We present a data analysis of the annual fund for a non-profit client and the resulting action plan that comes out of the study.

1. Finding and Acting on Key
Renewal Metrics
A Multi-Year Annual Fund Analysis for
a Five Maples Client
(an extract posted with permission from the client)
© Five Maples

2. Annual Fund
Number of Donors By Year
2010 2011 2012 2013
Active 1,248 1,119 1,055 1,179
-
500
1,000
1,500
© Five Maples
At first glance we
see a welcome
increase in
number of
donors for 2013
after several
consecutive years
of decline.

3. Annual Fund Active vs Lapsed
Donors By Year - Detail
2010 2011 2012 2013
First Time 518 307 191 374
Reactivated - 129 208 174
Consecutive 730 683 656 631
-
500
1,000
1,500
© Five Maples
Scratch the
surface and we
find that first-
time and
reactivated
donors account
for the increase.
Consecutive year
donors continue
to decline.

4. Annual Fund Active vs Lapsed
Donors By Year - Detail
2010 2011 2012 2013
First Time 518 307 191 374
Reactivated - 129 208 174
Consecutive 730 683 656 631
Lapsed One Year -607 -565 -463 -424
-1000
-500
0
500
1000
1500
© Five Maples
Digging deeper
we see the
number of
donors who did
not renew their
gift from the
prior year as a
negative
number.

5. Annual Fund
Donation Amount By Year
2010 2011 2012 2013
Active $443,788 $375,750 $457,782 $492,706
$-
$100,000
$200,000
$300,000
$400,000
$500,000
$600,000
© Five Maples
Dollars raised
tells a similar
story. The
increase started
a year earlier
due to some
major gifts.

6. Annual Fund Active vs Lapsed
Donation Amount By Year - Detail
2010 2011 2012 2013
First Time $67,434 $26,993 $31,636 $109,125
Reactivated $- $25,946 $46,367 $33,284
Consecutive $376,354 $322,811 $379,779 $350,297
$-
$100,000
$200,000
$300,000
$400,000
$500,000
$600,000
© Five Maples
Here we see the
dollars raised
from reactivated
and first-time
donors is a
fraction of that
raised from
consecutive year
donors.

7. Annual Fund Active vs Lapsed
Donation Amount By Year - Detail
2010 2011 2012 2013
First Time $67,434 $26,993 $31,636 $109,125
Reactivated $- $25,946 $46,367 $33,284
Consecutive $376,354 $322,811 $379,779 $350,297
Lapsed One Year $(105,656) $(85,732) $(56,630) $(104,000)
$(200,000)
$(100,000)
$-
$100,000
$200,000
$300,000
$400,000
$500,000
$600,000
© Five Maples
Finally, we see in
negative
numbers the loss
from gifts that
were not
renewed in the
following year.

8. Annual Fund Retention Rates
2009-2010 2010-2011 2011-2012 2012-2013
Retention 55% 55% 59% 60%
Attrition -45% -45% -41% -40%
-80%
-60%
-40%
-20%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
© Five Maples
Overall,
Retention rates
are slowly
increasing across
all categories.

9. First Year vs Multi-Year Retention
First-time donors Consecutive year donors
2010-2011 2011-2012 2012-2013
Retention 31% 28% 27%
Attrition -69% -72% -73%
-80%
-60%
-40%
-20%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
2010-2011 2011-2012 2012-2013
Retention 72% 70% 67%
Attrition -28% -30% -33%
-80%
-60%
-40%
-20%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
© Five Maples
Two key segments in decline
We found
significant
difference
between
likelihood of a
repeat gift
from first-
time donors
& consecutive
year donors.
30% vs 70%

10. Annual Fund Details
2010 2011 2012 2013 Total
Level Dollars Donors Dollars Donors Dollars Donors Dollars Donors Dollars
A. $10,000 + $ 73,681 5 $ 44,582 3 $ 42,360 2 $ 94,318 7 $ 463,363
B. $5,000-$9,999 $ 56,605 9 $ 47,275 9 $ 45,155 8 $ 38,531 7 $ 247,855
C. $1,000-$4,999 $ 158,001 89 $ 146,406 89 $ 203,540 118 $ 189,020 118 $ 872,141
Upper Total $ 288,287 103 $ 238,263 101 $ 291,055 128 $ 321,869 132 $ 1,583,359
D. $500-$999 $ 51,924 89 $ 46,419 81 $ 67,204 118 $ 67,111 119 $ 292,377
E. $250-$499 $ 36,573 122 $ 33,121 109 $ 38,665 121 $ 39,752 124 $ 192,339
F. $100-$249 $ 48,056 365 $ 41,959 319 $ 48,062 352 $ 48,458 360 $ 238,037
Mid Total $ 136,553 576 $ 121,499 509 $ 153,931 591 $ 155,321 603 $ 722,752
G. $50-$99 $ 11,698 212 $ 9,343 168 $ 8,486 152 $ 9,601 174 $ 51,732
H. $25-$49 $ 4,760 168 $ 4,126 147 $ 3,177 112 $ 4,111 147 $ 22,578
I. $0.01-$24 $ 2,490 189 $ 2,519 194 $ 1,133 72 $ 1,804 123 $ 9,901
Lower Total $ 18,948 569 $ 15,988 509 $ 12,795 336 $ 15,516 444 $ 84,211
Grand Total $ 443,788 1,248 $ 375,750 1,119 $ 457,782 1,055 $ 492,706 1,179 $ 2,390,323
© Five Maples
This helpful grid lays out a number of key indicators.

11. Action Plan for Improved
Retention
© Five Maples
Our client immediately put into action
7 steps to improved retention after
receiving our analysis.
She’s allowed us to share the outline
with you. It’s a rare glimpse into
another organization’s planning
process.
The following revised plan is prepared
with the goals of improving retention
rates.

12. Action Plan for Improved Retention
• 1. Prepare a special letter from the Executive Director
thanking re-activated donors and noticing that they “came
back” (in-house for 174 donors)
• 2. Prepare a similar letter of welcome to the new donors (in-
house for 374)
• 3. Conduct a thank-a-thon by assigning calls to staff and
volunteers:
– $250-$999 by volunteers
– $1,000-$2,499 by senior staff
– $2,500 and up by members of the Board of Directors
© Five Maples

13. Action Plan for Improved Retention
• 4. Review all thank you letters for freshness and appeal:
– Revise and edit all letters
– Invite a youth under the age of 20 to prepare a thank you note on how
we changed or impacted their life and have letter signed by that
person to be sent to all new and reactivated donors.
• 5. Appeal letters
– Consider a pull-out quote from the letter prepared by the youth
– Continue with story based and values based letters, as these have
worked well during the past year.
© Five Maples

14. Action Plan for Improved Retention
• 6. New Appeal Letter Schedule
– Spring Appeal with segments focused on retention (loyal, new, reactivated,
lapsed)
– Pull-out quote will come from the thank you letter by a youth
– Special May appeal will be sent to all donors at $1,000 and up to invite
them to consider a capital projects gift
– August Appeal for all who have not pledged or donated
– Year-end Appeal
• 7. Social Media
– Work with Marketing to integrate themes & messages as much as possible
– Take advantage at specific times of year to incorporate a giving message in
an eblast
– Coordinate direct mail and email, especially at year end
© Five Maples

15. © Five Maples
Read the blog post for more details of this case.
Click to read:
“Why this development director was
blind to her declining retention rate –
and what she’s doing about it now”
www.fivemaples.com
Five Maples can help you maximize donor retention.
Call Gary Henricksen for a free consultation at 800-437-7780
ext 104 or send an email to garyh@fivemaples.com