  Online crowdfunding platforms like DonorsChoose.org and Kickstarter allow
specific projects to get funded by targeted contributions from a large number
of people. Critical for the success of crowdfunding communities is recruitment
and continued engagement of donors. With donor attrition rates above 70%, a
significant challenge for online crowdfunding platforms as well as traditional
offline non-profit organizations is the problem of donor retention.
  We present a large-scale study of millions of donors and donations on
DonorsChoose.org, a crowdfunding platform for education projects. Studying an
online crowdfunding platform allows for an unprecedented detailed view of how
people direct their donations. We explore various factors impacting donor
retention which allows us to identify different groups of donors and quantify
their propensity to return for subsequent donations. We find that donors are
more likely to return if they had a positive interaction with the receiver of
the donation. We also show that this includes appropriate and timely
recognition of their support as well as detailed communication of their impact.
Finally, we discuss how our findings could inform steps to improve donor
retention in crowdfunding communities and non-profit organizations.

Computers and Society;Social and Information Networks