Why Do Nonprofits Struggle to Retain Fundraising Staff?
NonProfit PRO
JUNE 16, 2025
Fundraising is a vital part of any nonprofit, but many struggle to keep their fundraising staff onboard. Here's how nonprofits can better retain fundraisers.
Fundraising Nonprofit Retainer 
Retaining First Time Donors this GivingTuesday
Blackbaud
NOVEMBER 20, 2024
GivingTuesday presents an invaluable opportunity for nonprofits to capture the generosity of first-time, spontaneous givers. These donors, who contribute without prior planning, can be the unsung heroes of your end-of-year fundraising. While they may yet be known to you, you are likely already on their radar.
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Are you still struggling to retain donors?
amplifi
FEBRUARY 27, 2025
And the Fundraising Effectiveness Project has reported a 4.5 And while the solution for every nonprofit might differ, many are struggling to retain donors for similar reasons! Its going to be hard to retain donors and keep them engaged if you dont have their most recent information. Your data stinks. All you do is ask.
There’s a Crisis in Nonprofit Fundraising — And It’s Time We Faced It Head-On
Pamela Grow
MAY 29, 2025
Every week, I receive an email or a DM from someone whos decided to walk away from nonprofit fundraising. Talented fundraisers are leaving the sector in droves, often for consulting, or simply for industries that better support their well-being and respect their expertise. Why Are Fundraisers Really Leaving?
5 Ideas For Volunteers As Fundraising Resources
The NonProfit Times
JANUARY 7, 2025
Fundraising isnt always about money. According to Lynn Margherio, founder and CEO of Cradles to Crayons, volunteerism is the backbone of many successful nonprofits, even though attracting and retaining volunteers can be challenging. Sometimes people want to support a local nonprofit, but they dont know where to start.
Tips to Improve Your Nonprofit’s Peer-to-Peer Fundraising
OneCause
APRIL 28, 2025
Peer-to-peer fundraising is a powerful approach for nonprofits. And peer-to-peer fundraising programs are doing well these days. According to the 2024 Top 30 and P2P Benchmarking Survey , 18 of the top 30 peer-to-peer fundraising programs in the U.S. And peer-to-peer fundraising programs are doing well these days.
April is National Volunteer Month. Do you know where your volunteers are?
Candid
MARCH 31, 2025
As the nonprofit sector seeks ways to continue its work in the face of ongoing challenges, volunteers may come to play a larger role. So, what can organizations do to better engage and retain volunteers in 2025? So, what can organizations do to better engage and retain volunteers in 2025? According to the U.S. in 2022-23.
5 Revenue Streams to Strengthen Nonprofit Sustainability
Ann Green's Nonprofit
FEBRUARY 11, 2025
Diverse revenue streams provide a sustainable financial foundation for nonprofits. Explore revenue streams your nonprofit should pursue in this guide. This is a great way for nonprofits of all sizes to bring in a steady stream of revenue. Evaluate your mobile fundraising logistics. The good news?
Smart engagement is the new fundraising superpower
Bonterra
JUNE 19, 2025
Fundraising is no longer just about transactions. At Bonterra, we believe strong relationships lead to stronger fundraising. Our fundraising and engagement solutions are designed to help organizations create high-impact, personalized supporter experiences across every touchpoint. The first gift isn’t the goal.
50+ Fun and Creative School Fundraising Ideas That Work
Qgiv
JANUARY 8, 2025
According to school fundraising studies , only 64% of parents, teachers, and administrators believe their school is well-funded. As a result, choosing the right school fundraising ideas to excite your school community is essential. Implementing a well-organized and engaging fundraiser can yield numerous benefits for your school.
8 Simple Tactics You Need in Your Fundraising Strategy Toolkit
Blackbaud
MAY 1, 2025
Nonprofits work tirelessly to make a difference in their communities, and fundraising is often a vital yet challenging part of this work. In this article, youll learn eight simple tools and tactics you should consider incorporating into your fundraising efforts.
