The Association Blog

Bottom line: Just because they haven’t recently made a donation through direct mail doesn’t mean they haven’t been supportive of your organization

In a recent episode of The Intake podcast, Kendall Paul, CEO of the Vanderburgh Humane Society, and TrueSense Marketing’s Kristin Serrano, discussed the fundraising strategies they’ve been collaborating on since 2022. And the results are worth shouting out about: VHS reactivated almost 12 percent more donors in fiscal years 2023 and 24 than they did in fiscal years 2021 and 22. 

Read on for Paul’s high-level insights on how the Indiana agency achieved such impressive year-over-year gains.

Free your mind

The first step to success is a shift in thinking. “It’s crucial to recognize,” says Paul, “that just because someone hasn’t made a donation through direct mail doesn’t mean that person still hasn’t been supportive.” Although VHS classifies a “lapsed donor” as one who has not given in 13-24 months—and “deeply lapsed” as 25+ months—they may be your best advocates. “We don’t know if they’ve shared all our social media posts because we don’t have time to drill down that far,” says Paul. “We don’t know if they stopped by our fundraiser and bought some stuff at our booth, or if they regularly talk to people in the community about us.”

Thinking about it this way, these folks certainly wouldn’t consider themselves disengaged. “And so if you act like they haven’t been supporting you,” cautions Paul, “then they are going to get offended. Remember, they’re taking care of that animal they’ve had for the last six years, they’re spreading the word on where their pet came from, they’re supporting events, and they’re doing things that may be hidden to us in our database. But they’re still there. And we need to treat them as such.”

Add them to the mix

One strategic shift that VHS made from a creative perspective involved their messaging for lapsed donors. “We include the both the lapsed and the deeply lapsed donors in our renewal and cultivation campaign, so that we are speaking to them like we know them,” shares Paul. Yup, they all received the same message, even though in some cases it had been a while since they made a gift. Adds Paul, “Remember, some don’t think of themselves as lapsed when it’s only been 12 to even 24 months since they last gave.”

Thank profusely and promptly

The VHS team was delighted and surprised whenever a lapsed gift came in. “We’d think, ‘Oh my gosh, this person hasn’t given in three years,’” recalls Paul. “They got a thank you note immediately. Yes, we give thank you notes to everybody, but they immediately got a handwritten personal note stating how appreciative we are that they have been involved with us for all of these years.” Paul notes how important it is to reiterate that stance that they’ve been a long-term supporter—lapsed donor or not.

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