7 Reasons Donors Never Give a Second Gift

by George Konetes | Aug 29, 2025 | Fundraising

Every organization wants more new donors, and with good strategy and hard work, you can get them. But your goal is almost never to get a one-time gift; it is to establish a long-term relationship with the donor that results in years of support for your cause. Getting a second gift is very important. After all, no third or fourth gifts happen without a second. However, that second gift can be challenging to get.

You will never be able to solve for all the things hindering every second gift, but you can certainly fix some and proactively work to address others. Here are seven of the most common reasons donors never give a second gift.

They never heard from you again. Regular and consistent communication is key to building a long-term relationship and asking for a second gift. But often, organizations do not communicate properly, or technical issues keep new donors from hearing from you. Fix this, and you will fix a big part of your conversion problem.
You never asked. Too often, organizations simply inform new donors—they educate and share stories but avoid making another appeal for fear of “scaring them away.” While educating is important and the desire not to overwhelm is valid, there must also be clear and direct opportunities to give again. If you wait six months before making another ask, donors may assume their support is not really needed and shift their giving elsewhere. Remember, they gave because they care about the cause—not just to receive a newsletter.
You were too slow. The moment of the first gift is the moment a donor was the most engaged with your organization they have ever been. Every moment that passes afterwards, their engagement level drops off. You need to begin to nurture the relationship immediately. Start talking to them right away, and you will have much better conversion rates.
They feel overwhelmed. You can overcommunicate; daily emails and texts may indeed drive many donors away. Some may want that level of communication, but make sure they knowingly opt into it, or else they may be opting out from you.
They lose trust in your organization. Sometimes you can fix this; sometimes it is not all in your control. Bad processes, bad customer service, inaccurate statistics, and many more errors that erode trust can be prevented. Bad media attention, however, is more difficult to address in the moment. Do all that you can to avoid doing or saying things that may cause donors to lose faith. And when you miss it, go over and above to make it right.
They gave to a crisis, not to you. If a natural disaster strikes the area you serve, you may find a flood of donations coming in. However, many of those donors are giving to the event, the region, or the people impacted. You just so happen to be the convenient channel they used for an impulse gift. This is not easy to overcome, but to gain some ground, you need to recognize when this is occurring and shift your communications to try to build a relationship that goes beyond the crisis at hand.
The chemistry wasn’t there. Once they get to know you better, it is possible that donors decide this relationship is not a good fit. That is unavoidable to some extent, and a natural process of relationships. However, what you can do is make sure they see the best of you early on and hear from your heart. If their heart is very different from yours, that is ok if they walk away. But you never want to lose someone because they did not clearly understand what you are all about.

If you proactively work to address these seven areas, you will see a lot more donors giving a second, and then a third and fourth gift. Do you need some help doing that? We would be happy to chat. Click here or call us today at 724-733-1200!