Do you have a lapsed donors strategy? Do you reach out to your donors if they haven’t made a gift to your work in the last 12 months? If you don’t have a lapsed donors strategy, I hope this story motivates you to create and implement one.
A long-time friend and donor to Western Seminary had stopped giving to the school. As part of Western’s lapsed donor strategy she received a letter from the President inviting her to make another gift to the students of Western. Her initial response was that she was giving to other organizations and Western no longer was part of her giving plan.
The President encouraged his Advancement Director to reach out to learn more about this donor and why she had stopped giving. After a friendly and lengthy personal visit with the donor, the Advancement Director was happy to report a monthly pledge had been committed.
If Western hadn’t sent the lapsed donor letter to the donor, had a President that cared enough to listen and respond, and an Advancement Director who wasn’t willing to reach out to a lower level donor, Western would have lost this donor for good. Now they have a revived relationship, more money to support their students and a renewed sense of mission and purpose.
All it took was one letter to start this amazing turnaround.