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The Stewardship Clues Hidden in Every Stage of the Donor Journey

September 8, 2026

By Muhi Khwaja, Senior Trainer

In fundraising, securing a gift is just the beginning. True impact comes when donors feel valued, informed, and connected — a process captured in the Stewardship step of Sanford Institute of Philanthropy’s Cause Selling Cycle.

While stewardship is the final step — following Prospecting, Pre-Approach, Approach, Need Discovery, Presentation, Handling Objections, and The Ask — it doesn’t begin after the gift. In many ways, it begins during the very first interactions with a donor.

Every stage of the donor journey, from Prospecting to The Ask, provides valuable clues about how a donor wants to engage with your organization. Their interests, motivations, communication preferences, questions, and concerns all shape the stewardship experience they’ll find most meaningful.

When you pay attention to these signals early, stewardship becomes more personal, relevant, and effective, helping transform one-time donors into lifelong supporters.

The 3 Principles of Effective Stewardship

Before exploring how the donor cycle can inform your stewardship strategy, let’s look at the three principles that make stewardship effective:

1. Personalization

A generic thank you is forgettable. Reference the donor’s gift, mention specific programs or people their support is impacting, and acknowledge their unique motivations discovered during Need Discovery. I often like to write from the standpoint of what will make the donor smile.

2. Transparency and Impact

Share clear updates on how contributions are being used. Donors want to see the tangible difference their support makes.

3. Continuous Engagement

Stewardship isn’t a one-time step. Follow up with stories, site visits, and opportunities for dialogue, making the donor feel like a partner in the mission.

Example in Practice: A donor contributed to a health initiative through their Donor Advised Fund at American Muslim Community Foundation (AMCF), but the initial acknowledgment was limited to a standard letter. Recognizing the lost opportunity, AMCF encouraged the nonprofit to revamp their approach: a personalized video from a program participant, quarterly impact reports, and invitations to volunteer. The donor not only gave again but became an advocate for the cause.

What Earlier Stages of the Donor Cycle Reveal About Stewardship

Each step of the Cause Selling Cycle provides clues about how to build a stronger relationship
with your donors before and after the gift. Here’s how:
- Prospecting: Understanding the donor’s preferences early informs how you tailor stewardship communications.
- Pre-Approach: The research conducted before a donor meeting can reveal how donors prefer to engage with organizations. Some donors value personal conversations, while others prefer concise emails, events, reports, or volunteer experiences.
- Approach: During initial discussions, donors often share personal experiences, community connections, and reasons they care about your cause. These insights can guide your messaging, tone, and type of stewardship engagement.
- Need Discovery: As donors discuss their goals and values, they tell you what success looks like to them.
- Presentation & Handling Objections: The questions or concerns donors raise often reveal what matters most to them. Some want measurable outcomes. Others care about sustainability, innovation, or community impact. These two steps help you understand what information will reassure your donors repeatedly.
- The Ask: The donor’s decision to give reflects trust and confidence in your organization. Thoughtful stewardship should affirm that decision by demonstrating personalized gratitude, accountability, and impact.
Fundraiser’s Reflection: Actionable Takeaways

Start planning stewardship before a gift is made. Use the clues from each step of the donor cycle to create stewardship experiences that reflect what matters most to each donor.

Here are tried and true strategies you can apply to improve your stewardship right away:
1. Track Donor Preferences Early: Use information from Prospecting, Pre-Approach, and Need Discovery to personalize future engagement.
2. Segment Your Donors: High-capacity, major donors may value one-on-one engagement, while recurring donors may prefer tailored digital updates.
3. Create Story-Driven Updates: Share stories of real impact — a participant’s journey, a project milestone, or a tangible result.
4. Invite Participation: Offer opportunities to visit programs, attend briefings, or join advisory councils. Active participation strengthens loyalty.
5. Stay Connected Consistently: Regular touchpoints like simple emails or calls signal that the relationship is valued beyond the gift.
Remember, the best stewardship strategy isn’t created after the gift arrives. It’s built from the information donors share with you throughout every stage of their journey. Once a donor gives, stewardship fuels a continuous cycle, supporting a culture of philanthropy and setting the stage for repeat giving and advocacy.

