Learn About Donor Retention Reports

How engaged are your donors? Do they come back year after year? Are you seeing the impacts of your fundraising and outreach efforts in bringing back lapsed donors? Your MonkeyPod's donor retention reports can provide valuable insights to answer these types of questions and help you to build stronger relationships with your supporters.

Where can I find MonkeyPod's donor retention reports?

MonkeyPod provides a number of reports to help you evaluate and improve your organization's donor retention. You can find them by choosing Reports > Donor Retention from the main menu.

Select the tab for the report you'd like to explore.

• Retention Metrics: Examine the percentage of donors who give from one year to the next, and the amount given. A high donor retention rate means you're doing a great job stewarding these important relationships. 
• Monthly Gifts and Annual Gifts: See which supporters have committed to donating on a regular basis with recurring monthly or annual donations.
• First Time Donors: Keep tabs on how many new donors are supporting your cause and reach out to cultivate these new relationships.
• Lapsed donor reports: LYBUNT (Last Year But Unfortunately Not This year)/ SYBUNT (Some Year But Unfortunately Not This year): Find your lapsed donors and connect with them before you lose them!

Each report is described in detail below.

Exploring Retention Metrics

The Retention Metrics report provides an overview of key donor retention indicators, and compares your current retention to a baseline period.

Use the filters at the top of the page to select the time period you'd like to evaluate  You can specific a custom date range, or choose the option for "Past 12 Months" or "Fiscal YTD" .

You may also focus on retention by the relationship type, such as individuals, foundations, government, etc. using the relationship type filters.

The Retention Metrics report will then display the donor engagement details for that time period and the chosen relationship types.

How do I interpret the retention metrics?

The Retention Metrics report includes  a number of insights into your donors' engagement with your organization.

Baseline: The "Baseline" section shows the number of unique donors and the amount raised for the matching time period prior to the range you specified. This is used for comparison to see if retention has improved or not.

Retention: The "Retention" section includes the complete set of metrics for donors from the selected time period. Definitions for these sections are listed below.

• Donors Retained: A donor has at least one donation, pledge, or grant during the selected time period and also during the baseline period.
• % Retained: Retained donors as a percentage of unique donors from the baseline period. (# (Donors Retained / # Unique donors)
• Raised from Retained Donors: Donations, pledges, and grants received during the selected date range by donors who also donated during the prior (baseline) period.
• Re-engaged Donors: Donors with at least one donation, pledge, or grant before the prior time period and again during the selected date range, but not in the interim period. These donors lapsed for an entire period but have resumed donations.
• Donations from Re-engaged Donors: Donations, pledges, and grants received during the selected date range by existing donors who did not give during the prior (baseline) period.
• First-Time Donors: Supporters who donated for the first time during the selected date range.
• Donations from First-Time Donors: Donations, pledges, and grants received during the selected date range by first-time donors.

Want to take a deep dive into the details behind the summary numbers? Just click the corresponding "Download" link, and choose what information you would like included the generated spreadsheet.

Reviewing your 'Monthly Gifts' report

Monthly donors are a special category of supporters who show an ongoing, reliable commitment to your organization. The Monthly Gifts tab displays a list of all of your monthly donors, their status, donation amount, and the date of their first and latest donations.

Use the Report Settings to filter by their giving status ("Active", "Ended" or either). You can also filter by donor name or email. Select the + icon next to a filter to expand it and make your choices. Select the - icon next to a configured filter to clear those selections.

The Results Summary section updates to show you the monthly total and number of recurring gifts based on the filters you have selected.  

Configure the data you'd like to see displayed by using the Show/Hide Columns checkboxes. You can view the status of the recurring gift along with the donor name, recurring amount, first and most recent gifts, and the total given for that recurring donation.

If you'd like to export a report of the monthly gift data, select the Download button displayed above the list. You'll have the opportunity to select additional relationship details (such as address, custom attributes, or other giving totals) in the export.

