How to Reach Lapsed Donors

Pull the right data

First, you’ll want to set your own criteria for what constitutes a “lapsed donor.” For some organizations, one full year without giving is enough to consider a donor as lapsed. For others, or for donors who like to give a larger gift every few years, donors may not be considered lapsed until at least five years have passed without a gift. 

There’s a sweet spot for contacting lapsed donors, and you’ll want to figure yours out before committing to an outreach plan. Do you see donors on your list who gave once fifteen years ago in memory of a loved one, and haven’t been engaged at all since? Before you go out of your way to call them, try connecting with them through a newsletter or other mass communication first. On the other hand, donors who haven’t given in a year or two, but otherwise open your emails or attend your events are perfect candidates for personalized outreach. 

Try separating your lapsed donors list into four categories to help prioritize your outreach: 

• Recently lapsed (1-5 years without giving, for example) and still engaged
• Recently lapsed and not engaged
• Distantly lapsed (5+ years without giving, for example) and still engaged
• Distantly lapsed and not engaged

Want to see a projection of your donors’ lifetime giving? Use the Donor Lifetime Value metric! Multiplying your average gift amount by your average donor lifespan will show you what can happen if you increase your donor retention rate or if your average gift size changes.

Create an outreach plan 

One of the best ways to learn why your lapsed donors stopped giving is simply to ask them. This handy survey can help you reconnect with lapsed donors and learn more about the circumstances surrounding their giving (or lack thereof). 

While you can’t control whether or not your supporters have room in their budgets for giving, you can control things like thanking donors for their gifts or the number of solicitations you send each year. Take heed of any patterns that emerge in your lapsed donor survey results to better engage with your unique audience. From here, you can segment your outreach plan based on how engaged your lapsed donors are and how long it’s been since their last gift. 

Higher priority donors: offer a personal connection

For some lapsed donors, your e-newsletters and appeal letters might be getting lost in cluttered inboxes. Reaching out to them directly with a phone call or handwritten note will capture their attention and stand out from the noise. 

Concentrate your efforts on the newly lapsed donors with the highest total giving, who are among the most likely to either renew their gift, or offer constructive feedback informed by more recent experiences. 

Try leading with an easy in: do you have program updates, exciting news, or an upcoming event to share? Kick off your phone call or note with an invitation to reconnect, and it’s likely your lapsed donors will remember how good it felt to support your mission the last time they gave.

Lower priority donors: offer an easy path back

For donors who stopped giving five or more years ago or who have lower total giving volumes, you can try lower-stakes ways of connecting with them first to save time and resources. Are they subscribed to your email lists? Could you invite them to follow you on social media? 

Many donors prefer to give when their friends and family ask as part of a crowdfunding campaign. When you encourage your volunteers and other supporters to start their own fundraisers, you may find your lapsed donors come back on their own! 

Gently re-introducing distantly lapsed donors to your mission can inspire them to give again when they’re ready, without making them feel put on the spot. It also protects your time, ensuring that you’re dedicating resources to personalized outreach for donors who are most likely to respond positively.