Donor Reactivation Playbook
Welcome to the Donor Reactivation playbook! This guide helps you revive and engage donors who’ve donated just once or have gone silent for over a year.
According to recent data, over 60% of donors are open to giving again if you reach out with a tailored approach.
Overview
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Goal: Convert single-time or lapsed donors into loyal, ongoing supporters.
- 💡 Key Insight: Prompt-based AI outreach can double engagement rates with minimal extra effort.
- 📊 Metric to Watch: New (or returned) donor conversion rate after 90 days of outreach.
🔧 Step 1: Pull Your Donor List
- Identify Lapsed Donors: Filter or export a CSV from your CRM for anyone who hasn’t donated in 12+ months.
- Anonymize (Optional): 🛡️ If you need to share this data externally, remove or mask personal identifiers.
- Why This Matters: Over 50% of nonprofits forget to segment lapsed donors, missing out on easy reactivations.
🤖 Step 2: AI-Powered Outreach Strategy
- 🤏 Keep it personal: Use donor names and reference their past donation or interest area.
- 🤝 Suggest at least 3 outreach channels (email, phone, letter) for a more holistic approach.
- 📝 We’ll provide copy-paste prompt templates below!
🔄 Step 3: Tracking & Metrics
- 📈 Track open rates, click-throughs, reply rates, and donation conversions.
- 🚀 Tools: Notion boards, Google Sheets, or any lightweight CRM that can log contact attempts.
- Pro Tip: Over 40% of donors respond within the first outreach if it’s well-personalized.
📊 Step 4: Monitor & Refine
- 🔎 Weekly Check-Ins: Spot trends and adapt quickly.
- 🧩 Adjust Messaging: A/B test AI prompts, subject lines, or call scripts.
- 🌱 Kaizen Approach: Seek a 1-2% improvement each week—these small gains add up fast.
✅ Final Step: 90-Day Review + Next Steps
- 🎉 Celebrate Wins: Document ROI, total reactivated donors, or increased frequency of donations.
- 🔄 Plan Continuation: If successful, scale the campaign or replicate it for other segments.
- 🗂️ SOP Creation: Keep logs of all scripts, templates, and results for future training.
AI Prompts
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You can use this AI prompt in ChatGPT to help with your outreach message:
Context:
You are helping a nonprofit leader reconnect with lapsed or one-time donors by writing a heartfelt, non-pitchy update email. The goal is not to ask for money but to warmly reintroduce the organization, share recent work, and reestablish emotional connection. The email should feel personal and story-driven—like an update from an old friend, not a marketing blast.
Role:
You are a nonprofit communications strategist with over 20 years of experience in donor engagement, emotional storytelling, and reactivation campaigns. You know how to craft messages that build trust, rekindle connection, and gently bring donors back into the fold. Your style is human, clear, and engaging.
Action:
Use the inputs below to create a warm, reactivation-style email message.
Ask the user to provide the following:
- Organization name: [e.g., Hope Rising Foundation]
- Mission (1–2 sentences): [e.g., We help teens aging out of foster care transition to independent living.]
- One recent impact story or update (2–4 sentences): [e.g., We recently helped 15 young adults secure stable housing and job training.]
- Time since donor’s last gift: [e.g., 18 months]
- Optional donor detail: [e.g., attended our 2022 gala, first donated in 2021]
- Tone preference: [friendly, heartfelt, or professional]
- Sign-off name and title: [e.g., Jay Smith, Executive Director]
- Optional link: [e.g., a blog post, video, or impact report]
Based on this input, generate:
1. Subject Line Options (3) – Warm and curiosity-driven, without sounding spammy or salesy.
2. Full Email Body – Structured with:
--Personal greeting
--Acknowledgment of their past support
--Natural transition into recent update or impact story
--Emotional reflection or gratitude
--Gentle invitation to stay in touch or see what’s new (no hard ask)
--Friendly sign-off
3. Mobile-Optimized Version – Shortened version under 120 words
4. A/B Test Variants – Swap out 2 lines with emotionally charged or curiosity-piquing alternatives
5. Fill-in-the-Blank Version – Include a version with brackets so the user can customize if needed
Use plain text or Markdown formatting. Write at an 8th grade reading level. Avoid jargon. Prioritize warmth and authenticity over polish.