Donor retention: what the number means and why yours is probably 40 percent

One definition, one formula, the sector benchmarks with their sources, and the three things that move the number. Plus the one thing that does not.

By George Ricciardella. September 28, 2026.

Donor retention is the share of people who gave to you last year and gave again this year. That is the whole definition. Last year's donors are the denominator. The ones among them who gave again are the numerator. Divide, and you have a percentage.

Two things it is not. It is not the share of this year's donors who also gave last year; that is a different number, and it flatters you when you are acquiring fast. And it is not revenue retained. A donor who gave $500 last year and $50 this year counts as retained. Dollars are a separate question, worth asking later.

Most shops split retention into two numbers, and the split is where the story is. New-donor retention: of the people who gave for the first time last year, how many gave again. Repeat-donor retention: of the people who had a giving history before last year and gave last year, how many gave again this year.

How to compute it in five minutes

You need one export from wherever you keep gifts: one row per gift, with a donor ID (or name and email) and a gift date. Excel, Google Sheets, Bloomerang, a shoebox typed into a spreadsheet. All fine.

1. Filter to last year's gifts. Copy the donor IDs to a new sheet called LastYear. Remove duplicates. Count the rows. That is your denominator.
2. Filter to this year's gifts. Copy the donor IDs to a second sheet called ThisYear. Remove duplicates.
3. On LastYear, next to each ID, enter =COUNTIF(ThisYear!A:A, A2)>0. Fill down. Count the TRUE results. That is your numerator.
4. Divide the numerator by the denominator.

For the new-donor number, add a column on LastYear marking whether the donor had any gift before last year. Run the same count on the rows marked no. The rest are your repeat donors.

Worked example. Say 212 people gave in 2025 and 91 of them have given in 2026. That is 91 divided by 212, or 42.9 percent. Now split it. Of the 212, 80 were first-time donors in 2025 and 16 of them gave again: 20 percent. The other 132 were repeat donors and 75 of them gave again: 56.8 percent. Same 91 people, two very different stories. Count the full year before you compare to a benchmark; a September number will always look low.

One note on timing. The sector benchmarks use calendar years. If your fiscal year ends June 30, use that. Just use the same window every year.

What the benchmarks say

The Fundraising Effectiveness Project (FEP), run by the Association of Fundraising Professionals and GivingTuesday, is the sector's standing dataset. Its full-year 2025 report, released April 21, 2026, covers 15,102 organizations, 7.8 million donors and $13.2 billion in gifts.

Overall retention for 2025 was 43.3 percent, up from 43.1 percent in 2024. Dollars raised grew 5.0 percent, the strongest growth in five years. The number of donors fell 3.6 percent, the fifth straight year of decline.

Source: Association of Fundraising Professionals, "Fundraising Effectiveness Project Reports Strongest Revenue Growth in Five Years, Even as Fewer Donors Give," April 21, 2026, https://afpglobal.org/news/fundraising-effectiveness-project-reports-strongest-revenue-growth-five-years-even-fewer. Dataset size from DonorPerfect's summary of the FEP Q4 2025 report, https://www.donorperfect.com/nonprofit-technology-blog/fundraising-software/afp-fep-q4-2025/

Split out, the 2025 numbers are 18.9 percent for new donors and 59.3 percent for repeat donors. AFP's own release gives no figure for the new-donor line; it describes it as "essentially flat" against 2024.

Source: Bloomerang, "Donor Retention: Definition, Calculation, and Benchmarks," citing the FEP Q4 2025 report, https://bloomerang.com/nonprofit-glossary/donor-retention

The Q1 2026 report, out July 29, 2026, said the same thing in fewer words. Retention year to date held flat at 18.0 percent (a first-quarter figure, so do not compare it to the annual number), and "new-donor conversion is still the sector's pain point."

Source: Association of Fundraising Professionals, "Fundraising Effectiveness Project Reports Easing Donor Losses in Q1 2026, But New Data Shows Growth Isn't Sticking," July 29, 2026, https://afpglobal.org/news/fundraising-effectiveness-project-reports-easing-donor-losses-q1-2026-new-data-shows-growth; quarterly report at https://publications.fepreports.org/

So if you ran the five-minute exercise and got 40 percent, you are the sector. Typical. The number that decides whether you are in trouble is the new-donor line underneath it.

Why the new-donor number matters most in a small shop

Two reasons.

First, it is where the loss is. At the sector average, about four out of five first-time donors do not come back. Repeat donors come back at about six in ten. A shop with 200 donors and a normal mix loses 60 or so first-timers a year, replaces them with an event or an appeal, at cost, and calls it growth. It is a treadmill, and the event gets bigger every year to keep pace.

Second, it is the number you can move, because the causes are inside your building. Repeat-donor retention is mostly about whether the mission still matters to someone. New-donor retention is mostly about what happened in the ninety days after the first gift. You control those ninety days.

What moves it

Speed of the first thank-you. Penelope Burk's research for Donor-Centered Fundraising tested a phone call from a board member within 48 hours of a first gift. The donors who got the call gave 39 percent more the next time they were asked than the donors who did not. You do not need a board member. You need a person and a calendar rule: every first gift gets a personal thank-you inside two days. A signed note, a call, a two-line email from the executive director. The receipt does not count.

Source: Big Duck, "Donor thank you call guide," April 19, 2018, summarizing Penelope Burk, Donor-Centered Fundraising (Cygnus Applied Research), https://bigduck.com/insights/donor-thank-you-call-guide/

A second touch within 90 days that is not an ask. A photo and two sentences about what the money did. A short note from the ED. A phone message. Anything that arrives before the next appeal and asks for nothing. A first-time donor's second experience of you should not be another envelope with a reply card in it.

A monthly option. Bloomerang puts typical monthly-donor retention at around 90 percent, against the low forties for donors overall. Put the monthly option on the giving page and in the thank-you, with a low floor. A $10 monthly donor who stays three years is worth more than a $100 donor who gives once.

Source: Bloomerang, "Donor Retention: The Complete Guide for Nonprofits," https://bloomerang.com/blog/donor-retention

What does not move it

A nicer newsletter. Redesigning the newsletter is the most common response to a bad retention number and the least effective one. The newsletter goes to everyone. A first-time donor does not know it is for her, and it is not. Spend the design hours on the thank-you and the 90-day touch instead. Nobody has ever lapsed because the masthead was ugly.

Questions people ask

What is a good donor retention rate for a small nonprofit?

The FEP's full-year 2025 figures are 43.3 percent overall, 18.9 percent for new donors and 59.3 percent for repeat donors. Above those and you are ahead of most of the sector. The more useful comparison is your own number from last year.

Does a lapsed donor who comes back count as retained?

No. The FEP calls those donors recaptured and counts them separately. Retention only counts donors who gave in two consecutive years.

Should I measure retention by donors or by dollars?

Both, separately. Donor retention tells you whether people came back. Dollar retention tells you whether they came back at the same level. Start with donors, because that is the number your follow-up can change.

Source: FEP full-year 2025 report via AFP and Bloomerang (above)