Hi Reader,

A donor once emailed us upset. He wanted to give $1,000 toward a well. He wanted to know exactly where his money would go, and he wanted to name the well.

Our organization wasn't set up that way. Gifts for clean water went into a fund that supported well projects, but we couldn't trace one donor's dollars to a specific well in a specific community. We also didn't offer naming rights for a $1,000 gift.

The email exchange got worse. Someone on the donor-care team suggested we let him go to another organization.

I didn't want to do that without trying to fix the misunderstanding first. So I called him. I explained that his gift really would support clean water, and I told him honestly how our funding model worked and why we couldn't draw a straight line to one well.

Once he understood the reasons, the conflict changed. We recovered the gift.

THE BIG IDEA

When a donor doesn't give a second gift, most organizations call it a retention problem. It's usually a conversation problem. Nobody talked to them.

The first gift is a test. The donor is wondering whether anyone noticed, whether the gift did anything, and whether this organization is worth a second one. If the only answer they get is a receipt and then a year-end appeal, they decide for themselves. Quietly, and without telling you.

Say a small animal shelter gets 200 first gifts in November and December. Staff are slammed. Each donor gets a receipt and the same appeal everyone else gets in the mail. Nobody calls. Nobody shows them what their $40 did. In March, a few ask for something, and most just never give again.

Now say the shelter does three small things. A board member calls each of the first 50 donors within 48 hours and says thank you. No ask. A week later, each donor gets one short note saying what their gift paid for. In January, they get a short update with a photo. None of that is complicated. It just takes a calendar and a name next to each task.

I won't promise a call fixes retention. One field experiment, covered in the Thanksgiving article linked below, found thank-you calls to new donors had no measurable effect on whether they gave again. That's why the third thing to try below is a small holdout. But silence is a choice, and you can test the alternative cheaply. A phone call also did what a long email thread couldn't in the story above.

Giving Tuesday is December 1, nineteen days from today. Many of your newest donors will arrive within the next month. Decide now who thanks them, and when.

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3 THINGS TO TRY

TRY THIS: Pick a person, not a department, to thank every first-time donor within 48 hours. Put the task on a calendar with their name.

TRY THIS: Send every new donor one email within 7 days that says what their specific gift does. Use a real number, like "$40 buys two weeks of food for one dog."

TRY THIS: Hold back a random 10 percent of new donors from your thank-you call, then compare how many give again. A small group gives a clue, not proof, but it beats guessing.

GO DEEPER

If you want a system for this, there's The Gratitude System. It shows you how to thank every donor within 48 hours, rewrite your receipts, run thank-you calls that matter, welcome new donors well, and prove the results with your own retention numbers. It's built for small teams and takes about 2 hours and 34 minutes. It's $149 and meant for beginners.

STEAL THIS

Here's a 90-second thank-you call you can use as a voicemail or live script. Change the brackets.

"Hi [First Name], this is [Your name] at [Organization]. I'm calling for one reason: to say thank you for your gift. Your [amount] is going to [one specific thing]. I'm not calling to ask for anything. I just wanted you to hear a real person say thank you. If you ever have a question about where your gift goes, you can call or email me directly at [number]. Thanks again. Have a great day."

Keep it under 90 seconds. Don't mention a second gift. If they pick up and want to talk, let them.

ONE NUMBER

26.4%: overall donor retention, year to date through Q2 2026. 11.3%: the share of donors acquired in 2025 who had given again by the end of Q2. Both are from the 2026 Q2 Fundraising Effectiveness Project report.

Your newest donors are retained at less than half the rate of your whole file. That's where a thank-you call and a clear first-year plan earn their keep.

WORTH YOUR TIME

​The Second Gift. A free 8-page workbook I wrote for the 90 days after a first gift. It has a five-touch calendar, a 48-hour thank-you call script, and fill-in templates, with no CRM required.

​How to Calculate Donor Lifetime Value (and What to Actually Do With It). It walks through a cohort method that groups donors by first-gift year. The example shows why raising first-year retention often beats raising gift size.

​Your Thanksgiving Message to Donors Needs More Than Gratitude. Argues a thank-you should carry evidence of what the gift did, and suggests a no-ask note the week of November 16-20. Worth reading before you write yours.

ONE QUESTION

What's the one thing your organization does after a first gift that you think actually brings people back? Hit reply and tell me. I read every one.

See you Tuesday,

Jeremy Reis

P.S. If you'd like the thank-you system laid out step by step, The Gratitude System covers the 48-hour thank-you, the call, and a 90-day plan for earning the second gift.