Lapsed Donors

Five fundraising professionals offered ideas for success and growth for this year and beyond to wrap up day 1 of the DMA Nonprofit Federation's 2011 Washington Nonprofit Conference.

Five fundraising professionals offered ideas for success and growth for this year and beyond to wrap up day 1 of the DMA Nonprofit Federation's 2011 Washington Nonprofit Conference.

Given that fundraising efforts incur a cost, resources are better allocated to those donors who are dormant rather donors who have truly lapsed. The key is to distinguish between these two types of donors based on the information available to the organization.

At the Direct Marketing Fundraisers Association Year-End Luncheon, veteran fundraising expert Roger Craver, founder of DonorTrends and editor of The Agitator, shared five fundraising trends to get on top of in 2011.

Analyzing trends in the fundraising world is important on many levels. It lets you know what's happening in the industry, what that may mean for the future and how it compares to the past. Studying trends also lets you know where you stand compared to other organizations, allowing you to pinpoint what your organization is doing well and what it needs to work on.

In order to reactivate lapsed donors, you must first know who your lapsed donors are, how long they have been gone and why they left. Then use analytics and reactivation models to get the best lapsed donors back.

C-level executives Angel Aloma, Danny McGregor and Atul Tandon, along with moderator Tom Harrison, discussed the biggest issues concerning fundraisers at the DMA Nonprofit Federation New York Nonprofit Conference.

During their presentation, “30 Ideas in 60 Minutes: Your Hour of Creative Power," at the Association of Fundraising Professionals Fund Raising Day in New York held last Friday, Jeff Brooks, creative director at TrueSense Marketing; Moira Kavanagh Crosby, president of MKDM; and Dennis Lonergan, president of Eidolon Communications, provided direct-response and online fundraising strategies to make your fundraising solicitations stand out from the crowd. Here, Crosby outlines her 10 strategies from the session.

What if there were no new donors? That was the first question nonprofit veteran Roger Craver asked in his presentation, “Where It’s At! A 12-Step Program to Get You to Tomorrow,” at the first ever FundRaising Success Virtual Conference & Expo held last Thursday (and available on-demand until Aug. 24). Craver, founder of DonorTrends and editor of TheAgitator.net, said that is the reality today — with declining acquisition rates, rising acquisition costs, declining retention rates and declining income playing factors.

Fundraising professionals across the board agree that organizations have to 1) build their donor files with an eye toward stemming attrition; and 2) have a specific plan of action for winning back those donors who do fall off.

This special report from FundRaising Success offers specific tips for doing just that:

• Acquiring invested, responsive donors who are less likely to lapse
• Keeping your active donors engaged, active and interested
• Winning back donors who lapse and then making the most of those renewed relationships