Event Day Donor Retention

Event Day Donor Retention

Make Donor Retention a Priority on the Day of Your Event

What is your strategy for using a peer-to-peer event to grow your donor base? Do you have a protocol to engage and retain first-time participants? Or do the majority of these people end up being “one and done” – engaged for the day but not for the future? In our experience, we’ve found that organizations often feel forced to choose the latter.

Day-Of Focus

There are two main reasons why organizations fail to retain their first time participants: They don’t have tools in place to create a powerful donor relationship from the first interaction; or they think it would take more effort and volunteer support then their team can manage on an already busy day. But the important thing to realize is that by using modern tools, individual interactions with new donors can be both effective and simple!

A Mobile Solution

The Grassroots Unwired mobile platform allows you to connect with individual donors instantly during the first face-to-face interaction. We find this to be the key to improving donor lifetime value and cultivating a strong donor relationship.

By mirroring your organization’s existing online registration process on our mobile application, we can continue to accept new donors AND new participants on the day of your event. And what is particularly important for day-of individuals is the way we are able to interact immediately after a new donation is received or new registration is completed. With our mobile platform, your organization will be able to automatically send a text message or an email (or both):

  • Thanking the donor or new registrant for their interest in your organization
  • Attaching donation or registration receipts
  • Providing discount codes for registering early for next year’s event
  • Linking the individual directly to relevant web pages
  • Getting participants to “take action” by signing a petition or sending an email to their legislator

Why a Donor Follow-Up Protocol Is so Important

Build a stronger relationship with a greater donor lifetime value! By jump-starting the conversation and building ties with a donor instantly after their interaction, we see an increase in recurring participants, numbers of donors, and the amount of donations year-over-year.

And because everything we collect through our mobile platform can be seamlessly added to your database of record, if someone is interested in your organization, but unable to donate or participate that day it’s not a problem – you’ll be able to access their info and get them enrolled in any online marketing programs you are running.

Want to know what convinces your participants to attend in the first place? We can determine what motivates your donors with our advanced survey branching options available during registration. By using the specific information collected on our application, you’ll be able to market better and more efficiently.


If you would like to learn how we can support your event, or if you’d like to see a demo please contact us.

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