4 Top Donor Retention Strategies to Keep Your Year-End Donors
CauseVox
JANUARY 20, 2025
The second piece of the equation is that many nonprofits struggle with donor retention. I know its tough to hear, but the average nonprofit loses 60% of its donors each year. Most nonprofits and charities measure donor retention year over year. From these stats, you would have retained 40% of your donors, and lost 60%.
What do nonprofits struggle with the most?
Blue Avocado
JULY 8, 2025
Nonprofits are crucial for communities, but they face significant hurdles. When we recently asked the Blue Avocado community “What do nonprofits struggle with the most? When we recently asked the Blue Avocado community “What do nonprofits struggle with the most?”
Fundraisers Taking Smaller Bite Of New York Donations
The NonProfit Times
DECEMBER 2, 2024
Professional fundraising firms retained 17% of donations raised in New York State during 2023, the lowest amount during the past five years. According to data in the new “Pennies For Charity” report from New York Attorney General Letitia James, 581 fundraising campaigns brought in $1.23 The nonprofit sector employed roughly 1.39
NEWS: Give fundraisers ownership of their tasks and targets if you don’t want them to leave
Critical Fundraising
JULY 28, 2025
Read more : NEWS: Give fundraisers ownership of their tasks and targets if you don’t want them to leave Fundraisers need to be given more ownership of their roles and the professional autonomy to carry them out if charities are to tackle the retention crisis bedevilling the fundraising profession.
How to Craft the Perfect Thank-You Message for Donors
Pamela Grow
JULY 2, 2025
Demonstrating to donors that you see and appreciate their commitment to your organization can reinforce their confidence in their decision to support your nonprofit. For example, imagine that you are a school hosting a popcorn fundraiser. We all know how important volunteers are to the work of any nonprofit.
End-of-Year Giving Campaign: 13 Successful (Yet Underutilized) Strategies
CauseVox
DECEMBER 5, 2024
As fundraisers, you’re also in charge of putting together end-of-year giving campaigns for your nonprofit. Aside from the normal holiday hullabaloo, you’re also busy planning fundraisers and engagement opportunities to round out your organization’s calendar year. Early preparation is key in ensuring a successful campaign.
7 Signs Your Organization Is Ready for an Enterprise-Scale CRM
Blackbaud
JANUARY 14, 2025
While you may be aware on a general level that your CRM platform is becoming a headwind to your organization achieving its fundraising goals, the prospect of migrating vast amounts of data, retraining staff, and committing the money and resources required for a successful upgrade can make it tempting to say, Lets make do for another year.
Host a Successful Golf Tournament Fundraiser With These 6 Steps
CauseVox
MARCH 17, 2025
Picture this: a sunny day, a beautifully manicured golf course, and a group of enthusiastic golfers ready to tee offall while raising funds to support your nonprofit’s mission. Whether you run a small community organization or a large nonprofit, hosting a successful golf tournament fundraiser is entirely within your reach.
Foundation grants, check. Corporate support, check. What else can nonprofits do to diversify funding streams?
Candid
JULY 21, 2025
So, what else can nonprofits do to ensure they can go on serving their communities? Position your organization for visibility Even with a strong case for support, funders and donors can only support your nonprofit if they’re aware of the work you do. Meanwhile, don’t neglect your Candid profile !
It’s Another Polar Plunge For Q3 Fundraising
The NonProfit Times
DECEMBER 19, 2024
The less than good fundraising news continues to roll in. These are among the data release by the Fundraising Effectiveness Project. The data is contributed by 10 of the most active fundraising platforms. The number of Supersize donors, those fundraisers crave, dropped 4.9% of new donors retained year-to-date.
Donor Retention: The Importance of Keeping Supporters Engaged
Blackbaud
JULY 22, 2025
Donor retention is a nonprofit’s ability to keep its existing donors engaged and encourage them to continue giving over time. Building strong relationships with donors is fundamental for nonprofit success. Cost-Effectiveness Acquiring new donors can prove significantly more expensive than retaining existing ones.
