A lapsed donor is one who has lapsed from giving at least a calendar year.  They are the most significant donors to focus your efforts on re-engaging since they have already demonstrated an interest in your organisation.

There are several ways to re-engage these lapsed donors.  Here are some suggestions that you can implement within your organisation.

1. Identify those donors who gave last year and yet have to donate this year.  Those are your lapsed donors.
2. Add up the total giving from these lapsed donors.  Surely after seeing this number, you will want to spend some time trying to recapture them.
3. Segment out the major donors from this list.  A major donor giving level will vary from organisation to organisation i.e. $250, $500, $1,000, or even more.
4. Share this list with your Development Committee of the Board and discuss the plan of action.
5. Have Board members identify those major donors that they can personally call on.
6. Intend to call on these donors either through personal visits or telephone to secure a gift commitment.
7. Plan to send a specialized segmented direct mail letter to all others not identified as major donors.

You could also use this same strategy for each appeal that you send out to be proactively trying to prevent lapsing from occurring in the first place.

For more a strategy on how to do this, visit this link here.  And, for a sample copy of a lapsing donor direct mail appeal letter, email me here.

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