The Challenge
The organization wanted to deepen relationships with its most loyal donors and identify which mid-level supporters were most ready to reactivate, renew, or upgrade their giving. Like many faith-based organizations, it had a deep bench of long-tenured donors whose true capacity and readiness had never been formally assessed.
Audience Segments
Catapult built three distinct audience segments from the organization's donor file, each with its own outreach strategy and ask:
- Reactivate: Donors with a most-recent gift of $500 given 23+ months ago
- Renewal: Donors with a most-recent gift of $1,000 given within the last 12 months
- Upgrade: Current donors giving less than $2,500 who showed higher giving capacity
The Strategy
Selected donors were invited into a recognition society through a personalized, multi-touch outreach sequence:
- An email or letter was sent based on each donor's stated communication preference
- A follow-up phone call thanked the donor for their loyalty
- Each donor was personally invited to join, sustain, or upgrade their support
The Results
- Reactivate donors achieved a 32% higher response rate than the organization's historical benchmark
- Renewal donors produced a higher average gift than prior renewal efforts
- 57% of contacted donors qualified for additional stewardship
- Upgrade donors produced both a higher response rate and a higher average gift
- 9% of contacted donors qualified for a major gift appointment
Conclusion
By segmenting the donor file into Reactivate, Renewal, and Upgrade audiences and pairing personalized outreach with a genuine thank-you, Catapult helped the organization re-energize lapsed relationships, strengthen its base of loyal mid-level donors, and surface a qualified pipeline of prospects ready for a major gift conversation.