Three Proven Strategies to Reach Lapsed Donors

In the fundraising industry it seems there are fewer and fewer techniques, formats, etc., that seem genuinely new. As a result, it's become harder and harder to acquire new donors. And, even more challenging to keep them active. That's why it's become so important to employ a focused strategy to retain donors as they might lapse.

Here are three specific donor retention strategies worth testing:

1. Mail them the exact same package that motivated their first response to join or support the organization. Since they've already demonstrated a willingness to respond to that creative once, a remail of the same recruitment package can be the most effective way to reach someone who has not given in a long period of time.
2. Review your lapsed donor file to determine if there are patterns you can find that allow you to segment them. Perhaps some donors only respond to premium appeals, others only to oversized mailings, still others respond only at specific times of the year. Whatever the case may be, the overriding theme should be to give them more of what they already like.
3. Send a series of membership statement/invoice appeals until you would be paying more to reactive them then what you're willing to pay to acquire a new donor. Oftentimes, mailers treat donors like house file names and stop mailing this group as soon as they are no longer profitable. Instead, try thinking about them as a prospect that you already know a great deal more about: giving history, age, phone number, whatever additional data you may have collected. Wouldn't you prefer to have a multi-donor who you've had an existing relationship with rather than a new name that may have just heard about your organization for the first time?

As solo direct mail efforts, each of these strategies has proven time after time to be effective. Combined with other channels like telemarketing or email, results can be even more dramatic.