Donor Retention Calculator
Calculate donor retention, lapse rate and new-donor mix from beginning, retained and newly acquired donor counts.
Calculate donor retention
Measure how many prior-period donors gave again and separate retention from new-donor acquisition.
Donor retention formula
Donor retention rate = retained prior-period donors ÷ prior-period donors × 100. A retained donor is someone in the starting donor cohort who gives again in the comparison period.
Retention is different from overall donor growth
An organization can grow its total donor count while still having weak retention if acquisition is replacing many lapsed donors. Looking at retention and new-donor share together makes that dynamic visible.
Define the donor cohort consistently
Annual retention should compare like-for-like annual periods. Recurring donors, household records, merged duplicates and reactivated donors need consistent database rules or the reported rate will shift because of data handling rather than donor behavior.
Use segments for better decisions
Overall retention can hide large differences between first-time donors, recurring donors, major donors and event-acquired donors. Calculate the same metric by meaningful segment after validating your total.
Define the donor cohort before benchmarking retention
Retention can change dramatically depending on whether the denominator includes first-time donors, recurring donors, major gifts, institutional funders or people who gave through a one-off emergency appeal. Use the same donor identity rules and time window from period to period. Segmenting new-donor retention from repeat-donor retention often reveals more actionable fundraising behavior than one blended percentage, especially after a campaign that attracts many first-time supporters.