# Donor Retention Strategies for 2026: Trust Is High, Follow-Up Is Low

Active donors report very high trust in the organizations they support, while only about one in four first-time donors made a second gift in a 2026 benchmark. This article sets out six steps for the weeks after a first gift, the part an organization controls.

## Key takeaways
- In Bloomerang's 2026 survey of more than 1,000 active U.S. donors, 95% said they trust the organizations they support to use funds effectively, and 97% said those organizations seem aligned with what they care about.
- Across 771 mid-sized and large nonprofits, only 25.84% of first-time donors made a second gift in the Virtuous 2026 benchmark.
- The trust survey reached active donors, not people who stopped giving, so it cannot explain why new donors leave. It does mean a retention plan should not assume a trust problem.
- In the same Bloomerang survey, 94% of donors said they are motivated when told exactly where their money will go, 90% said the same about impact reporting, and 69% named email as their preferred channel.
- On an illustrative 1,000 first-time donors, raising second-gift conversion from 25.84% to 30% keeps about 42 more donors giving.

Donor retention strategies for 2026 should change what happens after a donor's first gift, not try to win the donor's trust, because most donors already report it. In [Bloomerang's 2026 Giving Signals Report](https://bloomerang.com/news/bloomerang-releases-2026-giving-signals-report), a survey with The Harris Poll of more than 1,000 active U.S. donors fielded in March 2026, 95% said they trust the organizations they support to use funds effectively, and 97% said the nonprofits they interact with seem aligned with what they care about. Yet across 771 mid-sized and large nonprofits, only 25.84% of first-time donors made a second gift, according to the [Virtuous 2026 Nonprofit Fundraising Benchmark Report](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/virtuous-releases-2026-nonprofit-fundraising-benchmark-report-median-gift-up-20-as-donors-who-stay-give-more-often-and-more-generously-302748571.html). Donor retention means the share of donors who give again after an earlier gift, and for new donors the numbers above point to the weeks after the first gift as the place to act.

## Why do donors who trust an organization still not give again?

The honest answer starts with a caveat. The trust figures and the second-gift figure describe different people. Bloomerang surveyed active donors about their attitudes, and Virtuous measured the actual giving records of its customer organizations, so no single donor appears in both. The comparison is an inference, not a measured link. Because the survey reached active donors, not those who stopped giving, it cannot show why new donors leave. That is a limit of its sample. It does show that high reported trust among active donors coexists with low second-gift rates, so a retention plan should not assume a trust problem.

**95%** — of active U.S. donors say they trust the organizations they support to use funds effectively (survey fielded March 2026) ([Bloomerang with The Harris Poll, 2026 Giving Signals Report](https://bloomerang.com/news/bloomerang-releases-2026-giving-signals-report))

The Fundraising Effectiveness Project names the same problem. Covering 15,102 organizations, it calls converting a first gift into a second "the most consequential unsolved problem in the donor pipeline", in the words of [the Fundraising Effectiveness Project's Q4 2025 report](https://publications.fepreports.org/archive/2025-q4/). Because the trust survey cannot see donors who left, the reasons behind a lapse have to be read from an organization's own records. What happens after a first gift, the thanks, the follow-up, and the timing of the second ask, is the part an organization controls.

## What do donors say they want after they give?

Three figures from the same Bloomerang survey shape the playbook. 94% of donors said they are motivated to give when an organization tells them exactly where their money will go, and 90% said the same about impact reporting. And 69% named email as their preferred channel for hearing from nonprofits, across every generation surveyed. Both are stated preferences rather than measured behavior, and stated preferences often run ahead of action, so they are a guide to what to test rather than a guarantee.

Recent experimental work narrows where effort belongs. In two preregistered field experiments with a German opera house, neither handwritten thank-you postcards nor a "thank you in advance" line significantly changed giving ([Adena, Huck and Neyse, 2025](https://doi.org/10.1017/eec.2025.10033)). Those studies found no effect from the form of a thank-you. Our [guide to thank-you letter evidence](https://donorinsights.com/articles/donor-thank-you-letter-evidence) covers what the content of a thank-you should say instead.

## Which donor retention strategies fit the first 90 days after a gift?

This article uses 90 days as a planning horizon, long enough for a thank-you, an update, and a second invitation, not as a threshold any study established. Each step below is tied to a measured figure, listed in the table.

Six post-gift retention steps and the measured figure behind each (sources linked in this article)

| Step | Measured figure | Source |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1. Thank specifically | 94% motivated when told exactly where money goes | Bloomerang 2026 survey |
| 2. Use email as the main channel | 69% prefer email | Bloomerang 2026 survey |
| 3. Report impact before the second ask | 90% motivated by impact reporting | Bloomerang 2026 survey |
| 4. Schedule the second invitation | 25.84% first-to-second gift conversion | Virtuous 2026 benchmark |
| 5. Introduce people donors can identify with | r = .24 for identifying with beneficiaries | Chapman et al. 2025 meta-analysis |
| 6. Track gifts per donor | 4.15 gifts per donor per year on average, 6.62 at the top-performing organizations (cutoff not published) | Virtuous 2026 benchmark |

1. Thank specifically within days. Name the amount and what it will pay for, which matches the 94% who want to know where their money will go. The [thank-you timing guide](https://donorinsights.com/articles/thank-you-timing) covers speed.
2. Use email as the main follow-up channel, since 69% of donors in Bloomerang's survey prefer it, and add other channels where a donor has chosen them.
3. Send an impact report before asking again. One short email that says what this donor's gift made possible is what 90% of donors in the same survey say motivates them.
4. Put the second invitation on the calendar at the moment the first gift arrives, so it is neither forgotten nor sent before the impact report. The [second-gift guide](https://donorinsights.com/articles/second-gift-window) explains why that gift matters most.
5. Introduce the people the gift reached. [A 2025 meta-analysis of 89,570 participants](https://doi.org/10.1177/08997640251317403) found that identifying with beneficiaries was associated with giving (r = .24), and identifying with the person asking even more (r = .36), as our [fundraising psychology roundup](https://donorinsights.com/articles/fundraising-psychology-research) explains.
6. Track gifts per donor, not only donors retained. Virtuous found an average of 4.15 gifts per donor per year, and 6.62 at the top-performing organizations in its benchmark (Virtuous does not publish the cutoff), and top-quartile organizations retained nearly 7 in 10 donors against 54.73% overall.