By approaching stewardship intentionally, you can ensure that every donor interaction reinforces alignment, trust, and long-term commitment.

Author bio: With over 15 years of nonprofit and fundraising experience, Muhi became a CFRE in 2016, earned certificates from Indiana University’s Lilly Family School of Philanthropy in 2017 and 2024, joined Sanford Institute of Philanthropy as a Trainer in 2022 where he continues to serve today, and also serves as the Cofounder and Chief Development Officer of the American Muslim Community Foundation, which has helped families distribute more than $20 million since 2017. Connect with him on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/muhikhwaja/.
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September 8, 2026

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Donor Engagement, Donor Retention, Stewardship
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The Relationship Advantage: Using Cause Selling to Retain Major Gifts

May 1, 2026

Written By: Eva Fordham, MPA, CAP®, Founder of Expert Philanthropy

Let’s face it: fundraising is a high-stakes game. Competition is steep, and the strategies behind
major gift fundraising have shifted completely. I know this firsthand from spending the bulk of my
career as a major gifts fundraiser and then transitioning into advising high-net-worth individuals on
their charitable giving.

Once seen as a simple year-end transaction, major gifts are now the culmination of a shared vision.
A donor finds a cause they want to support, an organization presents the opportunity, and
then…what if the donor says, “No”? Fundraisers often spend weeks obsessing over the “ask” and
the “close,” frequently forgetting the most rewarding aspect of the major gift journey: the
relationship itself.

This is when using the Cause Selling approach really makes a difference. This relationship-driven
cycle prioritizes the donor’s needs as much as the organization’s mission, turning a high-pressure
pitch into a collaborative, long-term partnership.

1. Building: It Starts with Need Discovery

When building a major gift pipeline, it isn’t about finding the wealthiest person in the room; it’s
about finding the most aligned.

So, put down the pitch deck, and have a genuine conversation with your donor. Conduct a discovery
process to understand their “why.” Why do they care about literacy? Why is environmental
conservation their priority? By asking open-ended questions, you transition from a solicitor to a
partner. This phase is not about convincing someone to give; it’s about uncovering the intersection
between their passion and your specific impact.

2. Retaining: Stewardship, Stewardship, Stewardship

Retention is the essence of organizational sustainability. While Stewardship is the final step in the
Cause Selling model, it also bridges the beginning of the next cycle.

Now, more than ever, retention requires impact reporting that goes beyond a generic newsletter.
Major donors need to see the ROI of their contribution. Whether it’s a personal video from a
scholarship recipient or a private tour of a new facility, thoughtful stewardship helps the donor feel
like an insider. When a donor feels like they are truly pushing the needle in the organization’s
success, they become champions who will advocate for your organization in their own influential
circles.

3. Navigating Rejections: Redefining “No”

The most daunting part of the ask is the potential for rejection. However, the Fundraising Academy
teaches us to view handling objections not as a hurdle, but as an opportunity for further discovery.
A “no” is rarely a permanent door-slam. Usually, it is one of three things:

When you treat “no” as a request for more information, the relationship still exists. A graceful
response to a rejection today is often the foundation for a “yes” in the future.

Case Study: The “Pivot to Partnership”

The Challenge: Many years ago, I inherited a lovely major donor who made six-figure gifts annually
to support our general fund. We had a wonderful relationship, and I even helped him reach the $1
million lifetime mark. From there, I assumed next year’s six-figure gift would be another “slam
dunk.” However, when I provided him with the next ask, it was rejected…hard.

The Rejection: The gentleman sent in a check for a much lower amount. When I called to thank him
and asked gently about the change, he simply responded, “Well, now I’ve given the organization
over $1 million, and I wanted to support someone else.”