Top 10 Essential Strategies for Major Gift Fundraising Success
Center for Major Gifts
FEBRUARY 28, 2025
Major gift fundraising is a cornerstone of nonprofit financial health, providing the resources needed for transformational impact. Here are the top ten essential strategies for major gift fundraising success. Understanding this distinction is crucial in developing an effective fundraising strategy.
5 Components of an Effective Donor Stewardship Matrix
Blackbaud
JANUARY 15, 2025
It takes more than thank-you letters to retain donors for your nonprofit long-term. To effectively steward donor relationships and inspire higher levels of giving, you must strategically engage donors in various ways that deepen their connections to your nonprofit. The answer is a donor stewardship matrix.
5 Reasons Many Nonprofits Fail to Reach Their Highest Potential
NonProfit PRO
JULY 3, 2025
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What is Human-Centric AI and What Does It Mean for Fundraising?
Blackbaud
JULY 24, 2025
A recent Blackbaud Institute survey of nonprofit and education fundraisers found that over 80% of them were using AI in their daily work, and most organizations are using AI tools at a higher rate than they had in the year prior. This increasing adoption is expected to continue, changing the way fundraisers do their jobs.
CRM Software for Nonprofits vs. Fundraising Platforms: The Essential Breakdown
CauseVox
JULY 1, 2025
A few years ago, I was helping a small nonprofit revamp their donor outreach. That’s when it hit us: they didn’t need just a fundraising platform, they needed CRM software for nonprofits. What Is a Fundraising Platform? Here are a few of the core functions of the ideal fundraising platform (like CauseVox!):
The #1 Reason You’re Not Getting Monthly Donors and How to Fix It
CauseVox
NOVEMBER 6, 2024
Learn how to create a message that attracts and retains recurring donors, transforming your year-end and year-round marketing for lasting impact. Year-end is responsible for the vast majority of your fundraising, and because of that every nonprofit wants to stand out. With many worthy causes seeking attention and support.
Leveraging Matching Gifts Programs to Boost Donor Retention
Blackbaud
FEBRUARY 10, 2025
Employer matching gifts offer key advantages to nonprofit organizations, including increased individual donations, opportunities for additional corporate funding, improved supporter engagement, and more. Ultimately, this would result in a $200 (or doubled) donation value for the nonprofit.
Forecasted Fundraising Trends for 2025
GiveSmart
JANUARY 23, 2025
Nonprofit staff have grit. There are pockets of opportunity to better engage donors, invest in technology, and better strategize fundraising efforts. There are pockets of opportunity to better engage donors, invest in technology, and better strategize fundraising efforts. Stories stay with us.
Getting nonprofit boards on board: Recruiting, governance, and fundraising
Candid
FEBRUARY 10, 2025
At Candid, we get a lot of questions about nonprofit boardsfrom how to recruit members, to what their obligations are, to how executives can best work with them to advance their organizations missions and growth. Heres a curated collection of articles and resources covering a wide range of topics on nonprofit boards.
Fasten Your Seat Belts! 2025 Will Be a Bumpy Ride…Here’s Help!
Pamela Grow
JANUARY 22, 2025
Fundraising has been showing troubling trends for a while now. of new donors are being retained year-to-date, and even repeat donor retention decreased by 4.6%. Nonprofit organizations will need to be a whole lot more serious about fundraising particularly donor retention in 2025. Only 13.8% And thats saying a lot.
What Are the Best Practices for Conducting a Post-School Fundraiser Review?
Big Fundraising Ideas
DECEMBER 22, 2024
What Are the Best Practices for Conducting a Post-School Fundraiser Review? Blog Summary: Post-school fundraiser reviews are essential for ensuring long-term success and continuous improvement. Why Conduct a Post-Fundraiser Review? A well-structured review goes beyond numbers and focuses on the overall experience.
