Free · Certificate included
Donor Stewardship
Turn one-time gifts into lifelong supporters through great stewardship.
What you’ll learn
- Build a repeatable donor thank-you system that fires within 48 hours
- Measure and improve your donor retention rate
- Design a year-long donor stewardship journey
- Convert first-time donors into second-gift, then recurring, supporters
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Create a free account →Course outline
- 1
Stewardship vs. fundraising: what you’re really doing
Most nonprofits are very good at asking and surprisingly bad at keeping.
5 min Quiz Interactive - 2
Why retention beats acquisition
Acquiring a new donor is expensive and uncertain.
5 min Quiz Interactive - 3
The thank-you within 48 hours
The single highest-leverage stewardship act is also the simplest: thank the donor fast, before the warm glow of giving fades.
5 min Quiz Interactive - 4
Reporting impact: closing the loop
A donor gives because they want to change something.
4 min Quiz Interactive - 5
The stewardship cycle & moves management
Stewardship is a cycle, not a checklist. Each gift triggers a loop of thanking, reporting, and involving that deepens the relationship and earns the next gift. For…
6 min Quiz Interactive - 6
Segmenting donors & the donor journey
You can’t steward 2,000 donors the same way and call it personal.
4 min Quiz Interactive - 7
First gift to second gift — and recurring giving
Here is the most consequential number in your whole file: the first-gift-to-second-gift conversion rate.
5 min Quiz Interactive
Sources & further reading
- Association of Fundraising Professionals (Fundraising Effectiveness Project) — FEP Quarterly Benchmark Reports — donor retention & new-donor retention data
- Bloomerang — A Guide to Donor Retention: Why It Matters for Nonprofits
- Penelope Burk / Cygnus Applied Research — Donor-Centered Fundraising — the thank-you and retention research
- Neon One — The Generosity Report — multi-year donor value and retention
- Network for Good / Bonterra — Recurring & monthly giving benchmarks for nonprofits
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