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Donor Stewardship: Key Tips to Build Relationships
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Updated - 01/15/2025
The foundation of an effective fundraising strategy is the relationships your team forms with the people who power your mission.
Every member of your nonprofit team already knows how to build strong relationships with friends, co-workers, family members, significant others, and more. Magic happens when you build relationships with prospects and donors. This is where donor stewardship comes into play.
This guide covers everything you need to know to develop a powerful donor stewardship strategy that builds genuine, long-lasting relationships. We’ll cover:
- What is the donor stewardship process?
- How does donor stewardship impact donor retention?
- How to use the donor pyramid to facilitate stewardship
- 5 key steps in a donor stewardship strategy
- 8 best practices for enacting your donor stewardship plan
- How Bloomerang supports donor stewardship
A solid donor stewardship plan ensures your donors feel seen and appreciated, setting your organization up for long-term fundraising success.
What is the donor stewardship process?
Donor stewardship is the act of building relationships with supporters after they donate to your nonprofit. A donor stewardship plan is a long-term strategy to strengthen those relationships to earn repeat donations from these individuals. This process involves thanking donors, learning about them as individuals, and demonstrating their impact through follow-up communications.
What is the difference between donor stewardship and cultivation?
You may have heard the term “donor cultivation” used interchangeably with “donor stewardship.” Both of these terms fall under the umbrella of donor relationship-building, but they differ in key ways:
- Donor cultivation involves donor touchpoints before you make the ask. These may include:
- Event and volunteering invitations
- Informative emails
- Low-commitment asks
- Donor stewardship involves relationship-building activities after supporters give. This could involve:
- Thank-you messages
- Impact updates
- Donor spotlights
Stewardship focuses primarily on maintaining relationships with donors after donating to show gratitude and secure long-term support.
How does donor stewardship impact donor retention?
Your donor retention rate measures how many donors continue to give to your organization over time. You can calculate your organization’s retention rate by dividing the number of donors who gave again this year by the number of all donors who contributed last year.
By investing in donor stewardship and current donor relationships, you can retain their support, strengthen your community, and limit donor acquisition costs
You can tell from your donor retention rate if you have a solid contingent of donors who give to your nonprofit time after time, or you’ll see if you’re struggling to retain donors. If you relate to the latter, you’re not alone—according to data from the most recent Fundraising Effectiveness Project reports:
“Q2 2024 saw a 3.7% increase in dollars raised, while both the number of donors and donor retention fell by -3.9% and -4.5%, respectively. These trends mirror those seen in Q1 2024, albeit the increase in dollars raised is smaller while the decrease in the number of donors and retention rates is larger.”
When new donors give only once, you experience a loss on the initial investment to acquire those new supporters. As you know, there’s a cost associated with bringing in new donors—the money spent on your donor acquisition efforts. That’s one reason why focusing on retaining donors is important—it’s much more cost-effective for your organization in the long run.
How to use the donor pyramid to facilitate stewardship
Your nonprofit’s staff may have limited time and resources to build donor relationships. The donor pyramid can be a valuable tool for prioritizing donor stewardship efforts and focusing most of your efforts on high-impact donors.
What is the donor pyramid?
The donor pyramid is a visual representation of the different giving and engagement levels present in your nonprofit’s core audience. Your largest, most significant donors are at the top because they’re fewer in number but have the highest impact.
Here are the standard levels of a donor pyramid:
- Major, planned, and legacy donors: Your organization’s largest donors who contribute significantly to your mission.
- Mid-level or recurring donors: Donors who contribute mid-sized gifts to your nonprofit or recurring donations that add up to significant support over time.
- Small or low-frequency donors: One-time or infrequent donors who contribute small amounts.
- Event attendees, volunteers, and prospects: Supporters who haven’t yet donated to your organization but have engaged in other ways, demonstrating their interest in your mission.
How can the donor pyramid support your stewardship efforts?
Your nonprofit should steward donors at every level of the pyramid but use different strategies corresponding to each group’s level of engagement with your fundraising activities. Use the following table for personalized ideas:
| Donor group | Level of engagement with fundraising | Current level of impact on your fundraising efforts | Stewardship ideas |
| Major, planned, and legacy donors | High | High | Private meetings with your nonprofit’s executive director, personalized impact reports demonstrating their long-term impact, naming rights for programs or buildings |
| Mid-level or recurring donors | High | Mid to high | Personalized event invites, recurring impact updates, tiered recognition programs, donor spotlights in your email newsletter, thank-you phone calls |
| Small or low-frequency donors | Mid to low | Mid | Immediate donation gratitude emails and receipts, matching gift or upgrade reminders, email newsletter updates, seasonal greetings |
| Event attendees, volunteers, and prospects | Low | Low | Post event or volunteer opportunity gratitude emails, low-commitment requests like subscribing to your email newsletter, mission-related educational emails, and background information |
As you can see, you should dedicate your most personalized and comprehensive stewardship efforts to donors at the top of your pyramid. These donors have the greatest potential to significantly impact your nonprofit’s efforts to achieve its mission, so they deserve highly personalized interactions.
