The Monthly Leap - January 2026
Hi there!
Next week, we’ll be sharing more about some of the updates we’ve made at LEAP. But for today, we wanted to get back into the swing of things and share a more typical newsletter.
Keep reading to find out:
What's on Rikki’s mind: Donor loyalty
Tip of the month: Measure donor retention
What's coming up
I hope this post is a little spot of joy in your month!
Rikki
What's on Rikki’s mind?
I’m incredibly lucky to have accumulated dear friends throughout my many jobs as a fundraiser.
Following graduate school, I worked at a small college in Lexington, Kentucky called Transylvania University. Y’all, to say that I fell in love with that little liberal arts college and the people who work there would be an understatement. That little school has incredible alumni participation in giving. Transy grads take great pride in giving year after year.
Even though I only worked there for a few years, I continue to support them. (I know some of you subscribe to my emails, so correct me if I’m wrong, but I think I’ve given 15 years in a row!) During their annual day of giving, I’m proud to make my gift to help represent Wisconsin on their quest to secure donations in all 50 states.
But I don’t only give to fill in my state.
I give because I always get emails from the team thanking me for my support. And not just the automated receipt email. These are personalized messages, sharing memories, expressing gratitude, and asking how I’m doing. My gift to Transy isn’t just a transaction. It’s a way to keep in touch with people who have been important to me in my career. There are very few organizations I give to every year, and Transy is on the list.
All too often, organizations are focused on finding new donors. But those loyal donors who give year after year? They are worth so much more than the value of their annual gift.
Take me and my story, for example. I might only give Transy $25 annually… but I still talk about them all the time. I share their posts on Facebook. I swap fundraising ideas with their team. I’m even going to visit campus while I’m in Lexington in a few weeks, just to see how much has changed since I moved away. (Mind you… I haven’t been back to my own alma mater in probably a decade and I’m in Minneapolis multiple times a year!)
As we kick off the new year, I urge you to pause and think about the organizations that matter to you. What do they do that helps build your loyalty? Why do you continue to support them? And what can you learn from your own experiences as a philanthropist that can inform the work you do for your own organization?
Tip of the month
If you aren’t already tracking donor retention, this is the perfect month to start.
It’s one of the most important metrics you can measure – whether you’re part of a fundraising team, a one-person shop, or an all-volunteer organization. You could even argue that it’s more important than overall revenue, because donor retention often tells you more about the health of your fundraising program than total dollars raised ever could.
Plus, you don’t need sophisticated systems, a large team, or even a donor database to do this well. Start with a simple list of who gave to your organization in 2025. Then, throughout 2026, track who gives again. That’s it. Even a basic spreadsheet or shared document can give you powerful insight into how well you’re building and sustaining donor relationships.
What's coming up?
After a quiet couple of weeks for the holidays, we’re kicking the year off with a busy month!
We’ll be presenting two sessions at the Nonprofit Community Forum hosted by Mid-State Technical College on January 15. Whether you’re interested in creating a comprehensive development plan that actually makes sense for your organization or you’re curious about what it would take to be ready for a capital campaign, we have you covered!
We have a couple of new client kick-off meetings scheduled. We’re also leading several board trainings and wrapping up our annual “recalibration” meetings for ongoing campaign clients this month, to help everyone feel confident about meeting their fundraising goals in 2026.
The LEAP team is already thinking about how we’ll celebrate a couple of graduations this year! Emma will start her final semester of classes at UWSP, with plans to graduate in May. Rikki has three classes left, plus lots of research to complete on her dissertation, with hopes to complete her doctorate in December. Suffice it to say, we’re glad to have Brooke and Chelsey on board to help pick up the slack when classes pick up!
At the same time, Rikki will be back in the classroom to teach the Nonprofit Leadership Institute at Mid-State Technical College again this spring. After a semester off, she’s excited to get back to teaching, as leading this class is one of her favorite things!
We’ll be announcing our 2026 online trainings soon too, so keep an eye out if you want to join us for deep dives into understanding the donor journey, mastering meetings, or building trust with stakeholders!
In the meantime, if you want to think about your donor retention and appreciation strategy, join us for an online office hours on Thursday, January 29 at 9:00am where we’ll share some of our favorite ideas and answer your questions. You can register here. This session won’t be recorded, so please plan to join live if you are interested!