Magnetic Nonprofit: Attract and Retain Donors, Volunteers, and Staff

Only 19% of first-time donors give a second gift. This statistic shows us we have a significant problem in the nonprofit industry.

Can you imagine if a major corporation only had 1 in 5 customers return for additional purchases? If a retail store chain lost over 80% of its new customers? If a restaurant only had 19% of customers come back a second time? None of them would stay in business. No one would accept that number. And we shouldn't either.

Jeremy Reis spent two years researching and testing to identify the six attributes of a Magnetic Nonprofit. A Magnetic Nonprofit is one that attracts the right people to become supporters and volunteers. In this book, you'll learn how your nonprofit organization can become magnetic.

You'll be guided through these six attributes of becoming a Magnetic Nonprofit:

1. Transparency: Openly sharing information
2. Thankful: Shows gratitude
3. Tenured: Longevity of an organization or ability to project expertise
4. Timely: How quickly a nonprofit responds to an external situation or communications with donors and volunteers
5. Testimony: An affinity to a cause because of a personal experience or experience of someone closely connected to the donor
6. Tribe: People in your circle of support

These six characteristics apply not only to donors but also to employees and volunteers. When these six characteristics are perfectly aligned, your organization could enter into a supporter's "top three organizations." The top three organizations are the ones that come to mind first when someone wants to support a cause with resources such as time, money, or even working for the organization.

Jeremy Reis has over a decade of nonprofit marketing and fundraising experience, including serving as the Senior Director of Marketing at Food for the Hungry (FH), an international relief and development organization. In the last five years, FH has almost tripled their private income and the number of active donors has grown significantly. In fact, at the time of publication, the organization has over 110,000 active monthly donors with an 83% multi-year donor retention rate.

What People Are Saying

In my 45 years of nonprofit development work, this is one of the best books I've found on attracting donors--and accomplishing the even harder mission of retaining donors. You'll find stories and inspiring content that will be invaluable to nonprofit organizations that want to advance and fund their mission to make the world a better place. Read this book today! You will not only be inspired as a nonprofit leader, but you'll also be equipped to inspire and motivate fellow staff, board members, donors, volunteers, and ultimately, the people you serve.

-- Mike King, President/CEO, Youthfront

Jeremy takes you on a journey inside a $140 million nonprofit that proves that the Magnetic Nonprofit system actually works.

-- Timothy M. Kachuriak, Chief Innovation and Optimization Officer, Next After

Jeremy shares game-changing truths, concepts and advice for everyone who wants to do a better job being "sticky" when it comes to attracting and keeping passionate and committed donors and other partners. I highly recommend this book!

-- David Evans, President, LifeNet International

Jeremy Reis pulls back the curtain and provides a simple framework for nonprofit practitioners seeking predictable increase in donor giving, volunteer engagement and staff retention.

-- Marc Stein, Co-Founder of The Global Center for Nonprofit Excellence