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Why does donor retention look worse than it is?

5,510 people were stored as 6,214 records, depressing reported retention by 10.9 points.
Files
3
Rows
24,680
Checks passed
25

Retention, by person

58.1%

Donors

5,510

Top 11 households

52.0%

What went in

Jul 1, 2022 – Jun 30, 2026

Project
Donor file: FY2023 to FY2026
Subject
Customers
Rows
24,680

Source files

  • gifts_fy23_fy26.csv18,432 rows
  • constituents.xlsx6,214 rows
  • campaigns.xlsx34 rows

The finished example

Demonstration data we built, not a customer's file.

Rendered by the same components that render your own projects.

gifts_fy23_fy26.csv
18,432 rowsChecked

Your retention is 11 points better than you think, and your income is far less safe.

704 of the 6,214 constituent records are the same people entered twice, mostly by online appeals creating a new record for someone already in the postal file. Counting records, retention is 47.2%; counting people, it is 58.1%: above the sector benchmark rather than below it. The same defect has been hiding the number that matters more: eleven households give 52% of unrestricted income, and two of those eleven are one household.

$1,842,000Raised, FY2026+2.8%
58.1%Retention, by person−1.2pp
5,510Donors−4.3%
Open the full sample project

The same donors, counted two ways

  1. 015,510 people are stored as 6,214 records, and it is depressing your retention.
  2. 02The win-back appeal is addressed to 312 people who are giving right now.
  3. 03Eleven households are 52% of unrestricted income, and one of them ends this year.

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