Every acknowledgment letter, every phone call, every event check-in table is a moment where a relationship deepens or quietly erodes. Tiscia Experience Design brings customer experience methodology to the nonprofit sector, and leaves the capability in the building.
The sector posted its strongest fundraising growth in five years in 2025, up 5.0%, but the number of people giving fell for the fifth year in a row, down 3.6%. That growth was driven almost entirely by larger gifts, not a broader base of support.
Retention barely moved. Overall donor retention edged up from 43.1% to 43.3%, and new donor retention stayed essentially flat. Converting a first gift into a second remains, in the sector's own words, the most consequential unsolved problem in the donor pipeline.
That gap between acquiring a donor and keeping one isn't a fundraising problem. It's what happens, or doesn't happen, in every interaction after the first gift.
Enter your own numbers below. This is a straightforward projection based on what you enter, not a guarantee or an industry average.
This estimate assumes newly retained donors give at the same average gift as your current donor base, and reflects a single giving year. It doesn't account for acquisition costs, multi-year donor value, or the cost of the retention work itself. Use it as a starting point for a conversation, not a financial forecast.
Results from completed engagements. More will be added as new engagements wrap.
Each tier builds on the one before it.
A short virtual session that establishes what it takes to become donor-centric and how to lead the culture shift. This tier lays the foundation the other two tiers depend on.
The handoffs and process friction that shape the donor experience day to day, and the shift from silos to a unified team working toward the same outcome.
The moment-to-moment decisions donors actually feel, and the understanding that every role shapes the donor experience, whether or not it's donor-facing.
Available exclusively to organizations that have completed the three-tier sequence. A deeper, data-informed session that builds on your own donor feedback and hands the facilitation role to your own team.
Every session includes train-the-trainer, so your own team can facilitate refreshers and onboarding going forward.
Already collecting donor feedback but not sure what to do with it? Share your donor journey map and de-identified survey data. We codify it, deliver a written analysis, and recommend specific touchpoints for redesign, whether or not you've worked with us before.
Request a quoteOngoing 1:1 support for whoever owns your donor feedback program, covering survey design, closed-loop response, and touchpoint redesign. Available whether or not you've worked with us before.
Request a quoteTiscia Experience Design is led by Lainie Tiscia, who has spent nearly two decades in the industrial sector building and leading voice-of-customer programs.
That work included owning a voice-of-customer program end to end, running closed-loop resolution on detractor feedback, and leading teams responsible for keeping an experience consistent across many touchpoints, business units, and employees.
She founded Tiscia Experience Design to bring that same discipline to nonprofit donor experience.
If you're weighing a workshop for your team, or you just want to talk through what your donor experience looks like right now, email is the fastest way to reach us.
Email Lainie@tisciacx.com