Think about this: for every 100 donors who give to your organization this year, only about 40 will return next year. And of the 60% of donors that walk away, just 12% will eventually be reactivated. That represents significant lost revenue, but it also spotlights an opportunity for your organization to develop robust reactivation strategies.
The key is to catch donors before they lapse. But you’d need a crystal ball to know when someone is about to lapse, right? Not necessarily.
A tool such as GivingDNA offers fundraising analytics, data visualization, and wealth screening capabilities that can help you predict changes in your donor file. In fact, we love uncovering new ways you can use the all-in-one tool to drive more successful fundraising efforts. Today, we’re digging into how GivingDNA can support three essential strategies for reactivating donors.
What Makes GivingDNA Unique
There are dozens and dozens of wealth screening tools available today. But what takes GivingDNA a step beyond — and makes it unique — is the rich data it provides.
GivingDNA blends your internal data with insights from external, third-party data that enable you to better visualize your constituents outside the relationship you have with them. For instance, you can see your donors’ preferences for communication channels, such as email, phone, or direct mail. With this info in hand, you can be confident that you’re targeting them on the channel that they’re most likely to respond to. This can increase both their giving and their giving frequency.
GivingDNA also has built-in opportunity alerts, one of which will tell you which donors are about to lapse. This enables you to reach out to donors before they leave you, which is key: reactivating a lapsed donor isn’t easy.
These valuable alerts are also convenient — they come directly to you via email. You can then further refine your list with the insights in GivingDNA — like those communication preferences — so you know how and where to best reach lapsing donors.
With the wide variety of insights in GivingDNA, your fundraisers can better understand who your donors are. This enables you to create personalized messages that will increase the chances that they re-engage and reactivate.
How These Strategies Get You Ahead of the Fundraising Game
The opportunity alerts for lapsing donors are a true time-saver. Again, you get an actionable list delivered straight to your inbox that ensures no donors slip through the cracks. The alert updates each month, so it’s easy to build this into your workflow. In fact, clients tell us repeatedly how simple this feature is to use.
You’ll also save money by retaining existing donors. For every $1 given, it only costs about $0.20 to retain a donor. By contrast, the cost to acquire a new donor can be 50–100% more than the dollars they’ll give. Plus, when you know a donor’s communication preferences, you can be more efficient and effective with your outreach.
But more than saving money, reactivating donors through these GivingDNA strategies will help you retain money. The platform actually tells you what the potential revenue loss will be if the list of donors does in fact lapse. So, you know exactly what you’re at risk of losing.
Armed with this insight, you can clearly see the return on investment (ROI) on reactivating these donors. This enables you to make data-driven decisions on what your next steps should be.
3 Effective Strategies for Reactivating Donors With GivingDNA
Donors lapse for a variety of reasons. It could be as simple as an expired payment method or as sensitive as them not feeling appreciated for their gift. Or maybe they’ve simply moved on from your cause.
Regardless of why they might lapse, there are three steps you can take to bring them back into the fold. And the best part is that GivingDNA supports each one.
1. Track Key Metrics
By now, you know how valuable data is — it should drive everything from donor segmentation to the copy in your appeal letters. After all, you wouldn’t talk to a lapsed donor in the same way that you’d talk to a new donor. GivingDNA can distill everything you’re tracking into helpful insights.
In terms of reactivation, there are a few key metrics you should watch closely:
- Donor Health: This tells you how donor giving has changed over a set period. Who has downgraded or upgraded? Who’s giving at the same level? Who have you lost? You can then send each segment the appropriate message to restore or strengthen your relationship.
- Retention Rate: Again, retention rates tend to hover around 40%. Knowing how many donors you’re losing — and whether that number is changing year-over-year — can direct where you need to focus your efforts.
- Coverage Ratio: This tells you whether you’re bringing in enough new donors or reactivating enough lapsed donors to make up for the donors you’ve lost. To calculate this, add the number of new donors and reactivated donors, then divide the total by the number of lapsed donors. If your coverage ratio is above 100%, that means your active donor file is growing. If it’s below 100%, then the file is shrinking.
- Performance of Reactivation by Channel: What channel is proving the most effective at re-engaging and reactivating lapsed donors? It’s important to understand where donors are being reached.
2. Be Proactive
Your donor file is constantly shrinking. In fact, we’re seeing fewer donors giving to nonprofits each year, so it’s crucial to find ways to reduce your churn rate.
This is where those opportunity alerts are especially helpful. Don’t wait until a donor has lapsed to reach out because, at that point, it may be too late. Once you get the list of lapsing donors, use GivingDNA to see what communication channels they prefer. Then, prep your outreach.
Simply tell GivingDNA your parameters — say, the number of months someone has gone without making a gift. Then, each month, the platform will deliver a list of donors who are set to lapse so you can reach out to them. This is an easy and effective strategy that prevents donors from lapsing and increases the likelihood that they’ll renew.
3. Personalize Your Outreach
Don’t worry, this doesn’t mean that everyone gets their own specific message. Rather, set up key tracks based on what you know certain groups of donors care about. Which of your programs resonate most with older donors, recurring donors, new donors, etc.?
To pinpoint this, you can look at your list of nearly lapsed donors, then use GivingDNA to determine what made them start supporting your cause in the first place. You can also see what other areas are important to them. For instance, someone who values education might be interested in the work you’re doing to support school-age children.
The key is to remember that everyone is different and will respond to different things. The more you know about them, the more you’re able to personalize your messaging. This makes donors more likely to reactivate.
Simplify Your Fundraising With GivingDNA
Don’t just let lapsed donors walk away. Instead, use the tools in GivingDNA to bolster your reactivation strategies. By tracking key metrics, being proactive, and personalizing your messaging, you can inspire more donors to continue supporting your mission.
The bottom line is that GivingDNA makes fundraising easier. When you log in, the platform serves up dozens of opportunity alerts related to reactivation, acquisition, upgrading, and more. Paired with the platform’s data analytics and insights, you’ll see what strategies and moves are worth your time, effort, and investment.
GivingDNA is the next generation of wealth intelligence + data analytics that uniquely combines your internal data with external insights to inform all areas of your fundraising strategy, from annual fund segmentation to mid/major gift prospecting and portfolio optimization. Powered by Pursuant’s + Allegiance Group’s decades of fundraising expertise, fundraisers rely on GivingDNA for real-time data visualization to guide insights and strategy across their entire organization. Visit GivingDNA to learn more and book a demo.
