Don’t give up on your lapsed donors. With the right strategy, you can bring them back into the fold — and it’s easier than trying to win new ones.

By Cary Castle

Lapsed-donor examples
Joan Smyth, vice president of direct marketing at Covenant House in New York, is doing what she calls “anniversary telefundraising.”

“We identify one-gift donors and the time of year they made their gift,” she explains. “Then about two to three weeks before the anniversary of that gift, we do a pre-call to let them know the mailing is coming. We’ve seen a small but significant increase in telefundraising pledge rate and gift size.