This article breaks down how to strategically approach LYBUNT (Last Year But Unfortunately Not This) donors, who gave in the previous year but have not yet contributed to the current end-of-year fundraising campaign. It explains why this segment is crucial for donor retention, as they are “low-hanging fruit” who have already shown commitment to your mission. The piece provides practical steps for nonprofits to quickly identify these lapsed donors in their database and craft highly personalized outreach messages in December to win them back before the close of the fiscal year.
The clock is ticking on your end-of-year giving campaign. Hopefully by this point you have already segmented your audiences, sent out your snail mail “primer,” scheduled posts for your social media streams, and begun pushing out your e-appeals. But what about your LYBUNTs?
LYBUNTs are donors who gave “last year but unfortunately not this year.” (Get it?) They are a segment you do not want to lose. End of year giving campaigns come with a cost, or rather an investment. It takes a far greater investment of time and energy to turn someone into a new donor than to keep a recurring donor. In this final push, make sure you don’t neglect the donors who are at risk of lapse.
If you use Salesforce for Nonprofits, figuring out who your LYBUNTs are is easy. It tracks them automatically. If you use a different system, it might take a bit more work. If your nonprofit just tracks one gift at a time on a spreadsheet, you can use a pivot table to figure out who your unique donors are.
Once you have your LBUNTs identified, create your audiences and plan your appeal. You might group them by gift amount and encourage them to become monthly donors instead. For instance, if they gave $100 last year, you might ask them to consider a monthly gift of $10 this year. Monthly donors are much easier to retain and have a higher lifetime giving value.
You are not done in January. We know it is a busy time, but a bit more work now has a much greater long term payoff. Run your LYBUNT report again. Figure out who did not give even after your final appeals, but do not send them another appeal again. Instead, send them a survey. Call a few. You need to find out why they did not give. Maybe your organization is failing to help donors feel appreciated. Maybe they need to hear a story of how their funding has made a difference. Often, you will find that the reason is personal-financial. Staying on their minds, and letting them know you remember and care about them, may help to bring them back when their situation improves.
In sum, do not lose your LYBUNTs. Overall giving is on a decline. Bringing in brand new donors is going to become increasingly more expensive. If you are at capacity and cannot imagine finding the time to do this important work, we may be able to help.
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David J. Dunn
David is the founder of Undaunted Consulting. He specializes in data management system optimization and rapid app development for social service, social justice, and environmental justice nonprofits. Click here to learn more about David’s background and expertise!
