The Five Warning Signs of Direct-mail Fundraising Trouble

2. Lapsed program cost-per-donor-acquired is higher than some acquisition. Making direct-mail strategy decisions based on the ROI performance of your entire lapsed program can lead to the rendering of some "false positives." Instead, try stratifying results by year of last gift, lifetime value and/or gift patterns before lapsing. The keys are identifying at what point the cost-per-dollar-raised recapturing of a lapsed donor exceeds that of acquiring a new one -- and adjusting strategies to react. By qualifying the lapsed file -- eliminating high-expense/low-return cells -- you'll be able to maximize your allocation of resources. Money saved can be used to improve other portions of the program. Or it can, on its own, improve your net return.