Are you accidentally ghosting your donors?

StarTrust Academy

Are you accidentally ghosting your donors?

13:10

 

The Cost of Waiting: Why Donor Experience is the New Frontier of Fundraising Loyalty

This is an important report to our nonprofit and social enterprise subscribers. 

Your mission deserves loyal supporters — not vanishing donors.

Let’s fix the silent churn and build something sustainable.

[Listen to our podcast summary above.]

TL;DR

Donor retention rates are plummeting. New donor acquisition costs 7–10x more than retention. Most donors don’t stop giving because of disagreement — they stop because they feel unseen.

This insightful guide by Allegiance Group + Pursuant reveals the costly consequences of neglecting donor experience and offers actionable strategies to reverse the trend.

It’s time to treat donor experience not as fluff, but as infrastructure.

Waiting is no longer neutral — it’s expensive.

Every day you delay improving donor experience is a day you lose revenue, trust, and future impact.

Mid-level donors lapse quietly. Sustainers go un-thanked. New digital donors give once and never hear from you again.

Not because they don’t care. But because they don’t feel seen.

The future of fundraising isn’t about a louder ask. It’s about a better experience.

👉 Download the full PDF guide here 👉 The Cost of Waiting PDF 

and you will learn:

✔️ Why donor loyalty is declining (and how you can reverse it)
✔️ The hidden revenue loss of delayed action
✔️ How to build journeys that retain, upgrade, and inspire  

And, after you download the free guide, Allegiance Group can send you a personalized Fundraising Forecast after you fill out a short survey..

Once the Allegiance Group receives your survey, they will send you a customized report showing:

Fundraising Has Changed — Have You?

In today's digitally fragmented, economically unstable world, fundraising isn’t just about money raised — it’s about trust earned. Yet far too many nonprofits still build strategy around campaign calendars and mass appeals rather than the relational journey of their donors.

It’s not enough to collect a gift and send a receipt. Today’s donors expect recognition, relevance, and resonance. They want to feel like human beings — not ATM machines or line items in a CRM.

The cold hard truth? The longer you delay investing in donor experience, the more you're bleeding donors, dollars, and long-term mission momentum.

The Donor Loyalty Crisis (a.k.a. The Hole in Your Bucket)

Let’s look at the numbers — and they’re not pretty:

• Donor retention across the sector is below 45%

• New donor retention has dropped to 19.2%

• Individual giving still accounts for 67% of support, but lower-dollar donor participation is fading fast

• It costs 7–10 times more to acquire a new donor than to keep one

So, while many nonprofits are working harder and spending more, they’re keeping fewer donors. The primary reason?

It’s not your mission. It’s your follow-up.

Why Donors Disappear (Hint: It’s Not Because They’re Mad)

Contrary to common assumptions, donors don’t leave in a dramatic huff. They just slowly drift away.

Why? Because they feel invisible.

Allegiance Group + Pursuant’s research with fundraising expert Adrian Sargeant reveals that donors want four things:

1. To be seen and treated like individuals

2. To receive recognition and personalization

3. To understand the impact of their gift

4. To know they matter

When follow-up is generic, delayed, or nonexistent, donors interpret that silence as irrelevance. And silence, over time, is a subtle — but powerful — rejection.

As AGP says:

“The donor doesn’t want to hear less from you. They want to hear more about what they care about.”

 

Donor Experience: Your New Growth Infrastructure

Think donor experience is just a warm-and-fuzzy marketing buzzword? Think again.

It’s a growth engine.

According to AGP’s Giving Outlook and Donor Journey research, donor experience is becoming the new infrastructure for scalable, sustainable revenue and retention.

What a Donor Experience Strategy Actually Looks Like:

✅ Journey mapping across awareness, exploration, expansion, and commitment
✅ Omni-channel orchestration — not just email, but personalized content across platforms
✅ Integrated data and messaging to deliver relevance at every touchpoint
✅ A culture shift — from transactional fundraising to relational stewardship

When done well, it aligns every department with one goal: helping the donor feel known, appreciated, and invited into a shared mission.

This isn’t theory. It’s measurable. And there’s a cost to ignoring it.