The Navigation: Instead of accepting the “no” and moving on, I leaned into the Stewardship phase
of the Cause Selling Cycle. I asked if we could still stay in touch, and he agreed. I continued to
provide him with high-touch stewardship, keeping him respectfully informed of our progress and
ensuring the door remained open without putting any pressure on him.

The Outcome: It took two years, but another six-figure gift appeared. When I called to thank him, he
remarked, “You have always been so kind with your time and sharing updates; I wanted to get
involved again like I used to be.” By turning “no” into “not right now,” I maintained the relationship
through consistent stewardship. He had already proven his commitment; he just needed space to
explore other interests before returning to our cause.

Closing Thoughts: The Relationship-First Mindset

Whether you are adhering to the AFP’s Code of Ethics or following the Cause Selling Cycle, the
principle remains the same: fundraising is about people.

Major gifts are built on a foundation of trust, retained through meaningful impact, and grown
through the honest navigation of “No’s”. When we stop asking for money and start inviting
partnership, the entire dynamic shifts. Remember, donors are savvy, and you probably aren’t the
only organization seeking their support. Lead with respect and curiosity and watch your
relationships authentically transform.

To learn more about the Cause Selling Cycle and how you can sharpen your fundraising skills, explore Fundraising Academy’s asynchronous online class offerings.

Author bio: Eva Fordham is a philanthropic professional with over 15 years of experience serving as
a bridge between high-net-worth individuals and the impact they want to create in the world. Her
career has been defined by a high-touch approach to donor cultivation and the strategic
management of significant gift portfolios. She specializes in working with families and individual
principals to turn their charitable visions into actionable plans. From facilitating meaningful
program visits to developing long-term engagement strategies, she ensures every contribution is
both personal and impactful.

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May 1, 2026

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Cause Selling Cycle, Donor Retention, Recurring Giving, Stewardship
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Keep Donors Coming Back: Data-Backed Retention

March 3, 2026

Written By: Kirsten Wantland at Bloomerang

Donor retention is what turns one-time generosity into a sustainable community of support. But across the sector, retention has hovered around 43%, and first-time donor retention can dip as low as 19%. Bloomerang’s Mission Retainable research — based on a November 2024 survey of more than 380 fundraisers and 1,000 donors — helps explain why donors drift and what you can learn from what high-retention organizations do differently.

Hidden Challenges in Donor Retention

Many retention problems do not show up as one big failure. They show up as small gaps between what donors want and what nonprofits consistently deliver.

1) Gratitude is different from ongoing connection. Fundraisers are strong at saying “thank you” — 97% report sending personalized thank-you notes. But donors stay when they see progress: 65% say regular updates about impact help them feel connected. A great thank you without follow-through can still end in a lapsed donor.

2) Transparency gaps quietly erode trust. Lack of transparency is a real reason donors stop giving (24%). Yet only 36% of nonprofits share regular impact reports. When donors cannot clearly see outcomes, uncertainty grows — and uncertainty breaks loyalty.

3) Donor fatigue is often a symptom of the experience. Nonprofits report donor fatigue as a major challenge (30%). Donors also reduce or stop giving because of financial limitations (87%). When budgets tighten, repeated asks without meaningful updates can feel exhausting even to mission-aligned supporters.

4) The “modern donor experience” gap is wider than many realize. Most nonprofits use a CRM (94%), but only 38% track first-time donor retention rates — meaning the crucial first-year journey can be hard to manage intentionally. Add channel and convenience mismatches (only 13% of fundraisers use text messaging even though it is donors’ third preferred channel; 24% of donors prefer digital wallets while only 47% of nonprofits offer them), and donors face friction at the exact moments you want momentum.

Effective Strategies to Build Lasting Donor Relationships

High-retention organizations consistently do three things well: personalize, communicate consistently, and build systems that support relationship-building.

Segment by relationship stage.

Start simple: first-time donors, recurring donors, and lapsed donors. Even basic segmentation helps you move from generic outreach to messages that match where someone is on their journey.

Make impact updates with a repeatable rhythm.

