Keeping in Touch with Donors: Don't Let Relationships Fall Through the Cracks

You just got out of a meeting with a mid-tier donor who toured your program and loved what they saw. You promised to send follow-up information. They mentioned a big family anniversary coming up, and their son's basketball team just made the playoffs. Then you had a major donor Zoom, and the annual report still needs three more edits.

By the time you sit down, the details are already fading.

Most fundraisers handle this with a spreadsheet, Post-it notes, or a string of WhatsApp messages to whoever is available. It works until it doesn't. And when it stops working, it's usually a donor who feels forgotten.

Why this matters more than you think

Donors do not expect you to remember everything. But they notice when you do. A message referencing something they told you three months ago, a birthday note, asking how the Israel trip went — these are the touches that turn a transactional relationship into a real one.

If the only times you reach out are to send an annual report or ask for money, you are leaving a lot of relationship on the table.

For a small shop with a handful of donors, you can hold most of this in your head. But if you want to grow to 30, 50, or 100 donors — and eventually more — memory and Post-its will not scale. You need a system.

Before you're ready for a CRM

A full donor management system is the right answer eventually. But if you are not there yet, here is what to do in the meantime.

Keep everything in one place. Pick one spreadsheet and use it for everything. At minimum, track contact information, donation history, and a notes column where you log every meaningful interaction the same day it happens. The discipline of logging immediately is more important than the format.

Decide how often you will reach out. Staying in touch with donors tends to get pushed aside by everything else on the list. That only changes when you treat it like a scheduled task rather than something you do when you have a spare moment. Decide on a cadence — monthly for major donors, quarterly for others — and put it in your calendar.

Review your data regularly. Set a recurring time — monthly or quarterly — to go through your donor list and ask a few questions. Who has not heard from you recently? Who could be giving more? Who gave last year but has not given this year? The answers tell you where to focus next.

Try different approaches. What works for one donor does not always work for another. Some people respond to a phone call, others to a handwritten note, others to being invited to something. Pay attention to what lands and adjust.

Track the numbers that matter. Most organizations track total funds raised. That is a start. The teams that grow also track average gift size, how many donors they contacted this month, donors who increased their gift year over year, and their LYBUNT list — donors who gave last year but not this year. When you track these consistently, your next steps become obvious.

When you are ready for the real thing

Manual systems buy you time. They do not replace a proper CRM. When you are ready to explore tools, our CRM Tools page has everything we have reviewed, or start with our guide to the best CRM options for small nonprofits.

If you want to explore specific tools, check out our Favorite CRM for Small Nonprofits, or visit our CRM Tools page to see everything we’ve reviewed.