Reviewing your 'Annual Gifts' report

The Annual Gifts report works just like the Monthly Gifts report described above, but it displays donations that were or are set up as annually recurring gifts. Select the Annual Gifts tab on your Donor Retention page to see a list of these gifts. See the description of the settings in the section above (for Monthly Gifts) to learn how to configure your Annual Gifts report.

The Results Summary section updates based on your filters to show you the annual total and number of recurring gifts based on the filters you selected.  

First-Time Donors report

First-time donors are an important subset of your supporters! They are at the start of their relationship with your organization and with a warm welcome and recognition of their gift, you can turn a one-time donor into a long-term supporter.  Use the First-Time Donor report to find these new donors and launch a plan for continued engagement!

The First-Time Donors report shows donors who made their first ever gift during the specified time period. Gifts include donations, pledges, and grants.

You can use the Report Settings at the top of the page to filter by donor type if you're interested in, for example, just individuals or foundations that are first time donors. You can also specify a start and/or end date to focus on first time gifts that came in during a specific period. Select the + icon next to a filter to expand it and make your choices. Select the - icon next to a configured filter to clear those selections.

The Results Summary displays the number of first time donors and the total of their first gifts, based on the filters selected in the report settings.

Configure the data you'd like to see displayed by using the Show/Hide Columns checkboxes. In addition to the donor name and the date of the gift, you can choose to view the amount of that gift and the transaction (which includes the type of gift, a link to the transaction, and reference number).

Working with the First-Time Donor report results

Let's say you've configured your report settings to show you all of the new donors who are individuals and who gave in the last three months. Now what? Well you probably want to reach out to them in some form to nurture these new relationships. The bulk action buttons at the top of the report provide a number of options for you. You can:

• Export the list to a spreadsheet, including additional relationship data like mailing addresses or custom attributes.
• Subscribe them to a mailing list
• Record a bulk interaction, such as noting that they've been sent a postcard or received a phone call.
• Add them to a pipeline for relationship cultivation and moves management.
• Assign a role to them all
• Add them as campaign prospects for Campaign Tracker users)

Lapsed donors: LYBUNT / SYBUNT

The "LYBUNT" and "SYBUNT" tabs refer to two metrics commonly used to evaluate donor retention. They can be incredibly valuable for segmenting your donors and developing targeted retention and engagement strategies.

• LYBUNT: A LYBUNT report (i.e. "last year but unfortunately not this" year) lists donors who gave in the prior fiscal year but have not yet contributed during the current fiscal year. This is a great group to focus on as you work toward improving donor retention by re-engaging donors before too much time has elapsed.
• SYBUNT: A SYBUNT report (i.e. "some year but unfortunately not this" year) lists donors who gave before the prior fiscal year but did not contribute last year and have not yet contributed during the current fiscal year. This report is helpful to identify and re-engage your lapsed donors before they slip away!

These report can be filtered by relationship type (such as individuals or corporate entities) using the checkboxes at the top of the page. You can also choose to include archived or deceased supporters in the list as well, though they are excluded by default.

Reengaging lapsed donors

Once you have your list of lapsed donors you should consider reengaging them before asking for another donation, particularly if they haven't donated for a few years. The bulk action buttons at the top of these reports provide a number of options for you. You can:

• Export the list to a spreadsheet, including additional relationship data like mailing addresses or custom attributes.
• Subscribe them to a mailing list
• Record a bulk interaction, such as noting that they've been sent a postcard or received a phone call.
• Add them to a pipeline for relationship cultivation and moves management.
• Assign a role to them all
• Add them as campaign prospects for Campaign Tracker users)

Frequently Asked Questions

How can I improve my organization's donor retention?

Improving your donor retention is a smart and cost-effective way to boost your fundraising. Send a survey to lapsed donors to ask about their interests and why they donated in the past. Or send an impact update about a specific program or campaign that resonated with them. Or thank them for their previous donation and inform them about the latest news of your mission. You could even add your lapsed donors to a pipeline for moves management and tracking.

Can I add any of this information to my Dashboard to make it easier to monitor?

Sure! Dashboard widgets are available for Donor Retention, Monthly Donor Summary and First-Time Donors reports. Each one links directly to the related report. See How to Customize Your Dashboard for details.

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