Donors say “clear results” is the number one activity that helps them feel connected (65%). Build a lightweight monthly format — one story, one metric, one photo — so updates do not depend on a huge lift from staff.

Make recurring giving the easy choice.

Recurring donors often give again because the mission matters (63%) and because they believe their donation is making a significant impact (50%). Make monthly giving highly visible on your donation form and show what a monthly gift sustains over time.

Thank quickly and personally.

Donors are 39% more likely to give again when thanked within 24–48 hours. Pair speed with sincerity: a brief call, a message that references what they care about, or a simple milestone note (“One year of support — thank you.”).

Ask, listen, and respond.

Only 14% of nonprofits use donor surveys, even though donors say feedback opportunities help them feel committed (23%). A short quarterly pulse survey can improve relevance and signal, “We’re building this with you.”

Case Study: Mara Elephant Project’s Retention Lift

The Mara Elephant Project shows how recurring giving and automation can strengthen retention. By focusing on monthly donations and sending consistent, automated updates about how contributions protected elephant habitats, they increased donor retention by 30%.

The takeaway is straightforward: reduce friction (automated monthly gifts) and reinforce meaning (reliable impact updates). Automation makes that consistency sustainable — even for small teams.

How Fundraising Tools Can Help

Mission Retainable is clear: technology is not the goal — connection is. But the right tools make connections easier to deliver, consistently.

Use your CRM as a retention engine.

Centralize giving history, preferences, and interactions, so personalization is practical. Track first-time retention explicitly and keep data clean, so messages reach the right people.

Automate what should not be optional.

Workflows can send acknowledgments, receipts, impact emails, and milestone celebrations automatically which will free staff time to focus on high-touch relationship building.

Use analytics (and AI) to focus limited time.

Predictive insights can flag donors at risk of lapsing, so you can intervene with a relevant update or a human touchpoint. Yet 32% of fundraisers do not use additional tools like AI, machine learning, or advanced analytics for donor engagement — an opportunity to prioritize outreach where it matters most.

Meet donors where they are.

Optimize forms for mobile and add digital wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay. Consider text messaging for short impact updates, event reminders, or timely gratitude. Removing friction supports both first-time retention and recurring giving.

Retention is a Shared Mission

Retention is not about “holding on” to donors — it is about inviting them into partnership. When supporters feel valued, informed, and confident about their gift matters, they stay — and often deepen their involvement.

Read Bloomerang’s entire Mission Retainable: Closing the Donor Retention Gap report here: https://bloomerang.com/guide/mission-retainable/

Author bio: Kirsten Wantland, a Certified Nonprofit Consultant with a Master’s in Nonprofit Management and Leadership, empowers nonprofits through strategic fundraising and data-driven decisions. Specializing in proactive, performance-boosting approaches, she champions systems that free fundraisers to focus on their mission. As part of Bloomerang, a cloud-based Giving Platform for nonprofits, Kirsten educates organizations on best practices for data storage, workflows, and donor cultivation to amplify fundraising success.

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March 3, 2026

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Donor Retention, Fundraising, Recurring Giving, Stewardship

The Stewardship Clues Hidden in Every Stage of the Donor Journey

The 3 Principles of Effective Stewardship

1. Personalization

2. Transparency and Impact

3. Continuous Engagement

What Earlier Stages of the Donor Cycle Reveal About Stewardship

Fundraiser’s Reflection: Actionable Takeaways

The Relationship Advantage: Using Cause Selling to Retain Major Gifts

1. Building: It Starts with Need Discovery

2. Retaining: Stewardship, Stewardship, Stewardship

3. Navigating Rejections: Redefining “No”

Case Study: The “Pivot to Partnership”

Closing Thoughts: The Relationship-First Mindset

Keep Donors Coming Back: Data-Backed Retention

Hidden Challenges in Donor Retention

Effective Strategies to Build Lasting Donor Relationships

Case Study: Mara Elephant Project’s Retention Lift

How Fundraising Tools Can Help

Retention is a Shared Mission