports with specific outcomes. 👉 They invite donors to strategic planning conversations. 👉 They offer behind-the-scenes access to programs and leadership. 👉 They ask for advice, not just money. Your major donors aren't leaving because they don't care about your mission. They're leaving because you don't care about them. Fix your relationship problem before you blame donor capacity. Because in fundraising, how you treat donors after they give determines whether they'll give again.

No one donates to get a receipt. Yet, too often, the answer to "Did you say thank you?" is "They should have gotten the automated thank you receipt." You don’t want donating to feel like paying a bill, and neither do your donors. Fundraising is about connection. It’s about aligning passion with purpose. When someone donates, they’re saying, “I believe in this mission. I want to be part of this.” If all they get is a generic receipt in return, that’s a missed opportunity—a chance to say something meaningful, to build a relationship, to make them feel like they belong. A proper "thank you" isn’t just good manners—it’s the beginning of a conversation. And that conversation is vital! Donors want to know they’re not just a source of funding, but true partners in your mission. They want to feel the impact of their gift, not just see it on a bank statement. A receipt says “transaction complete.” A thank you says “We’re in this together.” What would it look like if your gratitude was as personal as your mission? A handwritten note. A short voicemail. A call that’s not about asking for the next donation, but about saying, “You matter.” Those small acts make a huge difference. They create loyalty, deepen engagement, and make giving about more than just money—it’s about shared values, shared purpose, and shared success. So let’s be clear: fundraising is not a transaction. And an automated receipt? That’s not a thank you. Because when you properly thank your donor, giving isn’t just a financial interaction. It’s a human one. #fundraising #donor

"We don't want to bother our donors" is costing you money. Research consistently proves that organizations communicating more frequently (with value) outperform those that "respect donors' inboxes" by communicating less: • The Fundraising Effectiveness Project's Donor Retention Report shows nonprofits sending 12-18 emails annually have 25% higher retention than those sending fewer than 6 • According to the Nonprofit Communications Trends Report, organizations that communicate monthly raise 2x more than those communicating quarterly • The Donor Experience Study reveals 7 in 10 donors say they don't hear enough about the impact of their gifts One health nonprofit documented in the Blackbaud Institute's Donor Engagement Study worried about donor fatigue and reduced communications to quarterly. Their retention plummeted. When they increased to monthly impact updates, retention recovered and giving increased by 34%. Donors don't leave because you communicate too much—they leave because you communicate poorly or too little.

Welcome to the Future of Fundraising. When my team and I built the first fully autonomous fundraiser, we saw how digital labor could expand outreach and deepen engagement. Which is why now, in collaboration with our Innovation Partners, we are tackling one of the most persistent challenges in fundraising: scaling meaningful stewardship. The cycle of giving feels transactional for too many donors. They make a gift, receive a generic thank you email or letter, and then the next time they hear from the organization, it’s another solicitation. This unintentional pattern leaves many donors feeling like just another name in a database rather than a valued partner in the mission they support. Hundreds of our conversations about digital labor lead us to believe there is a solution to these challenges. Research tells us they are worth solving: Mid-level donors are often the most loyal donors, yet they receive the least personalized stewardship. In a study of mid-level giving, donors cited “lack of communication and feeling unappreciated” as a top reason for stopping their gifts. (Nonprofit Quarterly) Younger donors are making lasting connections to causes now, even if their giving capacity isn’t fully realized yet. Organizations that don’t retain these donors will lose out on major returns as they age into their prime giving years. (The Chronicle of Philanthropy) This is why we introduced the Virtual Stewardship Officer (VSO) as the next logical step in our mission to accelerate and transform philanthropy. Donors give because they care and they continue giving when they feel genuinely valued. Yet meaningful stewardship, personalized impact updates, heartfelt gratitude, and long-term engagement, is often reserved for top-tier donors making six- and seven-figure gifts. The VSO expands meaningful stewardship beyond top donors, using digital labor to create personalized touchpoints that acknowledge donor history, reinforce impact, and build lasting relationships. By scaling engagement, it ensures no donor feels overlooked, making long-term relationship-building and meaningful pipeline development sustainable for every giving level. Traditional stewardship models make it nearly impossible to engage donors in a truly personal way at scale. The VSO personalizes 1:1 stewardship to donors who give year-after-year, stretching their budgets to contribute in a way that is personally significant, even if it isn’t classified as a "major" gift; long-time supporters who have probably made their last large donation but remain deeply invested in the organization’s mission; first-time donors who, regardless of gift size, we want to retain; and more. These donors are often the backbone of an organization’s giving pipeline. The future of fundraising isn’t just about raising more money—it’s about ensuring every donor feels like their gift matters. With digital labor, meaningful stewardship is no longer just for a select few—it’s for everyone who chooses to give.

