LAPSED IN TRANSLATION

Two things irritate me more than anything as a donor. First, fail to thank me promptly. Second, imply, even in gentle terms, that my continued support is overdue or inactive when in my mind it is not.

 

As a fundraising professional, like most, I am diligent about ensuring the former. There is no excuse, ever, for a donor not to be thanked promptly and sincerely.

But I am struck how quickly the fundraising industry as a whole is guilty of the latter.

Perhaps this is because it is common, within the discipline of list segmentation, to label donors who have not given in a prescribed period as “lapsed”. For some non-profits, that may be as little as 13 months.

 

And that’s OK as a segmentation descriptor, as long as you don’t start speaking to the donors in that segment as if you consider them such.

 

The fact is, many donors think in terms of annual giving. They budget yearly gifts to select charities. And that means calendar years, not clusters of 12 consecutive months. Furthermore, they are not likely tied to a pre-determined time of the year to give, especially in a turbulent financial environment.

 

So, if Aunt Ramona gave in January 2006, March 2007, and June 2008, and not yet in 2009 (although she will as soon as she gets her tax refund), in her mind she is still giving annually. Once a year, for the last 4 years. Her charity, on the other hand, might very well describe her as lapsed in January 2007, again in March 2008 and again in June 2009.

 

It’s certainly one thing to point out to a donor that ”we haven’t heard from you” and “we want you back” if it has been several years since the last gift. But use that language on donors (like me and Aunt Ramona) who think they are regular annual givers, and you risk weakening rather than cultivating donor relationships.

 

-John Thompson

Comments

[John Thompson]

Monthly donors are another story altogether, in my opinion, in that they pledged a commitment to sustained monthly giving. Your language sounds appropriate, and a simple listing of the missed months seems a measured way to remind them of their commitment without fear of antagonizing them. Of course, allowing them an "out" by acknowledging that their gift may have crossed in the mail can further take the sting out of the reminder. --JT

[Andrea]

what kind of language is appropriate? for our monthly donors who've consecutively missed 2 or more months, "We've missed your support during the months of..." and then we list the months the MoDo missed giving.

What are your thoughts on listing the months they missed? We do this as opposed to billing statement.