Apteco Learn Mission Schedule Time with an Apteco Architect Play with a Live System

New and kept donors

Stop 18 of 58 · about 6 minutes

How many of last year's donors came back, and did your new donors stay? Donor retention sounds hard. It is one sum. The hard part is dividing by the right number.

Do this stop in the courseRead the lesson
Behaviour - Retained donors: Gifts last year is 1 or more, and Gifts this year is 1 or more.
Behaviour - Retained donors: Gifts last year is 1 or more, and Gifts this year is 1 or more. Open full size

Sample charity: the people and numbers in these screens are made up, so the picture shows the tool, not a result.

The lesson

Four audiences, two sums.

  • Retained donors: gave last year and again this year. Your kept donors.
  • Donor retention: Retained donors divided by Gave last year. Divide by last year's donors, not this year's.
  • New donors this year: people whose first-ever gift was this year. Welcome them.
  • New donor retention: New donors last year, retained, divided by New donors last year.

Each audience is built from First gift date or the gift counts from the last stop. Tiles count the audience, so every tile that asks the question gives the same answer.

Watch this stop · about a minute

More of it in Orbit

Behaviour - New donors this year: the first gift date falls this year.
Behaviour - New donors this year: the first gift date falls this year. Open full size
Behaviour - New donors last year, retained: a first gift last year, and a gift again this year.
Behaviour - New donors last year, retained: a first gift last year, and a gift again this year. Open full size

Your turn, in Orbit

  1. In Orbit, open Audiences and open Behaviour - Retained donors. Read its two rules.
  2. Open Behaviour - Gave last year and note how many supporters it holds.
  3. Divide the Retained donors count by the Gave last year count. That is your donor retention.
  4. Open Behaviour - New donors last year, retained. Read its two rules: a first gift last year, and a gift this year.

Quick check

300 people gave last year and again this year. To get donor retention, what do you divide 300 by?
  • Everyone who gave this year
  • Everyone who gave last year
  • Everyone on file

Answer: Everyone who gave last year

A supporter gave for the first time in May this year. Which audience are they in?
  • Retained donors
  • New donors this year
  • LYBNT

Answer: New donors this year

Need a hint?

Retention divides by last year's donors. A first-ever gift this year makes a new donor this year.

Why it matters

When retention is counted one way, every time, you can compare this year with last year and trust what you see.

Read on

Read more in the Apteco Help Hub

Learn Mission is a free course. You read a little, do it yourself, then answer one quick check. Orin, the assistant in Orbit, walks with you. Your progress stays in your browser.

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It is stop 18 of 58. Open it in the course, or start from the beginning.

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All of Part 3: Behaviours

The whole course, stop by stop