F It: Why This is My FY26 Mantra (And It Should Be Yours Too)

Can I just say what everyone is thinking right now? These are weird times. 

Federal budget cuts mean grants are being withheld from our organizations. These are grants that we have historically used to draw strategic plans. Layoffs are happening, and department budgets are in limbo. This level of uncertainty is giving 2020.

Nobody knows what to do next it seems. It's as if advancement offices are lined with staff frozen mid-stride, so as not to draw attention to themselves. If they weren’t trying so hard to be silent, I could hear them insisting, “I’ll stand still so I can blend in just enough that nobody will think to eliminate me.”

We’re behaving as if we are being pursued by some prehistoric predator whose vision is based on movement. I love Jurassic Park just as much as the next millennial, but it’s not a metaphor for how we should conduct our professional lives.

Look. I’m no licensed therapist, but I want to share with you the mantra that calms my anxiety-induced eye-twitch: F it. 

Our survival responses tend to be fight, flight, or freeze. But if you give any Fs this year, the most productive F of all is to Future Proof It. F it doesn’t mean giving up—it means doubling down on the people, systems, and strategies that will actually move the needle. So when we say “F it,” we’re really saying: don’t just survive this moment, build a foundation today that can carry you through whatever tomorrow throws your way.

More Asks ≠ More Money

Ideally, we want to increase the distance between our overhead and our gifts in the door. The greater the gap between those two figures, the more funds we can allocate to directly supporting our organization’s mission. 

I recently worked with a school on a shoestring budget. To solve their money problems, they considered hiring another fundraiser. After all, if you want more revenue, then why not hire a revenue-generating position, right? 

Wrong.

As counterintuitive as it seems, hiring more fundraisers is not the smartest way to increase dollars in.

Sure, it may work short-term. However, with the average retention rate of first-time donors hovering at 23% (and I’m being generous here), new donors are not going to sustain our organization in lean times like these.

If that's not a punch in the gut, let me put it this way: It would take only 12 years to go from 1,000 new donors to zero donors based on current retention rates. 

This is a race to zero. 

And to make matters worse, we all know that it costs at least seven times more to acquire one new donor than it does to retain one.

This means that even if you do increase giving through acquisition, you’ve simultaneously increased your overhead, thereby shrinking the percentage of funds you can direct towards your mission. 

If you want your organization to actually continue fulfilling its mission 12 years from now, you need to start thinking long-term. 

Acquisition alone isn’t enough to save you. Make your current donors a priority. After all, they’ve already self-identified as caring about the cause your mission serves. 

Future-proof your organization by directing your attention to donor retention. 

The 4 Pillars of Donor Retention

The concept of donor retention is so important that we are writing a book, and dedicating an entire day of our upcoming DRG conference to the topic alone. Before you join us in NYC October 20-22, 2025, here’s a quick preview:

PILLAR ONE: IDENTIFICATION

Our first step to retaining donors is identifying which donors are ideal prospects for renewing their support. Not everyone who has given before is likely to give again if asked. Save your time, money, and energy for those who are most likely to say ‘yes’ again.

PILLAR TWO: OPERATIONALIZATION

Scalable operations are how we create a sustainable organization. Clear workflows and systems ensure accuracy and efficiency. Cut out internal friction points, and your donors will ultimately have a smoother giving experience.   

PILLAR THREE: CONNECTION

Before we make ‘the ask,’ we must invest the time in making our donors feel connected to the cause. Connection is all about the carefully crafted touchpoints that precede the next ‘ask.’ 

PILLAR FOUR: RENEWAL

Finally, we have ‘the ask.’ If we’ve done Pillars 1-3 well, then Pillar 4 should seem like a natural next step. 

No-to-Low Cost Swaps That Save Money

With those pesky budget cuts in mind, here are some low-cost, retention-oriented swaps that can help you cut expenses and increase giving. 

1. Cut the Holiday Card. Do a first-time donor postcard instead.

   Your holiday card budget is based on a larger population than your first-time donors. Based on sheer volume alone, you’ll spend less money making this swap. To make matters better, you’ll significantly increase the likelihood of your first-time donor becoming a second-time donor. 
   

2. Push off the new tech tool integration. Do data clean-up instead. It makes sense on the surface to invest in acquisition efforts if the ultimate goal is to raise more money. But if you have broken systems, then you’re not looking far enough upstream to solve that fundraising problem.

   
   

   Your operations don’t have to be perfect, but they must be functional at a minimum. They should help you do your job, not make it more complicated. 

   Just remember: if a donor can’t trust you to get their name right on a solicitation or send a timely receipt, then they can’t trust that their gift will go where you said it would. And just like that, you’ve lost a future major donor. 
   

3. Cut the golf tournament. Do a thank-a-thon instead.

   A thank-a-thon may sound like a lot of work. However, I can assure you that it requires less than half the human hours to prepare and execute than a golf tournament. And given the more social nature of a golf tournament, you are likely to attract more one-and-done donors who are unlikely to remain engaged.
   

   
   

Final Pep Talk

Do any of these ideas work for you? If so, great! 

If not, consider how you can adapt one to fit your shop. Our intention is not to be prescriptive but to give you permission to think outside the ‘this-is-how-we’ve-always-done-it’ box. 

In fact, trash that box. Don’t even recycle it. Nobody should ever see that box again. Grab a match and toss that sucker in the fireplace! It’s no longer serving you or your mission. Think long-term. Directing efforts to retain current donors will future-proof your organization.

Start by shifting just 10% of your team’s effort toward retention-first activities. Choose one donor segment to pilot—such as first-time donors or recurring givers—and test a more intentional cadence of communications and follow-up. Use what you learn there to build a broader case for reallocating time and resources.

Hold a brainstorm sesh with your colleagues. The only thing that is off the table is doing nothing.  

Just remember that when that dumpster fire called donor attrition comes barreling towards you at the speed of light, the most productive thing for you to do is confidently declare, “F It!”

If you want to learn more about future-proofing your fundraising with smarter donor retention strategies, join us this October in NYC for the Four Pillars Conference. You’ll laugh, you’ll learn, and you’ll leave with a retention game plan—and maybe a few new fundraising besties, too.

Written by Madelyn Jones