Your credit score is a powerful tool. When FICO first introduced the credit score in 1989, it was to help lenders determine the likelihood that you'd fall behind on payments in the next 24 months. FICO used a number of criteria to determine that some criteria weighed more heavily on your score than others.
The survey found that the average nonprofit donor retention rate is only 41 percent, compared to a customer retention rate of 94 percent for businesses. The average new donor retention rate is only 27 percent.
Once you do, it suggests a whole new way of thinking about what to give and a couple of ways to donate higher amounts more easily. Americans gave away 2.2 percent of their personal disposable income to nonprofit groups of various sorts in 2008, according to Giving USA, an annual report on philanthropy. Of the $229 billion that individuals donated that year, about half went to religious institutions.