Do You Know the 4 Early Warning Signs of Donor Withdrawal?

Imagine this scenario: Your nonprofit has a donor who gives regularly and is extremely passionate about your mission. This donor invites friends to your fundraising events, contributes a major gift, and posts appeals for your organization on social media. In short, they are a dream donor.

However, one day, you suddenly realize you haven’t heard from this donor in six months and haven’t received a gift from them in almost a year. Upon further exploration, you find that this donor no longer shares their support for your nonprofit on social media. You decide to give them a call but never receive a call back, and just like that, your once dream donor has become a lapsed donor.

It’s painful but true; even the best donors occasionally withdraw from organizations they support. The excitement wears off, and so does their involvement with your nonprofit. But what if there was a way you could nip this disinterest in the bud before it blossomed into boredom and donor fatigue? 

In this guide, we’ll start by exploring the four early warning signs that the excitement is wearing off and your donor is getting ready to withdraw. Then, we’ll dive into strategies for re-engaging donors at risk of lapsing before they leave for good.

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Common Warning Signs of Donor Withdrawal

1. Donor Meetings and Calls Get Shorter

Shorter meetings and calls are a key warning sign that your donor is growing disinterested in your organization. This may look like:

• Meetings with this donor that used to last an hour have dwindled to twenty minutes.
• Marathon phone calls in which this donor excitedly asked about your work are now perfunctory ten-minute “check-in” calls.
• The donor rushes out of meetings or off calls.
• The donor sounds detached over the phone or barely contributes during meetings.

No matter the scenario, it’s clear this donor is still taking your calls and meeting with you out of a sense of obligation, but their heart is no longer in it.

2. The Donor Stops Engaging with Your Content

If a donor who normally reposts or likes everything you post on social media stops doing so, or a supporter who often replies to your updates stops, you may have a problem. Likewise, if you have a donor who used to frequently forward your email newsletters to friends and colleagues but no longer does so, it’s a warning sign.

Donors who stop engaging with your content are showing you that they are becoming bored or disinterested in your communications and work. In some cases, you may be able to reignite some of this engagement by refreshing your marketing strategy and personalizing your outreach. On the other hand, some donors may no longer feel compelled to support your cause, no matter what your content looks like.

3. The Donor Fails to Show Up for Events

If you have a donor who used to attend your fundraising events but starts registering for events and not coming, it’s a major clue that they’re losing interest.

This donor may still be replying “yes” to your events out of politeness, but when the day of the event rolls around, their motivation to attend just isn’t there. Soon, this donor will probably stop registering for your events entirely.

4. The Donor Stops Giving Regular Gifts

You may have a donor who has been slowly pulling away but still makes contributions to your events, fundraising appeals, and annual campaigns.

However, they suddenly miss a regular gift that they typically make every year. This end-stage warning sign should set off the metaphorical alarms in your development office and prompt you to take action to avoid permanently losing this donor.

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How to Bring Your Donors Back into the Fold

Let’s say you’ve been watching for the warning signs listed above and noticed one or more of them emerging amongst several donors. How can you bring those donors back into the fold and get them re-energized and re-engaged with your nonprofit? We’ll review some strategies your organization can implement to retain their support.

Recognize Their Contributions

One great way to bring soon-to-be lapsed donors back into the funnel is by making a special effort to recognize their past support in a way that reconnects the donor with your mission and vision. You may do this by:

Presenting major donors with a lifetime donor achievement award at your next gala

• Sending thank-you notes that acknowledge donors’ past contributions and what they allowed your organization to accomplish
• Calling donors to remind them of your gratitude

The goal here is to show disengaged donors that you’re grateful for their support and the impact they’ve made on your nonprofit to not only make sure they feel adequately appreciated but also reminded of your organization and its important work.

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Provide Additional Engagement Opportunities

Your donors got involved with your organization in the first place because they believed in your work. One of the main reasons donors withdraw is because, over time, they become less passionate about your programs and less emotionally connected to your organization. The best way to get them reconnected is to involve them in engagement opportunities beyond donating, such as:

• Volunteering. Spend some time personally calling donors at risk of lapsing to see if they’d be interested in volunteering for a few hours to help you serve more people and see all the good work their contributions make possible. You may even use your volunteer management software to identify lapsing donors who have volunteered in the past to narrow your outreach to those who are most likely to consider volunteering.
• Peer-to-peer fundraising. You may also invite donors to lead your peer-to-peer fundraising initiatives, reaching out to their networks to help you gather more support. Alternatively, you may encourage them to participate in peer-to-peer campaigns that don’t require them to donate.

In addition, Qgiv’s peer-to-peer fundraising ideas guide explains that a-thon fundraisers, such as walkathons and dance-a-thons, allow participants to raise funds on your behalf and take part in fun activities with other community members. These initiatives combine both volunteering and peer-to-peer fundraising opportunities to give supporters options for how they want to get involved.

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Ask for Their Feedback

When all else fails, it can be beneficial to have an honest conversation with your withdrawing donors to see if you can get them re-engaged with your work. Tell the donor that you have noticed they are less involved than they used to be, and ask them questions like:

• Is there a specific reason why you’ve become less involved with our nonprofit?
• Has anything changed on our end that has negatively impacted your donor experience?
• Is there anything we could do to keep you involved in our organization’s community?

Many donors will tell you that they just don’t have the time (or money) they used to or they are focusing on new philanthropic endeavors. Some donors, though, may bring up things you can address, such as misconceptions about your work or feeling unheard or taken for granted by your nonprofit.

If the donor gives you a reason for their withdrawal that you can easily and ethically address, the conversation will have been well worth it. Use these insights to improve future donor relationships and motivate them to stay involved with your organization.

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Use Technology to Track Engagement

With the right tools, you can measure the impact of your efforts to re-engage donors and identify untapped opportunities to increase donor engagement and retention.

Bloomerang’s nonprofit software guide recommends using a donor management system that assigns engagement and generosity scores to donors and includes donor timelines so you can find disengaged donors who haven’t shown clear warning signs of lapsing and make a plan to re-engage them.

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Considering it’s much more cost-effective to retain donors than acquire new ones, it’s important to develop a coherent strategy to keep your donors around. With these tips in mind, you can re-engage donors at risk of lapsing and build a community of consistent, long-lasting support.

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