Annual Tier Transition Analysis-By Tier

Annual Tier Transition Analysis-By Tier

How to use the Annual Tier Transition Analysis-By Tier analysis

This analysis provides a year-over-year view of how your donors move between giving tiers-Top, Middle, Bottom, or Lapsed-based on their annual giving totals. By examining every donor's giving history, it assigns each donor to a segment for every fiscal year, then tracks whether they moved up, moved down, maintained their segment, or lapsed the following year. The underlying data comes from your Gifts and Constituents records, using gift dates and amounts to segment donors and thresholds set for each tier. The analysis is across fiscal years, so your annual segmentation aligns with your organization's calendar.

You will see, for each segment and fiscal year, how many donors started in that segment, and the percentage who remained, upgraded, downgraded, or stopped giving the next year. For instance, you can quickly identify whether middle-tier donors are more likely to lapse or view the retention rate for your top donors. This enables you to pinpoint which segments require more focused stewardship and which transitions should be celebrated or further investigated. The analysis also ensures that deceased donors are excluded to provide clean, actionable results.

Key metrics, such as Maintain/Transition to Top %, Transition to Middle %, Transition to Bottom %, and Transition to Lapsed %,  are crucial for evaluating the health of your donor pipeline. High retention within a segment signals strong engagement, while a high lapse rate or drop-off points to risk areas that require immediate attention. Segment-level transitions highlight where your fundraising investments are paying off or where you may need to innovate your approach.

You should schedule this analysis for periodic review as part of your Constituent Intelligence routines, especially ahead of campaign planning or stewardship strategy sessions. Fundraising directors, major gifts officers, and annual fund managers should all review the findings. Use the insights to tailor stewardship plans, focusing on re-engaging segments at risk of lapsing, rewarding and building upon successful upgrades, and customizing messaging based on a donor's transition history.

Measure your success by tracking improvements in donor retention rates within each segment, reductions in lapse rates, and increases in the percentage of donors moving up a tier year over year. Over time, effective use of this analysis will strengthen your pipeline, boost donor lifetime value, and allow for more personalized, data-driven engagement strategies.