Contents:
Why does retention matter to OFTW?
What actionable steps can we take to improve pledge retention?
Key resources and related pages
What is donor retention?
Donor retention is a measurement of how many donors continue to donate to One for the World's nonprofit partners each year. According to our data, 78% of pledged annual donations from undergraduate chapters result in actual donations (for MBA chapters it is 86%).
This is certainly something to celebrate! However, this also means that 22% of pledged dollars never make it to our nonprofit partners every year, due to payment failures or pledge cancellations. This 22% could mean the difference between life and death, or multiple years of healthy life for thousands of people who are living in extreme poverty.
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Additionally, pledge dates that start more than two years in the future are far less likely to activate. There are tangible steps that we can take as members of the effective giving movement, to improve retention rates and therefore increase our impact.
Why does retention matter to OFTW?
We want to improve donor retention for a few key reasons:
As chapter leaders, you spend a significant amount of your time and energy convincing people to take the 1%pledge. We want the amount of effort you put into this project to match the end results!
If 100% of pledgers followed through on their pledge and continued to donate for the entirety of their careers (40+ years per donor), think about how much more unnecessary suffering could be alleviated.
We want our growing movement to be healthy and thriving. When a new member takes the pledge, this should signify that they are truly and sufficiently committed to giving effectively and consistently. Think of taking a giving pledge as a lifestyle choice, rather than a random subscription. The fact that many pledgers cancel before they have even donated signifies that they have not truly aligned with our movement's core principles.
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This video about why to take a giving pledge is helpful in reminding us of why we advocate for a giving pledge as opposed to one-off donations
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What actionable steps can we take to improve pledge retention?
There are multiple ways to tackle this issue, and improve pledge retention. These fall into two categories; proactive and retroactive.
Proactive approaches
Recruit a vp of senior pledges for your executive board
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- Starts-next-year pledges tend to be much stickier (i.e. more likely to activate and then stay active). Seniors who pledge will have a start date within two years of pledging, and are therefore important to actively seek out!
- Consider having one exec member whose sole focus is to target spaces that seniors frequent (senior classes, facebook pages, class representatives, graduation committees, etc.) and encourage them to take the pledge before they graduate.
Recruit a VP of retention / community building. The role would focus on engaging folks who have already taken the pledge so that they become more invested in the effective giving movement.
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- As part of their role they might:
- Write a weekly newsletter to a mailing list of pledgers, to keep them up to date on the chapter's current events
- Organize social events, discussion groups or reading groups for folks who want to get more involved in the effective giving movement
- Be in charge of organizing the end-of-year pledge party, to celebrate and acknowledge the achievements of the past year
- As part of their role they might:
Re-assess how you advocate One for the World to potential pledgers
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- Set the tone - the start date should be only a few months after their graduation date, and for at least 1% of their estimated income. When you speak to people about taking the pledge, ask them when they are graduating and share when you have set your pledge to activate.
- People should be taking the pledge for the right reasons, not because of external incentives. For example, we shouldn't incentivize people to take the pledge in order to get a free T-shirt. We want them to be intrinsically motivated because of their personal values.
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Read this page for more on what the 1% pledge signifies!
Retroactive approaches
Participate in a 'Class Leads' campaign with OFTW HQ
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- If you would be interested in gaining some communications experience and helping us reach out to people who have taken the pledge from your school, please email chloe@1fortheworld.org! You can multiply your impact by encouraging fellow alumni to reactivate or raise their pledge amounts!
Reach out to folks that you know who have cancelled their pledge, chosen a start date that is 4.5+ years in the future, or for an amount that is less than 1% (eg: $0-10).
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- You can find this data on the Raw Data Dashboard!
Key resources and related pages
Video - Why take a giving pledge
Video - How to use Donational
