Summer months are a great time to catch up with your lapsed givers. Did you know that a giver will leave a church, potentially forever, approximately 90 days after they stop giving? Why not catch these givers before 90 days and try to reengage and minister to them before they walk out your back door.
Question: How Do I Know Which Giving Households are About to Lapse?
That’s a great question! If you’re using MortarStone, we’ve built into your dashboard a new report (pictured below) that shows you exactly who is at risk of lapsing from your church.
You can quickly identify your givers based on the frequency of their gifts and the days they have gone without giving. Each giving lapse is hyperlinked to individual household information, just click the blue link and drill down further.
Not using MortarStone (get a free month trial – click here), follow this path to identify your lapsed givers.
Segment your giving households into six groups:
- Weekly
- Bi-Monthly
- Monthly
- Every Other Month
- Infrequently
- Annually
Then query each household’s giving based on their giving frequency. Take note of the households that haven’t given in the last 60 days.
Once you’ve created and reviewed your list, it’s time to get to work!
- Start with a phone call. Reach out to lapsed givers with a phone call. This call shouldn’t be focused on giving, but instead, you should be ready to listen and minister to the giver. The goal of this call is to reengage and minister to the giver. Remember to invite them to participate in summer programs or attend one of your upcoming services.
Sure, “most Americans would rather type it than say it,” writes Chicago Tribune’s Corilyn Shropshire. But reaching out by phone not only prevents an email from going unread — and adding to the recipient’s email avalanche — but also helps to instill that sense of connectivity to your church.
- If you didn’t get a chance to connect over the phone, leave a voicemail and follow up with an email.
Don’t get overwhelmed by this task – ask other ministry leaders to help out. Segment your list based on demographic markers and have other leaders participate in making phone calls.
Keynote: If you are having trouble getting your recurring givers to keep updated credit cards on file, you need to start engaging them more. Reach out with phone calls, emails, or text messages, and always look for an opportunity to pray and minister with your givers.
“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9
Do you need help building strategies for reaching lapsed givers? We’re here to help! Click here to schedule a time to talk with one of our Generosity Advisors.