Mid-level donors should also receive a high level of engagement since they make gifts that add up meaningfully over time and can even become major or legacy donors later on. According to a Sea Change Strategies report, 59% of mid-level donors give annually; over half have been involved with the participating organization for a decade or more. In addition, 31% have made a bequest to the participating organization, and 23% say they plan to make one later.
Lastly, supporters toward the bottom of the pyramid should still receive a variety of recognition emails and invitations to get more involved with your cause, even if they’re not currently highly engaged in fundraising. This attention can encourage them to increase their involvement and eventually become donors.
5 key steps in a donor stewardship strategy
The donor stewardship process begins when a supporter donates to your cause for the first time. Your donor stewardship plan will outline how you encourage these individuals to continue supporting your cause.
Review the steps of the donor stewardship journey below:
- Acknowledge the donor’s gift as soon as you receive it. The first thing you should do after receiving a donation is to thank the donor. You can do this by sending them an acknowledgment email with information on their donation and a note of thanks.
- Send the donor a personalized thank-you message. Next, send each donor a personalized thank-you message that includes their name, references their specific donation amount, details the impact the donation will have on your mission, and shows appreciation for their support.
- Create and send updates that communicate the impact they made. By donating, a supporter lets you know they’re interested in helping you carry out your mission. Follow up with each donor by sending messages describing how you’re using their donation and its impact. In these messages, you should invite donors to continue engaging with your mission in other ways, such as participating in a volunteer opportunity or attending one of your events.
- If applicable, thank your donor publicly. Not all donors want their donations publicly acknowledged, so you should always ask before sharing this information. With donor permission, highlight donors on your social media pages, website, or a donor wall at your office. You can also invite them to meetings or events to express your gratitude in person. Use these opportunities to get to know your donors better by asking them about themselves and discovering what drew them to your cause.
- Invite the donor to give again. After you’ve stewarded your donors in the above ways, you can ask them to make another contribution. Once you do, go back to the first step in this plan and start this process over.
This is a general outline of the stages of the donor stewardship process, but your organization can incorporate additional engagement strategies based on each individual’s position in the donor pyramid.
8 best practices for enacting your donor stewardship plan
Now that you know the basics, you can start stewarding your donors using your nonprofit’s unique strengths. Use the following best practices to get started on the right foot.
1. Create a donor stewardship team.
Every plan requires a strong team to help see it through. Create a team to lead your donor stewardship efforts, ensuring each individual has a clearly defined role.
Depending on the size of your staff, your donor stewardship team might consist of the individuals featured in the graphic below.
- Your Director of Donor Relations will lead the team in carrying out your stewardship efforts, overseeing your strategy at the highest level, and offering support to other team members.
- Your Major Gifts Officer will focus on building relationships with major donors.
- Board members can meet with high-impact donors, contribute to appreciation efforts, and act as ambassadors for your cause.
- Volunteers can support your stewardship efforts by helping you write and send acknowledgment letters or calling donors to thank them.
It’s important to ensure that each team member understands their role in supporting your stewardship efforts so that everyone is on the same page and there is no overlap or gap in responsibilities.
2. Create a communication cadence.
Establish a clear communication cadence that keeps donors updated throughout the stewardship process—without sending them too many emails in a short period of time, as this can cause email fatigue. Use analytics from your email marketing platform and social media pages to determine when supporters are most active. This data can help you decide how to space out your donor communications.
Your first email or letter to the donor should describe your mission, projects, and goals. Your follow-up communications should include more information about how you used their donation, why you’re grateful for their support, and your future goals.
Using an email provider that integrates with your donor database, you can automate your donor communications to reach donors based on where they are in the stewardship process. This ensures you communicate with donors regularly and saves your team time.
3. Start by introducing your mission to your donors and finding ways to make a positive impression on them.
When you first reach out to new donors, remind them what you do and why their donation matters. As you do that, leave a positive impression on donors by:
- Answering the phone when donors call and calling them back as soon as possible if you miss their call
- Greeting someone when they visit your office and showing them how your team is working to put their donation to good use
- Getting to know donors at events
- Getting to know your volunteers
- Interacting with your supporters on social media
By keeping donors updated on your work and ensuring all interactions with them are positive, you’ll build deeper and more authentic relationships with them. This should help you win a second donation from them—and, hopefully, many more in the future.
