Lapsing First Time Middle and Top Donors Analysis

Lapsing First Time Middle and Top Donors

How to use the Lapsing First Time Middle and Top Donors analysis

This analysis identifies individual donors who have made only one gift, specifically those whose single contribution placed them in your middle or top donor segments, but who have not given again within 11 to 15 months. By examining your Gifts and Constituents data and referencing your segmentation thresholds, the analysis spotlights first-time donors at higher giving levels who are now at risk of lapsing. You'll see not just their names, but also the date and amount of their sole gift, their donor type (individual or organization), the giving segment they qualify for, and the number of months since their first and only donation. These supporting columns are valuable for tailoring your outreach, as they provide context for timing, potential gift capacity, and donor profile.

The key metric here is identifying those who made a significant initial gift but have not returned, filtered by your organization's own definitions of middle and top donors, ensuring you focus on constituents with the most strategic value. The Months Since Gift calculation pinpoints donors who are within a critical window where a personalized intervention is most likely to be effective, while segmenting by giving level helps you prioritize your stewardship efforts.

Strategically, this analysis enables you to target high-potential donors before they fully lapse, supporting more effective re-engagement campaigns and personalized stewardship. Development directors and major gifts officers should review this analysis regularly-ideally as part of your Constituent Intelligence routines-to coordinate timely follow-up and craft messaging that acknowledges the donor s prior impact and invites renewed involvement.

For actionable next steps, assign relationship managers or stewardship staff to personally review these donors and develop individualized outreach strategies, such as tailored thank-you calls, invitations to special events, or impact updates referencing their specific gift. You might also use these insights to create segmented reactivation campaigns or to inform board members and volunteers about key lapsed prospects in their networks.

To evaluate the impact of using this analysis, track reactivation rates among these donors, measure changes in retention for middle and top first-time givers, and monitor the total revenue recovered from this group over time. These success measures will help demonstrate the value added by targeted Constituent Intelligence and guide ongoing improvements in your donor engagement strategy.