Donor Cultivation Cycle: Tips for Each Major Stage of Fundraising
Blackbaud
JULY 16, 2025
A donor cultivation cycle is a systematic process that helps nonprofits build lifelong relationships with their donors through five key stages: identification, qualification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship. Despite the length of time it takes to acquire a donor, many nonprofits struggle with donor retention.
How to Use Social Media to Raise More Money in Your Year-End Campaign
CauseVox
NOVEMBER 6, 2024
Master key strategies to elevate your GivingTuesday and year-end fundraising with social media, including profile optimization, engaging content, and video storytelling. As the end of the year approaches, nonprofits of all sizes gear up for their most critical fundraising period.
Must-Have Members of Your Nonprofit’s Fundraising Team
Greater Giving
DECEMBER 2, 2024
7 Must-Have Members of Your Nonprofit’s Fundraising Team With a dedicated nonprofit fundraising team, you’ll execute more effective strategies, plan impactful events, and attain more funding for your mission. That’s where this guide comes in—we’ll discuss the must-have members of your nonprofit’s fundraising team.
Building an Effective Online Donation Process: Expert Tips
Get Fully Funded
DECEMBER 17, 2024
Nonprofits have a conversion problem. The data speaks for itselfaccording to the M+R Benchmarks 2024 report : Of desktop users who made their way to a nonprofits main donation page, only 16% completed a gift. Retaining donors is equally challengingthe average nonprofit donor retention rate is consistently around 45%.
What are the Biggest Challenges in Getting (and Keeping) Your Nonprofit’s Staff and Volunteers?
Blue Avocado
JANUARY 14, 2025
Quality, dedicated nonprofit volunteers and skilled staff are the key to any successful mission. When we recently asked the Blue Avocado community, “What is your biggest challenge in recruiting and retaining skilled staff or volunteers?” ” , once again, nonprofit leaders came through!
How Are You Thanking Your Donors?
NonProfit PRO
JULY 16, 2025
I’ve seen the same pattern again and again: Nonprofits are missing one of the easiest and most meaningful opportunities to deepen donor relationships — a real thank-you. That’s how you stand out in a sector where most nonprofits are just checking the box. Continue to your page in 15 seconds or skip this ad.
Perfecting the Thank-You Call: How a Five-Minute Phone Chat Can Triple Donor Retention
Center for Major Gifts
MARCH 22, 2025
Imagine a nonprofit that calls every donorregardless of gift sizewithin a day or two of receiving their contribution. In this article, well discuss how making thank-you calls a key part of your donor stewardship routine can boost donor retention and fundraising results and show you how to make effective calls for your organization.
Supersized Gifts Mask Declining Nonprofit Grassroots Support, Q1 FEP Report Finds
NonProfit PRO
JULY 29, 2025
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Winning unrestricted funding from general operating-averse funders: The Greatest Needs Approach
Grant Professionals Association
JULY 1, 2025
While general operating, unrestricted (GO) grants are ideal for nonprofits, project-restricted grants continue to be funded more successfully. Acknowledging that other fundraising efforts may affect which needs remain relevant, the proposal requests flexibility in how funds are ultimately spent. Specificity is critical.
Grant Writer Cost in 2025: What You Actually Need to Pay [Expert Guide]
Allied Grant Writers
JUNE 8, 2025
A nonprofit can make better budget decisions for grant writing services by knowing these payment models. Monthly retainers Organizations that need ongoing grant support benefit from monthly retainers. Monthly retainer costs range widely. Most retainer agreements last 6-12 months.
Fundraising Salaries Stabilize as Median Pay Outpaces Inflation, AFP Report Finds
NonProfit PRO
JULY 10, 2025
hide(); }});--> Leadership Management July 10, 2025 Fundraising Salaries Stabilize as Median Pay Outpaces Inflation, AFP Report Finds Credit: Getty Images by Nora Carol Photography By Amanda L. fundraising professionals — especially those in the middle of the pay scale — are seeing encouraging signs of financial progress.
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