Lapsed Donors
Who appears
Section titled “Who appears”Donors with giving history whose giving has stopped. The report shows the last gift date and amount, so you can see how long it’s been and what you’ve lost.
Why this is the highest-value list you have
Section titled “Why this is the highest-value list you have”A lapsed donor already decided to support you once. They know your work, they believed in it, and something changed — often something as mundane as an expired card or an email they didn’t see.
Recovering a lapsed donor is materially easier than finding a new one, and almost nobody does the work.
What to do
Section titled “What to do”Go in order of size, but go with curiosity rather than an ask.
Common reasons, all recoverable:
- A card expired and the recurring gift silently failed. They think they’re still giving.
- They changed email address and stopped hearing from you.
- A life change — a job, a move, a new baby — and it fell off the list.
- They never heard what their giving did. See Unthanked Donors.
And some that aren’t:
- They’ve moved their giving elsewhere.
- Their circumstances changed permanently.
Both are worth knowing rather than guessing at.
Keeping statuses honest
Section titled “Keeping statuses honest”When you’ve confirmed someone has genuinely stopped, set their status to Lapsed Donor. That takes them out of your active donor reporting without erasing that they were a donor.
If a lapsed donor comes back, set them to Donor again and record a pledge.
Cadence
Section titled “Cadence”Quarterly. This isn’t urgent work, but it’s the work most likely to be permanently postponed — so put it in the calendar, or make it a repeating task.