The landscape
Over the past three to four years, the third sector has seen consistent database growth, with a 20% increase from 2023 to 2024. However, the performance of email across the sector seems to be in decline. Last year, for every 1,000 fundraising emails sent, charities earned £89 in total digital revenue, which is a 25% reduction from the year before. This can be down to the quality of the audience generated by an increased focus on lead generation and the quality of the stewardship strategy post-conversion.
The welcome journey
As soon as a user has made the final click in their conversion journey, stewardship begins. The welcome journey is a crucial part of this stewardship journey, and maximising engagement while you’re still front-of-mind is key to laying the groundwork for future communication.
Cultivating loyalty is a priority, and strong welcome communications ensure that new converters are primed for future messages. Research suggests that donors who received a personalised thank you within 48 hours of donating were four times more likely to give again.
A simple ‘thank you’ should not be overlooked as a valuable tool for retaining support.
Nurturing your supporters
Your stewardship programme should fulfil two key aims:
Connection – When a supporter comes to you, they have an emotional connection to the charity. How can you build on that connection? Ensure you are sending them communication with information about the cause, what’s going on within the charity, and any updates on specific work so that they are reminded of how important their support is for your charity.
Action— Maximising lifetime value relies on reducing attrition and additional conversions, which means cross-selling is a crucial part of the journey. Delivering relevant asks, primed by connection communications, will drive action and increase supporter engagement.
The building blocks
A stewardship strategy is built on four key principles that enable you to create meaningful relationships with your supporters:
1. Timely—Not every email is an opportunity to raise funds, but every interaction risks an opt-out. Be considerate and ensure you communicate various topics to your audience outside of financial asks.
2. Relevant – Be conscious of the other messages your supporters will see, not just from your stewardship programme but broader conversations. Appealing to their level of understanding will ensure that your communications are clear and actionable.
3. Tailored – Use previous engagement to guide future conversations. Understand why a supporter converted, keep an eye on the stories they engage with, and identify appropriate cross-sell opportunities to build a programme that feels specific to the individual.
4. Valuable – A donation is an exchange. Supporters help fund your vital work and, in return, should receive communications that add value and help strengthen their connection to your charity.
If you’re looking for ways to maximise your digital activity, our packages have been developed to improve core activities as well as key opportunities we’ve identified through analysis of the sector. From strategy to execution, assets to websites, always-on to one-off, our flexible approach can be tailored to suit your individual needs.
