From Gratitude to Growth: Using Donor Relations to Drive Fundraising Strategy

Tuesday December 1st 2026

Stewardship is the foundation of donor satisfaction—but when done strategically, it can also be a powerful driver of re-engagement, retention, and upgrades. In this session, we'll explore how to move from “thank you” to “let’s do more together” by integrating donor relations into your broader fundraising strategy.

You'll learn to:

• Distinguish between stewardship that sustains satisfaction and stewardship that actively encourages donors to give again or give more.
  
• Integrate donor relations metrics—like thank-you turnaround time, impact report engagement, and survey feedback—into your overall fundraising KPIs.
• Design a targeted stewardship strategy for a specific donor segment (e.g., mid-level, recurring, or lapsed) with the goal of driving retention or upgrades.