How H.O.P.E., Inc. Increased Donor Retention by 13 Points with Nonprofit Automation
H.O.P.E., Inc.’s partnership with Nonprofit Automation Agency led to 2X higher open rates, 3.8% click rate, and best of all 48% donor retention.
Manual donor engagement was costing H.O.P.E., Inc. time it didn’t have
When we first stepped into H.O.P.E. Inc.’s systems, nearly everything depended on someone remembering to do it.
Every thank-you email, first-time donor message, and alumni touchpoint required team bandwidth the organization didn’t always have.
Key challenges:
A patchwork of platforms that didn't communicate with each other
Manual processes that relied on individual memory and follow through
An outdated email marketing platform limiting reach and performance
What H.O.P.E. Inc. needed was a tech stack that could finally keep up with the team they already had.
“Working with Nonprofit Automation helped prepare us for the growth we’re working for.”
— Kenita Smith, Founder + CEO, H.O.P.E., Inc.
The Solution: Automated donor workflows that scale, even when you’re at capacity
Our goal: build an intentional, personal, and repeatable donor experience. A process that worked even when the team was stretched thin.
Step 1: Connect the Systems
We migrated H.O.P.E. Inc. from Benchmark to Kit and integrated Bloomerang, Fundraise Up, LettrLab, and Outlook into a unified system.
This eliminated hours of administrative work each week and created a single, reliable flow of donor data across the organization.
Step 2: Build Repeatable Donor Journeys
Email Open Rate
25% ▧▧▧▧▧▧▧
49%▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩
Click Rate
1.3% ▧▧▧
3.8% ▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩
What once required mental bandwidth, spreadsheets, and duplicate effort now triggers automatically:
New Donors: Each gift launches a personalized draft email in Outlook—timely, warm, and ready to send.
Monthly Donors: A consistent stewardship sequence nurtures recurring givers automatically, month after month.
Lapsed Donors: A re-engagement journey reintroduces them and increases the likelihood of returning gifts.
Alumni + Program Participants: A re-engagement series launched with a 60% open rate.
“These workflows made everything so much easier—even my admin says it’s easier.”
— Kenita Smith, Founder + CEO, H.O.P.E, Inc.
Results: Cleaner Data, Higher Retention, and a System That Finally Supports the Team
Over 10 months, H.O.P.E. Inc. moved from reactive donor engagement to a strong, stable, automated foundation.
The systems now support:
Higher donor retention—up 13 points
Cleaner, more reliable donor data
More consistent donor experiences across every touchpoint
Significantly less manual work for staff and leadership
A scalable infrastructure built for long-term growth
Beyond the metrics, H.O.P.E. Inc. now has a foundation for nurturing donor relationships at scale, with ease, and with intention.
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