After #GivingTuesday, Network for Good Announces #RetentionWednesday

On the heels of a record-setting Giving Tuesday, online-fundraising company Network for Good told The Chronicle that it will launch a new nationwide philanthropy movement in January: #RetentionWednesday.

The effort will focus on how nonprofits — especially ones with limited resources — can keep the donors they’ve acquired on Giving Tuesday and throughout the year.

Retention Wednesday will kick off with a virtual conference on January 11 in which nonprofit experts will share strategies and tips on how to get donors to make repeat gifts. Registration for the event opens December 9 and will be available to the first 5,000 nonprofits that sign up at Retentionwednesday.org. Starting January 4, that website will feature resources and guides from nonprofit experts on donor retention. Nonprofits will also be able to post their own tips on the site.

Many charities struggle to retain donors, reports show. One 2015 study found that only about 43 percent of supporters who gave to a nonprofit in 2013 made a repeat gift in 2014.

“It’s a nationwide challenge for nonprofits,” said Brian Lauterbach, vice president of impact and capacity building at Network for Good, but very few nonprofits are able to hire consultants and staff to work on retention. The effort has the support of the 92nd Street Y, which founded Giving Tuesday five years ago. Participation in the giving day has grown each year, according to online-gift processors.

Collecting Data

As part of the effort, Network for Good will also host “town hall-style meetings” starting in January in more than a dozen U.S. cities for charities that participated in this year’s Giving Tuesday. At the gatherings, consultants will help nonprofits craft plans for keeping and upgrading donors, and the company will track groups’ success in retaining Giving Tuesday donors.

Network for Good will release two studies based on the data it collects: one in August on how well donors responded to the nonprofits’ communications plans and another in January 2018 on how many Giving Tuesday donors made repeat gifts in each region.

Mr. Lauterbach said too many organizations think giving-day donors won’t make a second gift. If the company can demonstrate that nonprofits are able to retain their Giving Tuesday donors, he said, more charities might participate in the holiday.