Before it was about getting donors to write checks. Now it’s about involving them in your ecosystem. Here’s 5 steps to get started today: You’re not just fundraising anymore. You’re onboarding stakeholders. If you want repeatable, compounding revenue from donors, partners, and decision-makers, you need to stop treating them like check-writers… …and start treating them like collaborators in a living system. Here’s how. 1. Diagnose your “center of gravity” Most orgs center fundraising around the mission. But the real gravitational pull for donors is their identity. → Ask yourself: What is the identity we help our funders step into? Examples: Systems Disruptor. Local Hero. Climate Investor. Opportunity Builder. Build messaging, experiences, and invites around that identity, not just impact stats. 2. Turn every program into a flywheel for new capital Stop separating “program delivery” from “fundraising.” Your programs are your best sales engine → Examples: • Invite donors to shadow frontline staff for one hour • Allow funders to sponsor a real-time decision and see the outcome • Let supporters “unlock” bonus services for beneficiaries through engagement, not just cash People fund what they help shape. 3. Use feedback as a funding mechanism Most orgs treat surveys as box-checking. But used right, feedback is fundraising foreplay. → Ask donors and partners to co-define what “success” looks like before you report back. Then build dashboards, stories, and events around their metrics. You didn’t just show impact. You made them part of the operating model. 4. Make your “thank you” do heavy lifting Thanking donors isn’t the end of a transaction. It’s the first trust test for future collaboration. → Instead of a generic “thank you,” send: • A 1-minute voice memo with a specific insight you gained from their gift • A sneak peek at a challenge you’re tackling and ask for their perspective • A micro-invite: “Can I get your eyes on something next week?” You’re not closing a loop. You’re opening a door. 5. Build a “Donor OS” (Operating System) Every funder should have a journey, not just a transaction history. → Track things like: • What insight made them first say “I’m in”? • Who do they influence (and who influences them)? • What kind of risk are they comfortable taking? • What internal narrative did your mission fulfill for them? Then tailor comms, invitations, and roles accordingly. Not everyone needs another newsletter but someone does want a seat at the strategy table. With purpose and impact, Mario

Donor Relations Can Never Be the Sole Responsibility of Advancement Sustained fundraising success requires sustaining donor trust which obligates organizational leaders to be careful about the promises they make to donors and doubly diligent about the ones they already made. A stewardship office, no matter how ably staffed, is only as effective as it manifests a larger lived ethic of accountability across the institution. Institutional leaders have to hold all recipients of private funds accountable to the donor. Most donors say they have been sufficiently thanked but under-informed about the impact of their giving. The CEO is the chief impact officer. Everyone in an executive position should know the names of the 25 most generous donors and the 25 most loyal donors (measured by years of giving). Members of the staff who give should be afforded the same respect and recognition as all other donors. Leaders engender gratitude and engrain accountability within. They understand that philanthropy begins at home.

If you had a donor who gave $80,000 annually, how would you treat them? Would you ignore them and assume they'll give year after year? Or would you update them on the impact of your programs, share stories, and direct staff to meet with them? I hear from small and startup organizations all the time that they need a major gift strategy but when I ask them to tell me about their current donors, they draw a blank. I had a client who wanted to double their annual revenue by bringing in new, major donors. I decided to do an analysis of their existing donors. Here's what I found: -their donor retention rate was less than 25% -that retention rate lost them $80,000 in individual giving from one fiscal year to the next -of those lapsed donors, more than half had been repeat donors. The total revenue lost over their combined giving history? Over $300,000. Stewardship starts with communication, and so much of it can be automated. I hear so often that stewardship takes time and that donors need personalized outreach over automated. All of that may be true but if you're constantly putting off that "special touch," you run the risk of losing donors. Automation does not indicate a lack of personalization. You can segment donor audiences into interested program areas and send them updates about the programs they support. No one feels that a newsletter isn't personalized, but it's a start. If you build in strategic automation throughout the year, when you finally do get around to that call or request for a visit, they're not trying to remember who you are. And if you start thinking of your annual donors in terms of what they collectively contribute to your organization, you might start to realize that every dollar adds up and does, in fact, count. #fundraising #annualgiving

Donors who are informed about their giving are donors that continue to give. That’s a proven fact, thanks to visionaries like Penelope Burk. In her seminal work, Donor Centered Fundraising, Burk shares that 93% of individual donors would definitely or probably give again if two things happen: 1️⃣ They’re thanked promptly and personally. 2️⃣ They receive a meaningful follow-up report on the impact of their gift. The secret to repeat giving, and pledge fulfillment, is in the first two of the 4 Pillars of Donor Relations–stewardship and acknowledgment. Thanks to data from AFP’s Fundraising Effectiveness Project, we know that pledge fulfillment rates fall anywhere from 80-90%. That means that 8 or 9 out of 10 pledges will ultimately be fulfilled. This is a pretty good number, right? But think about this in the context of our ever-growing fundraising campaigns. The illustration below shows the revenue difference between an 80% pledge fulfillment and a 90% pledge fulfillment in the context of a $1B campaign. The revenue loss is compounded, of course, in the context of big campaigns, but the financial impact of pledge fulfillment impacts all nonprofits, all the time. Donor relations is the difference maker in this area and once again donor relations professionals have the opportunity to make a financial impact in our work.