It’s that time of year, again. Everyone is pushing new and ongoing projects and emails to next year as we rush to close out the calendar year, plan and attend holiday parties and gatherings, cue the holiday treats, and count down the days ‘til we turn on our “out of office” messages. On the last stop of her tour, Taylor Swift recently changed her lyrics to “the ending of an era and the beginning of an age…,” and—Swiftie or not—it’s a great reminder that with all endings come new beginnings. It’s the time to say “out with the old and in with the new.” So, in that spirit, we decided it’s the perfect time to share our Donor Relations’ predictions for 2025 as well as the trends or practices we hope are left in the past.
2 Things We'd Like to Leave Behind In 2024:
Giving Societies: Let’s leave giving societies based on the amount of the donor’s gift behind. These societies have lost their efficacy and donors don’t identify as members of a manufactured society anymore. Bonus: Leaving these societies in the past is another positive step toward being more inclusive in our recognition efforts.
Stale/Boring Acknowledgment Letters: Let's leave stale and boring acknowledgment letters in the past! Donors want to see that their gift is making a difference, and often the current, standard acknowledgment letter gets left in a large stack of mail, or thrown in the trash. They fail to show impact—especially those acknowledgments with electronic signatures.
Now, let’s stop living in the past and turn our focus to the future and its numerous possibilities and opportunities.
Here (in no particular order) are our DRG hopes and predictions for 2025 (and beyond!):
The Retention Revolution: We were so glad to see donor relations professionals taking our place in keeping our organizations focused on retention of our donors in 2024. It is critical to the strength of our fundraising operation, and we feel it will remain a priority in 2025 and beyond.
A Focus Strategy: A major trend we’re predicting for 2025, is a stronger focus on strategy. Many of the clients and colleagues we’re speaking with across the globe are planning more thoughtfully on how best to use their resources to get the most out of their donor relations practices, programs, systems, events, etc. We're thrilled to see this trend emerge! When we have clear plans, we have more control over what we build, when we build it, and how. If there is no plan, then we leave room for others to influence our work, and it’s not always in a positive way.
Empowerment: We’re watching Donor Relations teams being empowered to create and manage our retention strategies and initiatives, and we are here for it! We know that following up with donors promptly after their gifts increases the likelihood that they will contribute again in the following year. This likelihood rises even further when the follow-up is personalized. And who better to design these communications, timing, and triggers than the Donor Relations team? We are skilled at scaling our efforts, collaborating with various teams, and cultivating the personal connections that our donors value. We’re anticipating these donor journeys will become an integral part of our daily work, as we engage with our partner teams to reverse the trend in donor retention, and reimagine what the donor experience can be.
Development Funding and ROI: We would like to see the industry, specifically donor relations, focus more on ROI in 2025. It’s a topic that's discussed often, but the strategies and outcomes are not always put into place. Are we truly evaluating our practices and making changes based on the data? As the economic climate remains uncertain, organizations are going to face smaller budgets and may have more challenges in securing funds as donors become more cautious with their spending. Donors could also shift their priorities towards organizations with clearer, more measurable outcomes, placing more pressure on organizations to ensure transparency in how funds are used. Organizations will need to be even more strategic and thoughtful about evaluating the ROI of our work and making sure it is the best use of funds when determining their priorities.
Prioritizing the Fundamentals: When the economic climate is uncertain and times are turbulent, we need to ensure that our focus remains on the fundamentals and basics. Things such as donor retention, thanking donors, reporting impact, and dealing with a scourge of unspent funds become even clearer priorities. Focusing on and taking care of these fundamentals ensures our donors know we care about and prioritize their generosity.
Creative Acknowledgments: Since we’re leaving those boring, stale acknowledgment letters behind, let's get creative in the New Year. Let’s get digital and use videos, or maybe postcards of varying sizes, and always use inspirational language and stories to inspire donors to continue investing in our organizations. Let’s ensure we’re sharing stories of impact–focusing on the donor and what they are doing to improve our organization, and not simply on our organization itself.
Donor-Focused Communications: In 2025, we hope more organizations will start thanking our donors for being generous people, not just making generous gifts. It's a simple, yet profound shift in how we speak to our donors. For example:
Gift Centric Statement: Your generosity is more than just a donation—it’s a lifeline for our neighbors in need. Your recent gift came at just the right time, helping us bring hope to families who need it most.
Giver Centric Statement: Your generosity ensures that families in our community don’t go hungry, especially during these critical times. You didn’t just support our mission—you became a hero for those in need.
Both are good examples, but the focus on the giver has proven fundraising benefits, and also reaffirms the core beliefs of our donors...win-win!
Bespoke Individual Engagement Plans: As the emphasis on principal and transformational gifts in our fundraising efforts continues to increase, so too will the need for bespoke individual engagement plans. It’s a perfect opportunity for the donor relations team to demonstrate the value of its work, and take a leadership role in a collaborative initiative that lifts the entire organization. Key to getting started is ensuring a solid foundation for success by focusing not only on processes and data, but also the teamwork and shared understanding of donor preferences that is required. When managed well, an individual engagement program can have a significant and lasting impact on the donor experience and the organization’s ability to effect change for beneficiaries. However, it’s imperative that such a program be resourced properly and not implemented at the expense of broad-based donor engagement efforts to ensure every donor is properly thanked and understands the impact of their gift. It’s easy to be distracted by the exciting, shiny possibilities of top donor engagement, but our foremost responsibility is to make certain ALL donors feel connected. Shoring up the fundamentals will help prepare your team when the bespoke individual engagement trend comes knocking on your door.
Email Open Rates: The decline of email open rates is possible due to the new AI-generated email summaries many of us have been seeing pop up. At DRG, we like to stay ahead of the trends, so our colleague has been testing Apple's developer beta iOS since they rolled out Apple Intelligence in July 2024. Among their most notable features is the new AI-generated email summary. As you can see from the image below, your preview text that you worked so hard to craft has now been replaced by an AI summary (indicated by the encircled arrows).
What this means for Donor Relations professionals:
Clarity is more important than ever. If the content of your email is even remotely confusing, that AI summary may be inaccurate.
If readers feel like they can get the gist of your email from the AI summary, they may not feel the need to open it at all.
What you can do about it:
Use Bullets and pre-headers to steer the robots in the right direction.
Don't be the organization that only emails donors when you want money.
Develop a reputation for adding value, so readers want to open your email.
Convey impact, express gratitude, or entertain
AND don’t forget to Join us beginning January 16, 2025 for our Mailed It! webinar series with email expert, Ashley Budd, to learn how to write emails that get opened and read.
Disclaimer: Apple Intelligence is only available on devices running iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1.
And last, but not least, let’s…
Make Time: We hope that in 2025 we, as an industry, will make the time to focus on at least one of our “rainy-day” projects. We all have things we know we should do, or wish we had time to ideate on, implement, or revitalize. So, let's make 2025 the year! Let’s make the time to accomplish at least one thing on our "wish list." Not only is checking something off our to-do list is so satisfying, but our organizations–and more importantly, our donors' experiences with our organizations–will be truly all the better for it.
As always, endings bring new beginnings, and the start of a new year is certainly no exception. We’re about to be a quarter of the way through this century, and while it may be a new year, and we continue to focus on growth and moving forward always, we are, and will continue to be, firmly planted in our DRG era.
Our group wishes you all a happy and restful holiday season, and a prosperous New Year!
Cheers, DRG
