You still have time to catch them... and it's easier to do it while they are still in sight, than later when they are totally gone. That's lapsed donors I'm talking about.
One of the most important groups to send letters to are Lapsed Donors - those who have given in the past, but not in the most recent 9-24 months. It’s much easier, and less expensive, to win a donor back than to find a new one.
Lapsed donors have indicated that they are interested enough in your organization to donate at least once. This makes them highly qualified as potential future donors. For some reason they have not felt the incentive to donate again recently. That may be for reasons beyond your control, but it might also be because you haven't asked.
CrossTalk TV and Radio is one organization who has significantly improved their follow-up of donors and thus started a positive growth trend in their organization.
The Boys & Girls Club of Lawrence is another organzation who specifically used the Lapsed Donor features in FundRaiser Select to increase donations. "We were able to pull up our lapsed donors [with the lapsed donor report]. We got letters out to them and we’ve had a high percentage of response... We had a high response rate from people who haven’t given in 4 -5 years. Now we definitely have them back. We’re sending them newsletters and invitations to things. They said, Oh, I’m glad you contacted me! We thought you had forgotten about us, " says Erika Zimmerman, director of development.
This has been one factor that has allowed the Boys & Girls Club to bring in a steady stream of donations even with harder fundraising conditions. "We are facing some challenges with state budget cuts and local budget cuts. The lapsed donor report has helped. Compared to last year, we are, surprisingly, about even. We were expecting a low year, but we are going to break even," says Erika.