Date of Conferral

4-15-2025

Date of Award

April 2025

Degree

Doctor of Business Administration (D.B.A.)

School

Business Administration

Advisor

Jorge Gaytan

Abstract

First-time donor retention remains a significant concern for nonprofit organizations, especially from rural nonprofit business leaders striving to maintain financial sustainability. These leaders care about identifying effective marketing strategies to retain first-time donors, as low retention threatens both their funding stability and their capacity to serve their communities. Grounded in single- and double-loop learning theory, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore marketing strategies rural nonprofit business leaders use to retain first-time donors to achieve financial sustainability. The participants included four different charitable nonprofit business leaders in South Georgia and South Carolina with successful experiences in using such strategies. Data were collected from semistructured interviews and organizational documents. Three themes emerged as a result of data analysis: (a) using different types of marketing communication, (b) marketing strategy outcomes, and (c) identifying marketing barriers. A key recommendation is for rural nonprofit business leaders to overcome customer trust issues by using examples of transparent communication to build credibility. The implications for positive social change include the potential for rural nonprofit business leaders to discover effective marketing strategies to retain first-time donors to increase their nonprofit organizations’ longevity, service, employment, and benefits provided to communities.

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