Donor Fatigue is Real—Here's How to Fix it

Let’s face it. Fundraising is relentless, and the market is saturated. Donors are feeling as though new appeals flood their inboxes daily, social media feeds are filled with heartbreaking missions, and there’s always a new cause that seems almost criminal to ignore. 

According to the Fundraising Effectiveness Project (FEP), overall donor retention dropped to 42.9% in 2024, continuing a downward trend we’ve seen over the past five years.  

And worse? New donor retention was only 19.4%, showing that keeping even the most enthusiastic donors engaged is tough. 

So we know donors are feeling overwhelmed and underappreciated. How can nonprofits continue to raise money for their mission in the face of this malaise?  

As you may have guessed, we’ve got some ideas. Let’s start by looking at the problem.

Tired Donors are Telling Us Something 

It’s sobering to hear that 70% of Americans admit to donor fatigue, feeling overwhelmed after an average of four requests a month.  

Every time you send a message to a donor, it’s an opportunity to build trust. Conversely, it might be the message that tips the scales into annoyance. If you’re thinking, “Well, we don’t send that many emails a month,” consider these statistics around fundraising appeals: 

• 84% of respondents find social media intrusive 

• 83% find phone calls annoying 

• 55% don’t like text messages or in-person requests 

• 37% dislike automated donation prompts at checkout 

• 27% object to pop-up forms and ads on websites 

When launched all together, as is the hallmark of an excellent multichannel campaign, you’re clearly running the risk of killing generosity. 

Digging deeper, donors often feel that this constant asking means they’re not seen or appreciated. If they don’t feel as though they’re part of something bigger than their gift, it’s almost impossible to keep them engaged. 

Consequences of over-asking and donor fatigue include lower gift frequency, smaller average donations, unsubscribes, and ignored appeals. 

Less Fundraising, Smarter Engagement  

The answer might lie in rethinking your donor communication strategy.  

Roger Craver, who founded DonorVoice, says that retention isn’t a fundraising problem—it’s a relationship problem. 

Relationships are built over time, and the hallmarks are mutual respect, trust, open communication, empathy, and genuine appreciation for one another. 

If you’re honest, is that how you approach your donors?  

Yes? Keep it up. You’re on the right path.

If you need a little readjustment, though, consider some of these tips: 

• When you send thank-you emails, don’t include a donation link. 

• Ask for opinions and feedback before you ask for dollars. Build surveys or polls into campaigns so donor feedback can help you refine your efforts. 

• Think in terms of “we.” When you have a win, bring donors into the celebration. When you have setbacks, consider them partners that can offer resources and ideas. 

• Consistently share impact stories and videos so donors can see what they made possible. 

• Celebrate milestones. They can be birthday or anniversary wishes, but giving-versary celebrations are effective. Note when a donor has been with you for a month, a year, three years.  

• Find donors who will allow you to highlight their stories. Use your website, newsletter, and social media to shine a light on a regular person impacting your mission, one donation at a time. 

• Create behind-the-scenes content to share with donors. You can interview board members, get clips of staff telling the camera what they love about the nonprofit, or film volunteers mobilizing for an event. Transparency builds trust and introduces the humans behind the appeals. 

• As you can, handwrite a note. Make it a goal to call ten donors a week. The goal? Just to say thanks. 

• If you come across a relevant article or resource, share it with donors. 

• Use tags and segmentation to send personalized content.  

According to the 2024 Nonprofit Tech for Good Report, 72% of recurring givers say non-ask updates improve their engagement! 

And where does fundraising fit in? All around those tips.  

The key is not focusing solely on donor appreciation (you’ll never raise any money) or fundraising (your donors will eventually ditch you). Artfully weave the two together for a winning—and effective—combination. 

Tech Can Help You Do More Without Lifting a Finger 

This isn’t a surprise to most organizations. Nonprofit CRMs are everywhere (here’s a list of our 14 favorite platforms), and it’s very hard for a nonprofit to grow without one. If you’ve ever powered an organization using Excel spreadsheets, you know this to be true. 

While a donor database is a gamechanger, it’s what good technology can do with that database that catapults your donor engagement and retention. 

Let’s talk, for example, about automation. You can automate almost anything that is routine...emails, billing, receipts, credit card updating. But for these purposes, let’s talk about automated workflows you can set up to increase donor retention. 

• A New Donor Welcome Series can send emails that thank the donor, show the impact of their gift, introduce your staff, ask them questions about how they want to communicate, and invite them to an event. When you realize first-year donor retention is typically under 25%, you can see how much a warm welcome can help. 

• An Anniversary/Milestone Recognition Series will celebrate loyalty and deepen the emotional connection. A series of emails that intersperse thanks on giving anniversaries, celebration on birthdays, news on the nonprofit, and no-pressure options to become a monthly donor are effective. 

• A Lapsed Donor Re-Engagement Series can be triggered when a donor hits 12 months of inactivity. The emails can say you miss them, show what your nonprofit has been doing, ask for feedback on how you can engage them, and see if they’ll recommit. 

• A Thank You + Impact Series reinforces value after every gift. Immediate emails thank, then you share impact reports and videos or stories detailing how the donation was used. Closing this loop increases the likelihood of donor retention. 

Is automation the only way tech helps? No way! 

• Segment your lists and tailor messaging to what you know will resonate 

• Track who opens your emails and who clicks on your newsletter 

• See a daily list of who you should ask to donate and how much you should ask for  

• Monitor interactions with donors and automate reminders of follow-ups, thank-yous, and check-ins 

• Run reports on donor retention. Check metrics like churn rate, upgrade/downgrade trends, first-year retention, overall retention. 

• Tools that are built into the system, like emails, SMS, even events and advocacy, keep all donor data in one place so you can see every interaction at a glance. This makes outreach more targeted and shows you where to focus attention before you have a problem. 

There are even more ways tech is a gamechanger. If you’re not in love with your CRM, book a demo with a few providers to see what’s new in the nonprofit technology world. 

Beating Donor Fatigue 

Most of the research shows that despite donor fatigue, donors who feel engaged and part of the team don’t stop giving.  

The solution isn’t to stop fundraising—it’s to improve how we build relationships. This means showing up for your donors in ways that feel personal, authentic, and appreciative. It means asking for opinions and feedback, not just dollars. And it means relying on smart technology to do the heavy lifting so you can spend time building those real connections. 

Need keeps growing, so appeals will continue to seem endless. But your donors are craving meaning and belonging. Prioritize connections more than conversions, and you’ll find that donor fatigue isn’t the end of generosity. Rather, it’s the inspiration to do it better.