## What is a better second-gift rate worth?

Consider a fictional organization, Riverbend Animal Rescue, that welcomes 1,000 first-time donors in a year. The figures below are illustrative. They apply Virtuous's published conversion rate and an assumed $75 second gift to show the shape of the arithmetic, not to set a benchmark.

Illustrative: 1,000 first-time donors at two second-gift rates (hypothetical organization and $75 gift)

| Scenario | Donors making a second gift | Second-gift revenue at $75 |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Virtuous average (25.84%) | About 258 | About $19,350 |
| Improved follow-up (30%) | 300 | $22,500 |
| Difference | About 42 donors | About $3,150 |

The first-year dollars are modest. The larger value is the 42 additional donors who have now given twice. Converting a first gift into a second is what the Fundraising Effectiveness Project's Q4 2025 report calls ["the most consequential unsolved problem in the donor pipeline"](https://publications.fepreports.org/archive/2025-q4/). The Virtuous data make the same point from the other side: organizations in its top quartile retained nearly 7 in 10 donors, well above the 54.73% overall rate.

**25.84%** — of first-time donors made a second gift across 771 mid-sized and large nonprofits, the rate the six steps aim to raise ([Virtuous, 2026 Nonprofit Fundraising Benchmark Report](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/virtuous-releases-2026-nonprofit-fundraising-benchmark-report-median-gift-up-20-as-donors-who-stay-give-more-often-and-more-generously-302748571.html))

> **What these numbers measure**
>
> Bloomerang's figures are stated attitudes of active donors, people who already give, so they run far higher than trust surveys of the general public and should not be compared with them. Virtuous's figures come from 771 mid-sized and large customer organizations, and its sample grew from 571 the year before, so part of any year-over-year change comes from a different sample. Other benchmarks built from different samples report different rates: the Fundraising Effectiveness Project, covering 15,102 organizations, put 2025 donor retention at 43.3%, against Virtuous's 54.73%, so compare your file with organizations like yours.

The six steps work best when they are measured on your own donors. Donor Insights reads your contacts and gifts the way a fund reads a portfolio, so the second-gift rate of this year's first-time donors, and the number of gifts per donor, are figures you can watch as the follow-up changes. The [methodology](https://donorinsights.com/methodology) starts from your own giving records, and the same [platform](https://donorinsights.com/platform) shows whether the weeks after a first gift are turning into second gifts.

## FAQ

**What are the best donor retention strategies for 2026?**

Focus on the weeks after the first gift: thank specifically, follow up by email, report what the gift did before asking again, schedule the second invitation, introduce the people the gift reached, and track gifts per donor. Each is tied to a 2026 survey or benchmark figure.

**Do donors trust nonprofits?**

Active donors report very high trust in the organizations they support: 95% in Bloomerang's 2026 survey said they trust those organizations to use funds effectively. That figure covers people who already give, so it runs higher than surveys of the general public.

**How many first-time donors give a second gift?**

Across 771 mid-sized and large nonprofits in Virtuous's 2026 benchmark, 25.84% of first-time donors made a second gift. Benchmarks built from other samples report different rates, so compare against organizations of your size.

**What communication channel do donors prefer?**

Email. In Bloomerang's 2026 survey of more than 1,000 active donors, 69% named email as their preferred channel, across every generation surveyed.

**Why do donors stop giving after one gift?**

The trust survey cannot answer that directly, because it reached active donors rather than people who stopped. Active donors report high trust, so a plan should not assume a trust problem. What an organization controls is what follows the gift: the thanks, the follow-up, and whether a report on the first gift arrives before the second ask.

## Sources
- [Bloomerang with The Harris Poll (2026). 2026 Giving Signals Report, release of May 19, 2026. 1,000+ active U.S. donors and 400 nonprofit leaders, fieldwork March 13-24, 2026.](https://bloomerang.com/news/bloomerang-releases-2026-giving-signals-report)
- [Virtuous (2026). 2026 Nonprofit Fundraising Benchmark Report, release of April 21, 2026. 771 mid-sized and large U.S. nonprofits, 2025 data.](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/virtuous-releases-2026-nonprofit-fundraising-benchmark-report-median-gift-up-20-as-donors-who-stay-give-more-often-and-more-generously-302748571.html)
- [Fundraising Effectiveness Project (2026). FEP Q4 2025 Report. AFP Foundation for Philanthropy and GivingTuesday. 15,102 organizations, 7.8M donors, $13.2B, 2025 data.](https://publications.fepreports.org/archive/2025-q4/)
- [Adena, M., Huck, S., & Neyse, L. (2025). Gratitude in fundraising: Do 'thank you in advance' and handwritten thank you notes impact fundraising success? Experimental Economics, 28(4), 900-909.](https://doi.org/10.1017/eec.2025.10033)
- [Chapman, C. M., Spence, J. L., Hornsey, M. J., & Dixon, L. (2025). Social Identification and Charitable Giving: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 54(6), 1308-1341.](https://doi.org/10.1177/08997640251317403)

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Source: DonorInsights.com — https://donorinsights.com/articles/donor-retention-strategies-2026