The Great $5 Donor Communications Experiment [Infographic]

A nonprofit’s donor communications strategy can make or break the relationship with a donor. It’s even more critical for first-time donors, 22.9% of which lapse on average.

We were curious how the average nonprofit follows up with a first-time donor. That’s why we made a $5 donation to 50 individual nonprofits in the Indianapolis-metro area. This is how they followed-up:

Methodology:

• Each donation was made on the afternoon of July 18th, 2014.


• All 50 donations were made within 60 minutes.


• All 50 of the nonprofits were chosen at random.


• All of the donations were made online through their websites.


• We used a real name, real address, real phone # and real email address.


• Each donation constituted a first-time donation to that org. In other words, it was a new entry into their database.

The Results:

48/50 (96%) sent an email receipt within 60 seconds of the donation (first response).

• 22/48 emails were from the payment processor.


• 26/48 emails were branded from the organization.


• 5/22 organizations who sent payment processor emails also sent a branded email acknowledgement shortly after.

2/50 (4%) have sent no acknowledgement of any kind.

0/50 (0%) made thank you phone calls.

• 19/50 (38%) asked for a phone # on the donation form.

17/50 (34%) sent a physical acknowledgement letter through the mail as the second response.

• The fastest letter came within 5 days of the gift


• The slowest letter came within 13 days of the gift

• 2/17 included a brochure or piece of printed collateral


• 2/17 included a hand-written note


• 1/17 asked for a response

10/50 (20%) sent an email as the second response.

• 5/10 came on the same day as the donation


• 1/10 came 1 day after donation


• 2/10 came 3 days after donation


• 2/10 came 13 days after donation

3/50 (6%) sent a physical acknowledgement letter through the mail as the third response.

• 1/3 included a hand-written note

2/50 (4%) sent an email as the third response.

For help crafting the perfect gift acknowledgement letter, download our free Basic Thank You Letter Template here >>

What do you think of the results? Should the nonprofits have done something differently? How does your organization follow-up with new donors? Let us know in the comments below!

The Great $5 Donor Communications Experiment [Infographic]