Donor Retention Rate: 2026 Benchmarks, the Formula, and 9 Ways to Improve It

Donor retention rate is the percentage of last year's donors who gave again this year. The sector average was 43.3% in 2025, according to the Fundraising Effectiveness Project. The average hides a sharp split: roughly 59% of repeat donors give again, but fewer than one in five first-time donors do. Improving first-year retention is the fastest way to raise the overall number.

How do you calculate donor retention rate?

Donor retention rate = (Donors who gave last year and this year ÷ Donors who gave last year) × 100

Example: 300 people gave last year. 159 of them gave again this year. Your retention rate is 159 ÷ 300 = 53%.

Calculate three versions, because each tells you something different:

• Overall retention: all donors, as above.
• First-year (new donor) retention: of donors whose first-ever gift was last year, how many gave again.
• Repeat donor retention: of donors who had given before last year, how many gave again.

Also track dollar retention: this year's revenue from retained donors divided by last year's revenue from all donors. It shows whether you're keeping your most valuable supporters.

What is a good donor retention rate in 2026?

Rules of thumb: above 50% overall is strong, above 25% first-year is well above average, and monthly donor retention below 70% at 12 months signals a payment-failure or onboarding problem.

Why is donor retention so low?

The FEP's Q4 2025 report notes that new-donor retention has stayed essentially flat across multiple reporting periods, even as overall retention edged up from 43.1% to 43.3%. Common causes:

• Slow or generic thank-yous.
• No plan for the first 90 days after a first gift.
• Asking again before showing what the first gift did.
• Failed card payments nobody follows up on.
• Donor data split across systems, so nobody sees the whole relationship.

Nine ways to improve donor retention

1. Thank every donor within 48 hours

Automate the receipt, but personalize the thank-you. For gifts above a threshold you set, add a phone call or handwritten note.

2. Build a 90-day new-donor welcome series

Three to five touches: thank-you, impact story, behind-the-scenes update, invitation to engage, then a second ask that references the first gift.

3. Report impact before you ask again

Tell donors what their gift did, specifically, before the next appeal. "Your gift funded 12 scholarship reviews" beats "thanks for your support."

4. Convert first-time donors to monthly giving

Monthly donors retain at far higher rates. Offer monthly giving in the welcome series, not just on the donation page. See post 6: How to Build a Monthly Giving Program That Keeps Donors for Years.

5. Recover failed recurring payments

Turn on card updater services, retry failed charges on a schedule and send a friendly update-your-card email. Many "lapsed" monthly donors simply had an expired card.

6. Watch the LYBUNT list monthly

LYBUNT donors gave Last Year But Unfortunately Not This year. Review the list each month, not just at year-end, and reach out before they lapse for good.

7. Use AI to predict who is about to lapse

Scoring models can flag donors whose engagement is dropping (fewer email opens, skipped events, longer gaps between gifts) months before they miss a gift. Staff can then call the ones that matter most. See post 5: Predictive Donor Analytics: How AI Finds Your Next Major Gift.

8. Invite donors to do more than give

Volunteering, events, surveys and committee roles all deepen connection. Donors with more touchpoints retain better.

9. Put members and donors on one record

For associations and membership nonprofits, a donor is often also a member, attendee or volunteer. When those relationships live in separate systems, you can't see that your lapsing donor just renewed membership or registered for the conference, which is exactly the right moment to reconnect.

How Evolve Fundraising helps you retain donors

Evolve Fundraising tracks retention, LYBUNT and SYBUNT lists from your gift data, and its acknowledgment queue makes sure every gift gets a receipt and a thank-you. Because it shares one record with membership and events, you see every interaction a donor has with you. The AI assistant drafts personal thank-yous from each donor's history and helps surface relationships at risk. Recurring gifts run on saved cards and ACH with autopay, and pledge installments never carry late fees.