4. Practice donor segmentation.
Donor segmentation is a tactic where you group supporters based on shared characteristics. This practice allows you to create a more personalized experience for donors without going through the time-consuming process of creating unique messages for every person who interacts with your nonprofit.
Donor segmentation also lets you send donors the information they’re most likely to engage with. This shows them that you care about connecting them with opportunities that appeal to their motivations and interests.
You might create donor segments based on the following criteria:
- Donation frequency: Group donors by how often they make their gifts. This can include donors who gave annually, monthly, at some other interval, or recently for the first time.
- Donation recency: Group donors by when they made their last donation.
- Donation type: Group donors based on how they made their donation. This can include grouping donations received through peer-to-peer fundraisers, monthly giving programs, online donation forms, mail-in contributions, etc.
- Donation amount: Group donors by how much they give and what category they fall into. For example, you might create groups for major, mid-level, and lower-level donors.
- Donor motivation: Group donors based on what motivated them to give to your cause. You can find this out by seeing which campaign or call to action inspired them to give.
Determine which segments make the most sense for your nonprofit. Then, create personalized and relevant messages for each segment.
5. Optimize your communication platforms.
You should communicate with donors through various communication platforms. An effective donor stewardship strategy uses both online and traditional marketing channels.
Here are the platforms and channels you might use to connect with your donors:
- Social media (Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.)
- Phone calls or text messages
- Direct mail
- In-person gatherings
Track your donor outreach using your donor database. This will help you see which outreach efforts are or aren’t effective and inform you how to adjust your strategy accordingly.
6. Show donors that you’re using their gifts as expected.
When donors give to your organization, they expect you to use their donations as you say in your outreach messages or online donation page.
For example, if you said a donation would support your volunteer program or purchase new equipment for your community center, ensure you do those things and let your donors know when you’ve done them. This transparency helps build trust between your organization and your donors, which will encourage your donors to support your organization in the future.
7. Ask donors for feedback.
One way to increase donor loyalty is to show donors you appreciate their input. You can do this by asking them for feedback and implementing reasonable changes they request (as long as they align with your mission and put your resources to the best use).
Send out regular donor surveys asking what they think about things like how you can improve your fundraising events or how they’d like you to communicate with them in the future.
8. Create memorable moments for donors.
Creating memorable experiences for donors keeps your organization on the top of their minds. This is important for winning a second donation from first-time donors and getting your current donors to give again, more often, or in larger amounts.
Here are a few ways you can create memorable moments for your donors:
- Send them a heartfelt thank you message when they aren’t expecting one. Send donors a video of you thanking them or a thank you note from your volunteers or beneficiaries. Do this out of the blue, not just after they donate. They’ll feel more appreciated that you value them beyond when they donate.
- Show donors that you consider them an essential part of your community by sending them a birthday card or calling them on an important anniversary they’ve shared with your team.
- Send an unexpected gift. Show donors you’re thinking of them by sending a small gift, such as a branded T-shirt, sticker, water bottle, or coupon book for local businesses.
Your attempts to create memorable moments for donors will help your organization stand out.
How Bloomerang supports donor stewardship
Effective donor stewardship includes a combination of tried-and-true strategies and robust software solutions to be successful. Look into your options for effective fundraising software like Bloomerang to help power your stewardship efforts. Bloomerang can help you:
- Track your donor retention rate and other engagement metrics using an interactive dashboard to improve daily productivity.
- View giving timelines summarizing your donors’ engagement histories, encompassing every email they’ve received, event they’ve attended, and donation they’ve contributed.
- See an at-a-glance view of every supporter’s current engagement level, giving you a better idea of which donors are ready to make another donation or upgrade their giving amount.
- Conduct wealth screening to identify major donor prospects.
- Segment supporters using a simple, filter-based reporting system.
Review our customer stories to see how Bloomerang clients use our tools to raise 26% more and grow their donor bases by 15% yearly.
Wrapping up
Ultimately, we recommend approaching donor stewardship with curiosity and a willingness to meet your supporters where they are. The more genuine and meaningful your stewardship efforts are, the more effortlessly you’ll be able to retain donors long-term.
Additional resources
If you’re looking for more resources to help build your donor stewardship plan, start here:
- Nonprofit CRM Software: Explore 20+ Solutions for 2025. Your CRM is the ultimate tool for organizing donor data and accessing data insights. Here are the top nine solutions to consider.
- Maximizing Major Gifts: The Ultimate Guide to Raise More. Your major donors supply your organization’s most significant gifts, so it’s vital to have a specific strategy for stewarding these donors. This guide will help you get started.
- Donor Segmentation | Comprehensive Guide + Tips for Success. Donor segmentation lets you send more relevant, personalized messages to different donor groups. Learn more about this technique with this comprehensive guide.
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Kristen Hay
Terri Davis