Reactivating Lost Donors

As we finish this series on the state of giving to churches, we wanted to provide you with insights on how to address the decline in giving. The following, used by permission, shows how to re-engage those lost donors.

Only 32% of your lapsed donors realize they have not given to your ministry in the past 12 months! This is a significant issue that needs immediate attention. A new study, Lapsed Ministry Donor Research Report by Greymatter Research & Consulting, revealed this amazing statistic. BBS & Associates partnered with Grey Matter Research “to survey donors from 28 ministries who had not given within the past 12 months but who had given within the past 13 to 36 months (and nearly 95% of them had given in the last 13 to 24 months).^1. This means a potential 68% of your lapsed donors are unaware of the fact that they have stopped giving to your ministry. 19% of the survey respondents considered themselves active donors to the organization. The records showed differently. What does it take to turn a lapsed donor into an active donor?

Every church, ministry, and non-profit has donors who were once active but have lapsed in their giving for whatever reason. The question is, how do you turn those now-lapsed donors back into consistent donors?

Before I share how to turn lapsed donors into active donors, consider these further findings from the Lapsed Donor Study. Of the respondents to the survey,

• 18% don’t even recall giving in the first place. Nearly half of these respondents were first-time givers only.
• 24% believe they have supported the ministry in the last 12 months; they do not realize how long it’s been since they’ve given.
• 3% realize they have paused their giving to the ministry but still consider themselves active donors.
• 5% say their lack of giving isn’t really a pause or stoppage – they were never regular supporters anyway (gave once a year, gave when they wanted a product, gave during an emergency, only gave once, etc.).
• 6% paused their giving because they see other organizations or causes as a higher priority.
• 5% paused their giving to the ministry because of financial challenges, even though they continued to support others (really, meaning this ministry simply was not a priority for them).
• 7% have some other situation, or their situation is unknown.

How many of your lapsed donors would identify with the above? While knowing exactly why donors have lapsed might be difficult to find out, you should be able to pull together a list of those in your church whose giving has lapsed. We provide our church partners with that ability. To find out more, check out this post: https://www.onlinegiving.org/support/the-importance-of-knowing-your-giving-metrics.

Back to the key question: How do you turn a lapsed donor back into an active donor?

One simple finding from the study was the importance of connection and engagement. It has been my experience as a stewardship consultant that the less connected and engaged a donor is, the less they will give, and apparently, according to this study, the less they might know how “less” they give! This quote from the study summed it up well…

“What’s more likely to be missing is a real sense of connection with the organization. Does your ministry demonstrate how their gifts make a difference? Show you care about donors’ needs? Inform donors how their money is being spent? Provide ways they can support you other than with money? Timely gift receipts, being thanked appropriately, stewardship, ethical business practices – lapsed donors are largely satisfied with these areas. It’s the connection that’s lacking. There is an enormous difference between satisfaction and connection.”

At OnlineGiving.org, we understand the importance of connection and engagement. Our platform and tools allow our church partners to communicate, connect, and engage with donors 24/7. With our system, you can easily segment your donor list to target lapsed donors with positive messages about what your church is accomplishing for the Kingdom.

Here is a great post that shares a few ways we help you connect and engage with donors: https://www.onlinegiving.org/support/show-and-tell-to-increase-generosity

Let me encourage one final easy action you can take that will turn lapsed donors into active donors.

Help them connect the dots with a weekly offering moment. It might sound old school but don’t give up on the offering time. Every church, whether they pass a plate or not, should use a minute or two to make giving a meaningful and worshipful experience. Making giving meaningful and worshipful can re-engage lapsed donors. Here is a post on how to make your offering time effective: https://www.onlinegiving.org/support/bring-back-the-offering

Let me conclude with one final piece of advice: Don’t wait too long to work to turn lapsed donors into active donors. The Lapsed Donor report stated, “34% say it is extremely likely they will give again during 2024.” If you want to re-engage them, start telling the story of the life change your church is seeing and ask them to partner with your church in changing the world through their giving. If you don’t work now to re-engage your lapsed donors, they will soon be lost forever.

Contact us today at support@onlinegiving.org or (615) 206-4000, and we will give you a free demonstration of how our platform and tools can help you re-engage your lapsed donors.

The previous post can be found at: https://www.onlinegiving.org/support/reactivating-lapsed-donors