The Hidden (and Real) Cost of Waiting

Waiting to improve donor experience doesn’t just delay results — it compounds damage.

Organizations that delay action experience:

• Lapsed donors

• Neglected sustainers

• Unengaged mid-level givers

• Board and staff frustration

• Stagnant revenue and morale

But even more alarming?

The unheard sound of silence.

Every thank-you that goes unsent, every story that isn’t shared, every impact report delayed — these missed moments send one unified message to donors:

“You don’t matter that much.”

And while you might not hear the complaint, the donor heard the silence loud and clear — and walked away.

The Price of Doing Nothing

Nonprofits that wait to prioritize donor experience also risk:

• Loss of brand relevance (you become background noise)

• Burnout from outdated fundraising systems

• Talent attrition when staff feel like their work doesn’t make a difference

Meanwhile, those who take even small steps see compounding gains:

• Increased retention and lifetime donor value

• Deeper engagement from first-time and mid-level donors

• Clearer insight into what strategies actually work

AGP puts it bluntly:

“Standing still is moving backwards.”

 

How to Start Right Now (Even Without Fancy Tools)

Here’s the good news: you don’t need a new CRM or massive re-org to start improving donor experience.

5 Simple Steps to Start Today:

1. Map Your Moments of Truth
   Where are you delighting — or disappointing — your donor after their gift?

2. Use a Forecast Tool
   What’s the real cost of inaction in each segment?

3. Pick One Priority Segment
   First-time givers? Sustainers? Mid-level donors?

4. Build a Personal Experience Track
   Emails, phone calls, notes, video — start small, but make it meaningful.

5. Measure and Adjust
   Track retention, second gift rates, or average gift upgrades.

And remember: even with a lean team, you can move the needle by:

• Having volunteers make thank-you calls

• Personalizing emails with segmentation

• Reflecting donor stories and feedback in your content

• Celebrating impact (not just need)

Real Results: The NAMI Case Study

One of the most compelling parts of the guide is how the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) put these ideas into action — and saw massive results.

The Challenge:

NAMI’s donor file was shrinking. Attrition was outpacing acquisition.

The Shift:

They partnered with AGP and moved from transactional to relational fundraising.

What Changed:

• Lowered donation threshold from ~$50 to ~$20 to grow the donor base

• Enhanced creative and list strategy

• Created a thoughtful welcome journey: coffee kits, affirmation cards, mission-aligned content

• Integrated email, SMS, and print for a cohesive experience

The Results:

• Donors per mailing grew from 900 to 1,600

• Response rate almost doubled from 0.4% to 0.76%

• Adjusted average gift to $34 — increasing volume and long-term value

As NAMI’s National Director of Individual Giving put it:

“The results speak for themselves: more new donors, stronger retention, and a clear path toward sustainable growth.”

 

Why “Personal” Is So Powerful

In a world of generic newsletters and automated receipts, a personalized experience is what sets great fundraising teams apart.

Donors give out of deep conviction. They want to be part of something larger than themselves. But they also want to be seen.

Here’s what the future demands:

• Lead with relationship — not just revenue

• Center the donor’s identity — not just your mission

• Match the bravery of the donor’s gift — with gratitude, clarity, and vision

As AGP puts it:

“When we make it personal, donors stay. They give more. They invite others. They become part of the mission — not just funders of it.”

 

Let’s Be Honest — You Can’t Afford to Wait

Every week you delay, you risk more than missed gifts. You risk:

• Losing mission momentum

• Burning out your team

• Watching donors quietly slip away

But there’s another way forward.

You can stop the leak.
You can build loyalty.
You can create a future where donors aren’t just givers — they’re champions.

It starts with a simple decision: to see your donors not as transactions, but as people.

Ready to Build Donor Loyalty That Lasts?

The Cost of Waiting is more than a title — it’s a wake-up call.

If you want to:

✅ Increase retention
✅ Reduce acquisition costs
✅ Raise more without burning out
✅ Build stronger, longer-lasting relationships

Then this free guide is your new fundraising blueprint.

👉 Download the full PDF now
(and start transforming your donor experience today — before another one slips away silently.)