Donor Retention Rate
Percentage of donors from the previous period who give again in the current period
What is Donor Retention Rate?
Donor retention rate is the percentage of donors who gave in one period and gave again in the next. It shows how well a charity keeps its supporters.
Keeping donors is far cheaper than finding new ones, so retention is one of the strongest drivers of fundraising success.
How this KPI is measured
- Function
- Fundraising & Income
- Sub-function
- Donor Retention
- Industry
- Not-for-Profit / Charity
- Type
- Lagging
- Impact
- Revenue
- Unit
- %
- Measurement frequency
- Annual
- Formula
- (Donors who gave in both periods / Donors who gave in prior period) × 100
How to calculate it
Divide donors who gave in both periods by donors who gave in the prior period, and multiply by 100.
For example, if 10,000 donors gave last year and 4,500 gave again this year, retention is 45%.
Split by first-year and longer-term donors, since new donors are much less likely to give again, and by channel and gift type.
Where it is used
Measuring supporter loyalty
Track how many stay.
Improving stewardship
Test thank-you and communication.
Forecasting income
Estimate from the retained base.
How to improve it
Tips and common mistakes
- New donors have much lower retention than long-term donors.
- Small improvements in retention add up to big income.
- Track regular givers separately.
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